Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Project: Groundwater Resources Management for Sustainable Crop Production in Northwest Hydrological Region of Bangladesh (bari Component) (2019-2020)

S. K. Biswas
SSO
IWM Division, BARI, Gazipur

D. K. Roy
SSO
IWM Division, BARI, Gazipur

K. F. I. Murad
SO
IWM Division, BARI, Gazipur

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

A coordinated project entitled "Groundwater resources management for sustainable crop production in northwest hydrological region of Bangladesh" has been implementing by the different NARS institutes like BARI, BRRI and BINA with BARC as coordinate component with a view to sustainable management of groundwater resources of northwest region through optimizing water demand and supply. Field work was initiated with a base line survey in two study areas: Rajshahi and Joypurhat. For collecting baseline information from the project area, a structured questionnaire was developed and 25 farmers from each specified location were interviewed. The existing farming system, groundwater utilization, pricing system and problems in irrigation scheme, etc. were assessed through the survey work. The specified selected locations were Godagari and Tanore upazila of Rajshahi and Joypurhat sadar and Kalai upazila of Joypurhat district. Based on the survey results, a few location specific promising cropping patterns based field trials with rice and non-rice crops were conducted with adoption of water saving irrigation technologies in respect of the project aim. Selection of site and farmers has been completed and as part of the cropping pattern based experiment, a number of field experiments with T.Aman rice, potato, mustard, wheat, boro have already been conducted in the selected locations. Meanwhile long-term (1980-2018) historical groundwater level data has been collected and prediction model has been developed by using discrete Space-state modeling approach for future forecasting of groundwater level. It is perceived that groundwater level declination in Rajshahi will be more than double (from 17.87 m in 2018 to 37.62 m in 2040) at all the three observation wells for the next 22 years if the present rate of abstraction continues. Groundwater abstraction pattern due to irrigation, domestic and municipal uses has been assessed and it is apparent that total abstraction will increase by 33-35% in Joypurhat area and by 40-45% in Rajshahi area in the next 20 years. So, appropriate measures should be taken to ensure judicious use of water in all sectors especially in agriculture to protect the groundwater resources from being further depleted. The groundwater quality in the study areas has been evaluated for agricultural use. The water quality indices such as SAR, SSP, RSC, KR and WQI were calculated to find out its suitability for irrigation. In respect of all evaluating criteria, groundwater of the study area was found suitable and can safely be used for irrigation purpose. The increased and decreased recharge scenarios were computed using the existing groundwater pumping values in the year 2018. The three recharge scenarios considered was: (i) actual recharge, (ii) 90% of the actual recharge, and (iii) 110% of the actual recharge. The aquifer processes were simulated using a calibrated 3D finite difference based numerical simulation code MODFLOW. The results revealed that the computed groundwater heads at the three observation wells varied noticeably as a result of the changes in the recharge scenarios.

Keywords: Groundwater, Crop irrigation, Sustainable crop, Cropping patterns, Sustainable groundwater

Location: Joypurhat and Barind area of Rajshahi district, Bangladesh

Start Date: 00-00-2018

End Date: 00-00-2020

Program Area: Crop-Soil-Water Management

Commodity: Groundwater, Water management

Objectives:

The following specific objectives:
* To determine aquifer recharge and groundwater utilization pattern
* To assess availability and quality of groundwater for crop irrigation
* To develop various scenarios for sustainable crop production using groundwater models
* To find out optimum management techniques and suitable cropping patterns for sustainable groundwater use

Methodology:

The study was initiated during the rabi season of 2018-2019 after harvesting of T.Aman rice in both Joypurhat and Barind area of Rajshahi. The soil of the study area is loam - clay loam with an average field water-holding capacity of 28.5- 30.5 % and wilting point of 14.12-15.2%. Soil bulk density in the 0 to 60 cm depth ranges from 1.31 to 1.43 g/cc, with a weighted average of 1.39 g/cc. A typical dry climate with comparatively high temperature prevails in Barind area. Temperature ranges from a minimum of 8oC in the winter to a maximum of 44oC in the summer. More than 85% of the total rainfall occurs from mid-June to October and the magnitude of annual rainfall varies from 1300-1500 mm in Rajshahi and 1800- 2000 mm in Joypurhat. Based on an extensive investigation on the existing cropping patterns in the study areas, two/three promising cropping patterns from each study area were selected for project works and the field experiments were conducted following the major cropping patterns of the respective study area. Three/four different cropping patterns with four/five principal crops of that region were selected as rotation crops, including T.Aman, boro, wheat, mustard, and potato. Mungbean, a popular fallow crop, was included in T.Aman-Wheat-Fallow pattern after wheat cultivation. Irrigation schedule of different crops with their sowing/transplanting and harvesting date are presented. All crops were grown in the following sequences starting with rabi crops as: T.Aman-Potato-Boro, T.Aman- Mustard-Boro, T.Aman-Wheat-Fallow. Another pattern T.Aman-Fallow-Boro was tested as control treatment. For each crop, recommended doses of fertilizers were used and standard cultural practices were followed. Crops were sown immediately after harvesting of T. Aman with a view to save water for irrigation with effective utilization of profile soil moisture. Each crop was grown on a 100 m2 plot with three replications. The growing period for wheat crop was Nov-March, for potato Nov- February, for mustard Oct/Nov-January/Feb and for boro rice December-April. At maturity, all crops were harvested manually to determine grain yield and aboveground biomass. Soil water content was monitored at 20 cm incremental depth up to 60 cm depth for wheat and mustard, and up to 40 cm depth for potato before and after irrigation. Soil moisture content at sowing and at harvest was monitored to find out the amount of profile soil moisture contributing to crops. All cultural practices were done as per recommendations. Important agronomic data and parameters were collected during the cropping season and harvest time. Yield was estimated by collecting samples from four square meter area of each replication. Harvest wheat/rice was threshed, cleaned and weighed and finally the yield was calculated at 14% moisture content. All weather data of the cropping period influencing crop water use were also collected. Depth of irrigation water applied in each irrigation was duly recorded. Total water use by the wheat, potato and other non-rice crops during the entire cropping period (sowing to harvest) was calculated by using the field water balance equation as: TWU= I + P+ - D - R ± ΔSWS where, TWU is the total water use (mm), P is the effective rainfall (mm), I is the irrigation water applied (mm), D is the deep percolation (mm), R the run-off and ΔSWS is the change in water storage in the soil profile. Deep percolation (D) was assumed negligible, since water was applied only to replenish soil moisture in the root zone. Run-off due to irrigation or rainfall was taken to be zero as irrigation/rainfall water was protected by 15 cm height levees.

Source of Information: Annual Research Report 2019-2020, Irrigation and Water Management Division, BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

REY, TWU and WP were greatly influenced by the crops in a cropping pattern. Among the tested crops, tomato had the highest rice equivalent yield (REY) under T2 water management practice followed by REY of potato. Accordingly the highest REY was obtained from Tomato – Boro – T.Aus cropping pattern followed by Potato – Boro – T.Aman cropping patterns under T2 water management option. These two vegetable crops have high yield potential to give the higher REY compared to other crops like mustard and wheat pattern. Total water use was also found higher in this pattern and ranged from 1906 mm to 2052 mm depending on irrigation management while the lowest water use pattern was Potato–T.Aus–T.Aman with total water use ranged from 1577 – 1800 mm. Implausibly, comparatively higher water use patterns gave the higher WPs due to inclusion of vegetable crops with high yield potential and water saving technology. In general, WP was found higher in water management options where water saving technologies were included as a treatment. Therefore, inclusion of vegetable crops even non-rice rabi crops instead of boro rice and water saving irrigation technologies can significantly reduce the irrigation water requirement in dry season and increase the rice equivalent yield (REY) without having any effect on farm's productivity. The optimal groundwater abstraction strategy has been considered an effective measure of maintaining groundwater levels in aquifers for the safe and beneficial abstraction. In this research, a finite difference based 3-D flow based numerical code, MODFLOW, was utilized to simulate the groundwater heads with respect to different recharge scenarios in the Tanore upazilla of Rajshahi district in the northern Bangladesh. Input data for the selected study area of about 297.2463 km2 were collected from different sources. Scarcity and reliability of available data is a challenging issue in implementing regional scale hydrologic models in this location. Therefore, the best possible subjective judgement was used in choosing the data for simulating the aquifer processes. The limited assessment results demonstrate that, groundwater recharge has an influential effect on the groundwater level fluctuations, and using a carefully planned groundwater abstraction strategy, it is possible to modify the groundwater storage that will help in preserving the precious groundwater storage in the study area. The groundwater quality in two districts (Rajshahi and Joypurhat) of north-west region has been evaluated for agricultural use. The water quality indices such as SAR, SSP, RSC and KR were calculated to find out its suitability for irrigation. The results based on these indices indicate that quality of groundwater samples fall into excellent and good categories for irrigation use. The water quality index (WQI) has been determined to better assess suitability of groundwater for irrigation and it is observed that all the samples were ?good? except few were found ?poor? in post-irrigation season. Therefore, in respect of all evaluating criteria, groundwater of the study area was found suitable and can safely be used for irrigation purpose.

Knowledge Management: Report/Proceedings