Faculty members and research scholars of Tamil Nadu Agriculture University - Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute were taken by surprise when they witnessed an appreciable growth of paddy cultivated on the sodic-affected soil on the campus of the college on Thursday. Drip irrigation technique adopted during the period proved to be a catalyst for the success.
The project, funded by an Israeli company, was taken up on June 9 this year using drip irrigation. Titled, ‘Feasibility of growing rice under drip irrigation’, four varieties -- ‘TRY 2’, ‘ADT 45’, ‘ADT 36’ and ‘Anna (R) 4’ -- were raised for ascertaining the growth of paddy in saline fields on the campus. The entire 60 cents of the field of the Institute was covered with over 77 laterals, each of 50 metre in length. Each lateral contained 130 holes or drip spacing through which water and water-soluble fertiliser was supplied.
The Institute, located in the Manikandam block, has taken up various research programmes for evolving paddy varieties suitable for sodic soil. ‘Netafim’, an Israeli company specialising in drip irrigation technique, had sanctioned Rs. 4 lakh to the Institute to take up the research.
“It is a wonder that the behaviour of four crops, all short duration varieties, has undergone favourable cultivation process, through the soil is totally hit by salt all through the season,” says P. Pandiyarajan, Dean of the Institute. “The non-monsoon period between June and October witnesses maximum salinity in the soil; in contrast, during the North-east monsoon, due to storm water, the quantum of salinity gets dissolved and reduced,” explains Mr. Pandiyarajan. It is the drip irrigation technique which favoured the growth of the paddy during this non-monsoon period, he asserted. This was the first time the Institute took up the research using drip irrigation technique, although similar experiments had been conducted at Aduthurai and other places. About 2 kg of seeds was used for each variety. He said that the experiment included study on nutrient management, irrigation management and good cultivation practices.
T. Ramesh, Assistant Professor of Agronomy, who has been coordinating the programme, said all parameters including the rainfall received during the research period, climatic change were also monitored. In addition, a few cultures under research had been included for the study. The growth of the plant in various parameters -- with fertiliser, without fertiliser, with nitrogen, with less nitrogen --were being analysed.
The research will be a boon to farmers of salt-affected soil such as Nagapattinam district and with inadequate irrigation facility. It will guide the farmers with abundant availability of water to utilise the resource judiciously.
G. Srinivasan, Professor and Head of Department of Agronomy, said that birds posed a serious problem for the varieties. “With the crop having been raised during an off-season period, hundreds of birds flocked towards the fields as paddy was not available elsewhere in the district,” he said.
More experiment to follow
The Dean said that a similar experiment would be taken up exactly during the corresponding non-monsoon period between June and October next year. The second annual experiment aims at confirmation of the behaviour of the plant under similar conditions, Mr. Pandiyarajan added.
