ఆగ్రోటెక్నాలజీ

నైరూప్య

Effect of Conservation Trenches on Plantation Crop in Degraded Watershed in Kandhamal District of Odisha

Subudhi R

Kandhamal district situated in central part of Orissa receives an annual rainfall of 1396 mm, and this region is highly prone to soil and runoff loss due to heavy rainfall during kharif. A trial was conducted during 2001-2004 to study the effect of conservation trenches on plantation crop. This trial was conducted on farmers’ field of Sudreju village of Kandhamal district under National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP, RRPS-7), with the following objectives. 1. To conserve moisture for establishment of plantation crop 2. To reduce erosion from upstream area. 3. To increase production of timber, fruit species, fuel wood and fodder .The following treatments were tried. a. No treatment (Control) b. Continuous V-ditches at 10 m horizontal interval. c. Continuous V-ditches at 20 m horizontal interval. d. V-ditches staggered at 5 m horizontal interval. e. V-ditches staggered at 10 m horizontal interval. Mango varieties Pusa Amrapalli was tried during kharif and during, rabi Black gram (PU-30) was tried in between mango rows. It is observed that in, cont. contour V-ditch at 10 m interval rate of growth was 2.06 cm/month in case of Amrapalli,which is 46% higher compared to control. The grain yield of niger, black gram and mustard are 33.4%, 23.5% and 26.6% higher than control, respectively. Though the cost of construction is little high, it is recommended to practice contour V-ditch at 10 m intervals, to conserve soil and moisture, and to get more grain yield in degraded watershed of Kandhamal district.