Feasibility of Rabi crops using harvested Rain Water through farm pond under semi-arid conditions of North Gujarat

Abstract

The ponds prevailing in the history give ample evidence about the knowledge of man regarding harvesting and utilization of runoff water in rainfed areas. The farm ponds are one of the best alternative methods for collecting and storing rainwater for future use. The farm ponds are supports to sustain agricultural activities and improve the standard of living of people, especially in the rural area. A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of treatments consists of three Rabi crops with low water requirement grown using harvested rainwater. The cc lined farm pond of 1100 m3 capacity was used to harvest runoff water and results of crop performance obtained during 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 are presented. The harvested water was used for growing popular regional crops such as cumin, mustard and dilseed. Year wise cumin seed yield was obtained highest 410 kg/ha in the 2021-22 with mean seed yield of 377 kg/ha. The net profit of cumin cultivation (mean) was obtained ₹11917/ha with 1.28 BCR. Year wise mustard seed yield was obtained highest 1248 kg/ha in 2019-20 and mean seed yield of three years was obtained 1202 kg/ha. The net profit (mean) of mustard cultivation was obtained ₹20562/ha with 1.49 BCR. The mean seed yield of dilseed for three years was obtained 1265 kg/ha. The net profit of dilseed cultivation (mean) was obtained ₹ 40259 / ha with 2.03 BCR. The comparative performance of dilseed crop was found better over cumin and mustard in terms of water productivity and net return.