Simulation of current soil moisture status for green gram sowing practices

Abstract

The present study was conducted in Budelkani watershed in Sundargarh district of Odisha. The water balance model is used to simulate soil moisture status. Irrigation scheduling based on threshold value of soil moisture status i.e. below 75 percentage of allowable soil moisture (ASM). During this period only 50 mm of water would be applied to crop for each irrigation. The result shows that 6 out of 23 years there was not enough water in the soil before planting winter crops. The years that require pre-sowing irrigation (PSI) were 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2014. Therefore, there is a need to provide PSI for the winter crop.