Mitigating Water Stress through Soil Moisture Conservation Practices

The advanced agricultural practices have a great potential to mitigate moisture stress in crop land
soils through the adoption of recommended management practices. Several farming practices and
technologies can reduce water stress or conserve water and overcome adverse impact of climate
change. Improving water management in agriculture requires an improvement in soil moisture
conservation measures and a reduction in wastage of irrigation water. Reduction in water
wastage also brings about additional benefits in terms of reducing losses of applied nutrients,
water erosion and pollution of surface and ground water. An accurate measurement of soil
moisture content and water removal by soil evaporation and plant transpiration processes is
therefore essential to establish the optimal soil water balance for crop sowing, fertilizer
application and irrigation scheduling under different irrigation technologies, climatic conditions
and farm management systems that aim to minimize soil evaporation and increase water
accessibility for plant roots. The soil moisture neutron probe and stable isotopic techniques can
contribute such information. Storage of more water in the soil profile increases greatly the water
use efficiency (WUE) of crops grown with conditions of limited water. The role of various
management practices/measures/parameters on soil moisture conservation vis-a-vis climate
change is briefly discussed here under:
Organic matter
The soil organic matter is of fundamental importance in maintaining soil fertility and soil water
regimes. Organic matter has ability to absorb and hold up to 90 % of its weight in water. Mostly,
water hold by the organic matter is in plant available form and easily absorbed by the plants.
Moreover, organic matter causes aggregation, which improves soil structure. Better soil structure
improves permeability to air and water, which in turn improve soil’s ability to take up and hold
water. About 1% increase in soil organic carbon increases available water capacity by 1.5% . So,
incorporation of Farm yard manure (FYM), compost, green manures, wastes plant residues
improve soil organic matter status and soil water retention. Thus, improvement in water retention
capacity of soils through build up in soil carbon content holds the key to conserve moisture.
Conservation tillage
Tillage has deep influences on crop yields and water use efficiency. Actually, tillage break the
continuity of soil pores, thus has an impact on evaporation and infiltration rate. Erratic rainfall
behavior can be a serious limitation to agricultural production especially in rain fed areas causing
low yields and sometime even crop failure. In other words, a significant cause of low production
and crop failure in rainfed agriculture is lack of water in the soil. In most instances, a great deal
can be done to improve the efficiency of rainwater use. Soil moisture management is therefore a
key factor to enhance agricultural production. The conservation agriculture maintain permanent
soil cover either with plant residue or growing crops, thus protects the soil surface from the
adverse effect of raindrop. On other hand, it reduces direct water loss through evaporation from
the upper layers of the soil. Similarly, in case of reduced tillage soil is less disturbed, so the
moisture loss and soil compaction that follows tillage is avoided. This increases the infiltration
and percolation of water through the soil, leading to better root development and crop growth.
Minimum disturbance of soil in turn improves the living conditions of beneficial organisms and
enhance their activity significantly.
Microorganisms secrete various enzymes, hormones, vitamins and organic acids that causes
aggregation of soil particles, thus improve soil structure. Further, following crop rotation and
cover cropping preferably with legumes helps to increase soil organic matter, reduce erosion and
enhance microbial activities in soil. Moreover, rotation with crops of different root system say
legumes develop a network in the soil, thus enhances water penetration, water holding capacity
and in turn water availability to crops from deeper layers. Minimum tillage practice especially in
case of wheat has been found useful for conservation and carryover of residual moisture for
sowing of said crop on time.
Mulching
Mulching of soil surface with crop residue, plastic sheet or grass cover is an efficient agricultural
technology to conserve soil moisture by reducing evaporation and catching water running over
the agricultural land. Applying the right type of mulch not only conserves soil moisture, but can
cool the soil as well. Further, mulches keep the soil underneath moist longer than bare soil and
prevent evaporation. Actually, surface mulch prevents the soils against beating action of
raindrops and avoids clogging of soil pores, thus increasing infiltration rate. Plant residue mulch
controls soil erosion and conserves soil moisture. Mulch also help keep weeds under control,
thus reduce the competition for water. Good mulch is one that is clean of weed seeds, insects and
other pests, easily applied, and economical. Plastic mulches are completely impermeable; they
therefore prevent direct soil evaporation and limit water losses and erosion via the soil surface. It
was reported that there was 1.6- 2.4 times higher water-use-efficiency and 20-28 % less water
consumption in green gram due to mulching.
Hi-tech irrigation system (micro-irrigation)
Adoption of micro-irrigation systems viz., drip or sprinkler in orchard and vegetable crops helps
in enhancing water use efficiency besides saving water to a greater extent. In recent years,
keeping in view the limited water availability, micro- irrigation systems comprising drip and
sprinkler are being promoted in many part of the globe. Microirrigation ensures higher water-
use-efficiency and in turn water economy. It is eco-friendly irrigation system, saving more than
60 % water and increase crop yield to the extent of 30-40 % over conventional methods.
To avoid moisture stress in shallow soil depth, irrigation through drip system is quite feasible as
it is applied very frequently and remained in shallow depth. Further, drip irrigation through the
trickle supply of water drops continuously keeping the soil moist in the rhizosphere. On other
hand, sprinkler irrigation method is unique in contrast to surface methods in that it is independent
of soil uniformity and topography in its adaptability. It is also compatible to even a small steady
stream of water when surface irrigation performs better with large flow.
Drip irrigation along with fertilizer (fertigation) reduces the wastage of water and chemical
fertilizers and subsequently, optimizes the nutrient and water use by applying them at critical
stages at proper place and time, which finally increases the water and nutrient use efficiency.
Efficient use of fertilizers and water is highly critical to sustained agricultural production, more
particularly in the context of declining per capita land and water availability and increasing cost
of fertilizers. Higher tomato yield and water use efficiency was registered with gravity fed drip
irrigation system, besides saving irrigation water up to 40% in comparison with full irrigation
method. Drip irrigation along with plastic mulch further enhanced the water use effciency.
Rainwater harvesting
Since, the productivity of irrigated agriculture is more than twice of rain fed agriculture, it is very
essential to bring the maximum area under irrigation with judicious and economic use of
harvested rain and ground water for increasing the water productivity. In this context, water
harvesting has been assigned high priority in the rainfed areas through integrated water
management programmes to promote intensified and diversified agriculture and also to safeguard
against risks of frequent droughts, encountered in the arid and semiarid regions. Rainwater
harvesting is the process of collecting, concentrating and improving the productive use of
rainwater and reducing unproductive depletion. In other words, it involves collection, storage
and recycling of rainwater for agricultural, domestic or industrial purposes. Rainwater harvesting
helps in recharging groundwater. The harvested water should not be used for irrigation through
wild flooding; instead high-tech irrigation systems, such as micro-sprinklers or drip irrigation,
should be practiced. The water may also be used through pitcher irrigation technology. In all
these systems, irrigation efficiency is as high as 90-95%. The harvested water could be used as
life saving irrigation. The surface runoff into paddy fields in hill regions of Himalayas act as rain
water harvesting structures besides imparting intangible benefits like eco-restoration and
downstream flood mitigation etc. These microwatersheds have ample benefits of water resource
conservation, mitigating the effect of floods and droughts and ground water augmentation.
Recycling of Organic Residues
As discussed earlier, incorporation of organic residues such as farm yard manure (FYM),
compost, green manures, wastes plant residues improve soil organic matter status in soil, which
in turn enhance soil water retention. Further, organic residues such as paddy straw or grasses acts
as ‘surface mulch’, which have ability to conserve soil moisture by reducing evaporation and
catching water running over the agricultural land. Higher water use efficiency in wheat with
mulching (Lantana camara) was reported. Waste plants such as ‘farm weeds’, not suitable for
fodder purposes could also be effectively utilized for conserving soil moisture.
Use of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
The use of Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi along with recommended package of practices
enhanced the water use efficiency of crops significantly. The AM fungi has ability to expand
surface area of plant root system by 10 to 1000 folds into the soil through their ramifying
hyphae, thereby, increasing their exploratory area for harnessing water from deeper layers,
thereby establishing its vital role in water management. The AM fungi symbiosis often results in
altered rates of water movement into, through and out of host plants, with consequent effects on
tissue hydration and leaf physiology. Further, mycorrhizal hyphae penetrate soil pores
inaccessible to root hairs thereby absorbing water which is not available to non-mycorrhizal
plants. Higher WUE due to a greater absorption of water and P by plants thereby, boosting
biological yield. Actually, each factor which promotes biological yield would naturally enhance
WUE also. The AM fungi inoculation resulted in improvement in soil structure by way of
binding of soil aggregates, involving their hyphal network and in turn, enhancing soil moisture
retention capacity. Further, glomalin produced by fungal hyphae bind soil particles leading to
aggregate formation and in turn, improve soil structure/ soil moisture retention capacity. Thus,
inoculation of crop seed with AM fungi biofertilizer before sowing could be an alternative in rain
fed reasons to enhance water use efficiency or mitigating water stress in crops.
Land leveling
The lack of proper leveling of fields resulted in uneven distribution of applied irrigation water,
which leads to water logging conditions in low-lying areas and soil water deficit at higher spots.
Earlier, leveling of field was done by bullock drawn wooden leveler or tractor drawn levelers,
which resulted in uneven soil surface (not properly leveled). Uneven soil surface has a major
impact on the germination, crop stand and yield due to inhomogeneous water distribution and
soil moisture. Therefore, land levelling is a precursor to good agronomic, soil and crop
management practices. The laser land leveler is modern equipment, which leveled the field
within certain degree of desired slope using a guided laser beam throughout the field. It involves
the use of (laser) transmitter, that emits a rapidly rotating beam parallel to the required field
plane, which is picked up by a sensor (receiving unit) fitted to a tractor towards scraper unit. The
signal received is converted into cut and fill adjustments and the corresponding changes in
scraper level are carried out automatically by a hydraulic control system. The major benefit of
this technology is reduction in water for irrigation. Further, water is distributed uniformly on the
field. There is saving of about 35 % in irrigation water. Overall, uniform leveling of field saves
irrigation water, distribute water evenly and enhance water use efficiency of crops.
Direct seeded rice
Direct seeded rice (DSR) is an attractive alternative to avoid over exploitation of underground
water resource through cultivation. Actually, increasing water crisis, water-intensive nature of
rice cultivation and escalating labour costs drive the search for alternative management methods
to increase water productivity in rice cultivation. The direct seeded rice is a low input demanding
system, which involves sowing pre-germinated seed into a puddled soil surface (wet seeding),
standing water (water seeding) or dry seeding into a prepared seedbed (dry seeding) (Farooq et
al., 2010). Following DSR, there is saving of 60% water as nursery raising, puddling, seepage
and percolation are eliminated. Beside, labour could be saved to the extent of 40%.
Other mitigating options
Another option to overcome the shortage of water supplies is to recycle waste waters from
sewage and industrial effluents following proper treatments. Presoaking of seed in 1% salt
solution before sowing is another package that has proved to be a good alternative for efficient
utilization of soil moisture before depletion. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is one of the
important methods for increasing productivity of rice without using much external inputs and
this method is best suited for small and marginal farmers. It reduces the water requirement by 25
to 50 % per season. Checking percolation losses of water in rice fields is another strategy for
managing or saving water. Soils with inherent high permeability rates should be avoided for rice
cultivation. Intermittent wetting or cyclic submergence will further cut the water requirement of
rice crops.