Abstract
Water contamination is often reported in agriculturally intensive areas such as the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) in south-eastern Asia. We evaluated the impact of the organic and conventional farming of basmati rice on water quality during the rainy season (July to October) of 2011 and 2016 at Kaithal, Haryana, India. The study area comprised seven organic and seven conventional fields where organic farming has been practiced for more than two decades. Water quality parameters used for drinking (nitrate, NO3; total dissolved solids (TDS); electrical conductivity (EC) pH) and irrigation (sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC)) purposes were below permissible limits for all samples collected from organic fields and those from conventional fields over the long-term (~15 and ~20 years). Importantly, the magnitude of water NO3 contamination in conventional fields was approximately double that of organic fields, which is quite alarming and needs attention in future for farming practices in the IGP in south-eastern Asia.
Highlights
The enormous rate of agricultural production required to feed the burgeoning population in India needs a constant supply of irrigation water
The assessment of well water quality for irrigation purposes is usually achieved by using indices including the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC), which are calculated using the concentrations of various nutrients such as carbonate (CO3 2− ), bicarbonate (HCO3 − ), calcium (Ca2+ ), magnesium (Mg2+ ), and sodium (Na+ ) in well water [1]
We evaluated the influence of farming practices on well water quality parameters after ~15
Summary
The enormous rate of agricultural production required to feed the burgeoning population in India (and other parts of south-eastern Asia) needs a constant supply of irrigation water. One such reliable source of irrigation is well water (~borewell water) in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), India, where deep wells extract water from the underlying aquifer [1]. Water 2020, 12, 960 important commodity for the Indian economy related to the export business, and reports are limited to the effects of basmati rice cultivation on groundwater quality. The assessment of well water quality for irrigation purposes is usually achieved by using indices including the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC), which are calculated using the concentrations of various nutrients such as carbonate (CO3 2− ), bicarbonate (HCO3 − ), calcium (Ca2+ ), magnesium (Mg2+ ), and sodium (Na+ ) in well water [1]
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