Impact of soil and water conservation measures on sediment yield and productivity of finger millet

Abstract

The study was conducted at AICRP&DA, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru, to evaluate the impact of contour trenches on sediment yield and productivity of finger millet being test crop. Experiment with treatment viz., trench T1 (contour trenches at 10 m interval), T2 (contour trenches at 25 m interval) and also runoff plots treatment with different slope viz., T3 (1.9%), T4 (2.24%) and T5 (2.1%). T1 showed lower runoff (150.98 mm) and soil loss (3.011 tonnes/ha) resulted in higher conservation of soil moisture content, whereas higher runoff and soil loss (230.43 mm and 4.218 tonnes/ha) was found in T4 resulted in conserving lower soil moisture content. Similarly, T1 recorded higher grain yield (2512 kg/ha) and straw yield (3768 kg/ha) compared to all other treatment due to the availability of higher moisture content by reduced runoff and soil loss, Also T1 resulted in increasing net returns (53923 Rs.ha-1) and B:C ratio (3.09). From this investigation, it is concluded that contour trenches at 10 m spacing was found to be efficient in reducing both runoff and soil loss and increasing the productivity of finger millet crop.