Prediction of Wheat Yield from Pond Ash Amended Field by Artificial Neural Networks

Abstract

AbstractIn India, presently 85 existing thermal power plants (TPPs) produce 118 million metric tons of fly ash per year, which is projected to exceed 170 and 440 million metric tons/year by Years 2012 and 2030, respectively. This huge quantity of fly ash not only poses the problems of environmental concerns but occupies large areas of land for its dumping, which needs urgent and appropriate measures for its safe disposal and gainful utilization on sustainable basis. Based on the detailed study on the bulk utilization of pond ash in agriculture and forestry sectors under different agroclimatic conditions and soil types for last 2 decades, it has been found that pond ash has a very good potential for the utilization on bulk scale as liming agent, soil conditioner, source of essential plant nutrients, and also for boosting the growth and yields of a variety of crops and growth performance of plant species. Some field-scale studies carried out especially in the wastelands of State Agriculture Research Farm an...