Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Assessing sowing window and water availability of rainfed crops in eastern Indian state of Bihar for climate smart agricultural production

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An agro-climatic study was carried out in eastern Indian state of Bihar (middle Indo-Gangetic Plains) to identify optimum planting schedules and water availability of rainfed crops based on moisture availability index (MAI), i.e., the ratio of weekly assured rainfall and potential evapotranspiration (PET) for delineating safe growing period and crop production potential at micro-level in order to develop climate smart agricultural production system. For this purpose, historical weekly rainfall data for a period ranging from 30 to 55 years of 110 rain-gauge stations and normal weekly PET were employed. The assured weekly rainfall at different probability levels, viz. 25, 50, and 75%, was computed employing incomplete gamma distribution technique. The study revealed that at 50% probability (i.e., 50 out of 100 years), the sowing window of rainfed crops with MAI ≥ 0.33 ranged from 19 to 24 SMW (standard meteorological week) over different districts in Zone I (North west alluvial plains), 18 to 23 SMW in Zone II (North east alluvial plains), 23–24 SMW in Zone IIIA (Part of South Bihar alluvial plains), and 24–25 SMW in Zone IIIB (Part of South Bihar alluvial plains). The districts under Zone II recorded the earliest sowing week for starting sowing of rainfed crops, and the most delayed start of sowing was recorded in the districts under Zone IIIB at all probability levels. Kishanganj District recorded the highest duration of water availability followed by West Chamaparan District at all MAI and probability levels. In terms of longer length of water availability and higher values of MAI, Zone II appeared to be the most potential agroclimatic zone followed by Zone I and Zone IIIA. The Zone IIIB was adjudged as the least potential Zone in terms of shorter water availability period for rainfed crop production.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anon (2008) Bihar’s agriculture development: opportunities & challenges. A report of the special task force on Bihar. Govt. of India, New Delhi, pp.146

  • Araya A, Stroosnijder L (2010) Effects of tied ridges and mulch on barley (Hordeum vulgare) rain water use efficiency and production in northern Ethiopia. Agric Water Manag 97:841–847

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ati OF, Stigter CJ, Oladipo EO (2002) A comparison of methods to determine the onset of growing season in northern Nigeria. J Climatol 22:731–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bacci L, Cantini C, Pierini F, Marachi G, Reyniers FN (1999) Effects of sowing date and nitrogen fertilization on growth, development and yield of a short day cultivar of millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) in Mali. Eur J Agron 10:9–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banik P, Sharma RC (2009) Rainfall pattern and moisture availability index in relation to rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop planning in eastern plateau region of India. J Agrometeorol 11(1):54–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Bapuji Rao B, Rao VUM, Sandeep VM, Shanthibhushan Chowdary P, Venkateswarlu B (2011) PET Calculator (V.3.0). All India Coordinated Research Project on Agrometeorology, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad-500059, AP, India

  • Biswas BC, Nayar PS (1984) Quantification of drought and crop potential. Mausam 35(3):281–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Boomiraj K, Chakrabarti B, Aggarwal PK, Choudhary R, Chander S (2010) Assessing the vulnerability of Indian mustard to climate change. Agric Ecosys Environ 138:265–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das HP (1987) Some aspects of climatological resources and its application to agriculture in Madhya Pradesh. Ph.D. Dissertation, Poona University, India

  • Das L, Lohar D (2005) Construction of climate change scenarios for a tropical monsoon region. Clim Res 30:39–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fiscus EL, Reid CD, Miller JE, Heagle AS (1997) Elevated CO2 reduces O3 flux and O3-induced yield losses in soybeans: possible implications for elevated CO2 studies. J Exp Bot 48:307–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia M, Raes D, Jacobsen SE, Michel T (2007) Agro-climatic constraints for rain-fed agriculture in the Bolivian Altiplano. J Arid Environ 71:109–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geerts S, Raes D, Gracia M, Del Castillo C, Buytert W (2006) Agro-climatic suitability mapping for crop production in the Bolivia Altiplano: a case study for quinoa. Agric For Meteorol 139:399–412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves GH (1974) Precipitation dependability and potential for agricultural production in north-east Brazil. Bulletin. EMBRAPA and Utah State University, USA, Publication No. 74-D-159, pp.123

  • Hargreaves GH (1975) Water requirement manual for irrigated crops and rainfed agriculture. Bulletin. 75-D-158, Utah State University, Utah, USA.40 pp

  • Haris AVA, Biswas A, Vandana C, Elanchezhian E, Bhatt BP (2013) Impact of climate change on wheat and winter maize over a sub-humid climatic environment. Curr Sci 104(2):206–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Huda AKS, Sekaran JG, Virmani SM (1989) Agroclimate and crop production in sub humid zones of India. ICRISAT, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India, pp. 44

  • ICFA (2015) Indian micro irrigation market overview. www.icfa.org.in/assets/doc/reports/indian-micro- irrigation-market.pdf. Accessed 25 October 2018

  • IPCC (2013) Summary for policymakers. In: Climate Change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA

  • Kovilavani S, Geethalaksmi V, Arthirani B, Natarajan SK (2012) Variability of length of growing period in Coimbatore district. J Agrometeorol 14:368–371

    Google Scholar 

  • Maracchi G, Bacci L, Cantini C, Haimanot MT (1993) Effect of water deficit in vegetative and post-flowering phases on pearl millet grown in controller environment. Agric Med 123:65–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Marteau R, Sultan B, Moron V, Alhassane A, Baron C, Traore Seydou B (2011) The onset of the rainy season and farmers’ sowing strategy for pearl millet cultivation in Southwest Niger. Agric For Meteorol 151:1356–1369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michael AM (1978) Irrigation: theory and practice. Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd, New Delhi-110002, India, pp. 585–685

  • Pathak H, Ladha JK, Aggarwal PK, Peng S, Das S, Singh Y, Singh B, Kamra SK, Mishra B, Sastri ASRAS, Aggarwal HP, Das DK, Gupta RK (2003) Trends of climatic potential and on farm yield trends of rice and wheat in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Field Crops Res 80:223–234

  • Raes D, Sithole A, Makarau A, Milford J (2004) Evaluation of first planting dates recommended by criteria currently used in Zimbabwe. Agric For Meteorol 125:177–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramana Rao BV, Biradar BR, Surpur SS, Rao MG (1979) A climatological study on water availability to crops in different types of soils in Gulbarga region. J Indian Soc Soil Sci 27:441–445

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao GGSN, Vyas BM (1983) Risk analysis for kharif crop production under rainfed conditions in Nagaur district. Mausam 34(1):111–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Saha A, Khan SA, Das L (2012) An agrometeorological study for crop planning under rainfed condition. J Agrometeorol 14:346–350

  • Sarker RP, Biswas BC, Khambete NN (1982) Probability analysis of short period rainfall in dry farming tract of India. Mausam 33(3):269–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarker RP, Biswas BC (1986) Agroclimatic classification for assessment of crop potential and its application to dry farming tract. Mausam 37:27–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarker RP, Biswas BC (1988) A new approach for agroclimatic classification to find out crop potential. Mausam 39(4):343–358

    Google Scholar 

  • Sattar A (2015) Agroclimatic characterization for assessment of crop potential under rainfed condition in Bihar. Ph.D. Dissertation, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, West Bengal

  • Sattar A, Khan SA (2015) An agroclimatic approach for identifying sowing window and production potential of rainfed kharif maize in different districts of Bihar. Bioglobia 2(2):86–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Sattar A, Kumar Manish, Kumar Mithilesh, Vijaya Kumar P (2016) Agrometeorology of rice in Bihar state of India. DRPCAU, Pusa (Samastipur), pp.47

  • Singh N, Sontakke NA (2002) On climate fluctuations and environmental changes of the Indo-Gangetic plains in India. Climate Change 52:287–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sivakumar MVK (1988) Predicting rainy season potential from the onset of rains in southern Sahelian and Sudanian climatic zones of West Africa. Agric Forest Meteorol 42:295–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subba Rao K, Ram Mohan Rao M (1985) A climatic assessment of crop potential in Andhar Pradesh. Mausam 36(1):43–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Thom HCS (1958) A note on gamma distribution. Mont Weather Rev 86(4):117–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornthwaite CW and Mather JR (1955) The water balance: publication in climatology, Drexel Institute of Technology, New Jersey 8: 1–104

  • Tilahun K (2006) Analysis of rainfall climate and evapo-transpiration in arid and semi-arid regions of Ethiopia using data over the last half a century. J Arid Environ 6:474–487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaksmann M, Traoré SB, Niangado O (1996) Le photo-périodisme des sorghos africains. Agriculture et Development 9: 13–18

  • Venkateswarlu B, Prasad JVNS (2012) Carrying capacity of Indian agriculture: issues related to rainfed agriculture. Curr Sci 102(6):882–888

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abdus Sattar.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sattar, A., Khan, S.A., Banerjee, S. et al. Assessing sowing window and water availability of rainfed crops in eastern Indian state of Bihar for climate smart agricultural production. Theor Appl Climatol 137, 2321–2334 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2741-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2741-9

Navigation