Textbook of Irrigation and Water Management

Agriculture is the largest enterprise in India and it became the most significant entity on which economy of our country is mainly focused. Even though, our country is characterized as rainfed, in this context, after independence major efforts were taken for creation of irrigation resources by constructing dams, reservoirs etc. to accelerate the area under crop production. In this background government has taken serious efforts to boost up water resources in the country. Proper management and utilization of our water resources are the needs of the hour. The irrigation development projects have been constructed largely with a view to increase area under cultivation throughout the entire year. If the cropping intensity increases drastically, the sector will shift from a self-sustaining to an export oriented one. Era of natural resource management comes in existence for sustainability in agriculture production as water is the most important natural commodity and cant be created artificially. This book helps to bridge the gap between the past experiences, present scenario and future roads by discussing the history of irrigation in India, water resources of the world and India, water movement in soil, the role in plants, soil moisture measurement, irrigation scheduling, methods of irrigation and various techniques in-relation to principles of irrigation are illustrated and summarized. The book will be very helpful for undergraduate degree programme throughout the country. With the current changes in the syllabus, the book is based on the latest Recommendations of the 5th Deans Committee.