Water productivity of Dalbergia sissoo L.-Paddy based agroforestry system in response to pruning, nitrogen application and varied seed rate

Abstract

Increasing water scarcity limits the amount of water available for food production and threatens food security in many countries. Increasing the water productivity is the utmost need of today. In the current study, the kharif water productivity of agroforestry, silviculture and agricultural practices was determined. In addition the trend of water productivity was evaluated in different treatments of tree pruning, nitrogen dose and seed rate. Study was carried out during kharif 2013 in the sub-tropical area of central India. The paddy equivalent water productivity of agroforestry (141.8 kg ha^-1 cm^-1) and silviculture (159.6 kg ha^-1 cm^-1) was at par but much higher than the agricultural (37.3 kg ha^-1 cm^-1) practice. Similar trend was observed for net economic water productivity of agroforestry (` 1921 ha<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-1</sup>), silviculture (` 2320 ha^-1 cm^-1) and agriculture (` 408 ha<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-1</sup>). Among pruning intensities, the light tree pruning of 25% gave significantly higher mean water productivity (194.8 kg ha<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-1</sup>) than no pruning and heavy pruning. The net mean economic water productivity was also higher in light tree pruning (` 2779 ha^-1 cm^-1) both in agroforestry and silviculture. The water productivity and net economic water productivity did not vary significantly in different nitrogen dose and seed rate under both agroforestry and agriculture. Agroforestry practices with 25% light tree pruning, recommended dose of nitrogen and seed rate may be preferred in view of kharif water productivity. It offers the best solution for food, fuel, fodder and timber in limited water resource.