Solar Drip Irrigation Kit (SDIK) Sustaining the Mulberry Productivity under Rainfed Sericulture

Abstract

In recent years, mulberry becomes one of the important cash crops in India and it is the only sole food crop to feed the silkworm (Bombyx mori).Water scarcity creates significant impact on quality mulberry leaf production which in turn determines the silk productivity. Importantly, rainfed sericulture contributes majorly to the overall silk production in the country. But inconsistence and erratic rainfall pattern greatly affects the mulberry productivity and its sustainability. Maintaining adequate soil moisture in the plant root zone is one of the important agronomic practices in order to obtain higher mulberry productivity in rainfed sericulture. In this context, run-off rain water in the farm can be collected and stored in the surface tank or farm pond for future supplemental irrigation during non-rainy season. A device with solar pump based drumkit drip irrigation system has been developed for effective irrigation management in the rainfed mulberry cultivation. It is an eco-friendly and efficient system to supply the water and nutrients directly at the plant root zone. The study was undertaken at Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Berhampore with an objective to explore the effect of solar drip irrigation technology on mulberry productivity. Solar drip irrigation system was established in the experimental garden as follows: a) a water drum of approximately 1000 litre capacity was placed at a height of 5 feet from the above ground level b) From the water drum, water was conveyed to the main field using PVC pipes after filtering through screen filter c) One conventional inline drip lateral (12 mm OD; 2.4 lph) was fixed in every mulberry row with a lateral spacing of 90 cm d)Surface storage tank was constructed to collect and store the run-off rainwater. e) 0.25 HP solar based nano pump was used for lifting water from surface tank to the overhead water tank. f) 80 Wp solar photovoltaic panel was installed to generate solar electricity in order to run the solar nano pump. The experiment consisted of three irrigation systems: Solar Drip Irrigation Kit (SDIK), Conventional Drip Irrigation (CDI) and Surface Irrigation (SI). SDIK system was performed at par with CDI system in terms of mulberry growth and yield attributes. There was 37% improvement in SDIK in leaf yield against SI. Moreover, when water applied through SDIK resulted in the water saving by 24% as compared to that of SI. Besides, significant improvement in water productivity by 44% was recorded in comparison to SI. The present study clearly indicated that SDIK is an innovative approach for efficient irrigation management in order to sustain the mulberry productivity in the rainfed areas. This system would be highly suitable and affordable to small and marginal rainfed sericulture farmers.