Characterization and Management: Groundwater and Rice Cultivation

The introduction of Green Revolution Agriculture(GRA)had paved the way for attaining self sufficiency in India, with respect to its food production. Major important component of GRA for increasing production is irrigation. Due to GRA, the ground water resources are exploited all over the country almost to its maximum potential.The combination of two major sectors (Agriculrure and Industries) in utilizing the ground waters of Pondicherry region had resulted in the salinization of water causing huge problems both for agriculture and industries. Further investigations had shown that the crops were affected by hydrogen sulphide injury, which has resulted due to irrigating with sulphate rich water and submergence for a longer period of time. The source of sulphate in the ground waters was identified to be the sea water which has intruded into the ground water due to over exploitation of ground water aquifers. Keeping all the these points in mind, Agro - Ecologically sustainable management practices are demonstrated in this text book to mitigate the poor quality of ground water as well as to reclaim the sulphate rich soils in the rice bowl region of coastal Agro Ecosystems.