Track 2-6-2: Forests, Agroforestry and Wildlife towards Integrated, Productive Landscapes

Description

Globally land degradation affects about one sixth of the world population. In India, about 120 m ha area is affected with different kinds of land degradation. Under such situation, horti-pasture system provides best and economic alternative in conjunction with in-situ soil moisture conservation in general and semi-arid tropics in particular. India supports 55% buffaloes, 16% cattle, 20 % goats and about 4% sheep with deficit of 35% green fodder (525.51 mt), 10% dry fodder (453.28 mt) and 44% feed (28.4 mt) (IGFRI Vision, 2050). The per capita/day availability of fruits is 85 g as compared to average requirement of 120 g (CISH Vision, 2050). The above target could be achieved through adopting horti-pasture system in degraded land in combination of in-situ moisture conservation practices with suitable fruit and forage specie. Aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) is an important fruit crop and grown commercially because of its high economic return, therapeutic and neutraceutical value and its suitability for marginal lands (Kumar and Chaubey, 2008). Stylosanthes seabrana is perennial legume having good persistency under semi-arid condition and well adapted to tropical and subtropical environments with summer-dominant rainfall between 500-1,000 mm and very drought tolerant (Maass and Mannetje, 2002). Cenchrus ciliaris is also an important pasture easy to establish and provides comparatively high value forage suitable for direct feeding as well as quality hay (Trivedi, 2010).

Establishment of hortipasture system in semi-arid tropicsis challenging task due to topography, soil and water related constraints. In-situ soil moisture conservation facilitates surface water to concentrate in one area, around the base of a newly planted tree (Samra, 2010 and Singh et al., 2008). Keeping above facts in view an experiment was conducted to evaluate different soil and moisture conservation measures for sustaining productivity with Aonla based hortipasture system at experimental farm of IGFRI, Jhansi, U. P. India.

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Sustaining Productivity in Aonla Based Hortipasture System through In-Situ Soil Moisture Conservation in Semi-Arid Region of India

Globally land degradation affects about one sixth of the world population. In India, about 120 m ha area is affected with different kinds of land degradation. Under such situation, horti-pasture system provides best and economic alternative in conjunction with in-situ soil moisture conservation in general and semi-arid tropics in particular. India supports 55% buffaloes, 16% cattle, 20 % goats and about 4% sheep with deficit of 35% green fodder (525.51 mt), 10% dry fodder (453.28 mt) and 44% feed (28.4 mt) (IGFRI Vision, 2050). The per capita/day availability of fruits is 85 g as compared to average requirement of 120 g (CISH Vision, 2050). The above target could be achieved through adopting horti-pasture system in degraded land in combination of in-situ moisture conservation practices with suitable fruit and forage specie. Aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) is an important fruit crop and grown commercially because of its high economic return, therapeutic and neutraceutical value and its suitability for marginal lands (Kumar and Chaubey, 2008). Stylosanthes seabrana is perennial legume having good persistency under semi-arid condition and well adapted to tropical and subtropical environments with summer-dominant rainfall between 500-1,000 mm and very drought tolerant (Maass and Mannetje, 2002). Cenchrus ciliaris is also an important pasture easy to establish and provides comparatively high value forage suitable for direct feeding as well as quality hay (Trivedi, 2010).

Establishment of hortipasture system in semi-arid tropicsis challenging task due to topography, soil and water related constraints. In-situ soil moisture conservation facilitates surface water to concentrate in one area, around the base of a newly planted tree (Samra, 2010 and Singh et al., 2008). Keeping above facts in view an experiment was conducted to evaluate different soil and moisture conservation measures for sustaining productivity with Aonla based hortipasture system at experimental farm of IGFRI, Jhansi, U. P. India.