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The delta is the largest in the world and covers about 890 000 km2. The major part of the Sunderbans is in agricultural use for its dense and fast-growing population. The Central Soil Salinity Research Institute/CSSRI at Karnal, Haryana, has a research station at Canning town, West Bengal, India, to study the reclamation of coastal saline soils. Th...
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... surface drainage system resembles to some extent the raised-bed systems used for agriculture in many wetlands of the world. Figure 8 shows the principles of the raised-bed system. Beds are formed over the entire length of the field with soil borrowed from the inter-bed areas (the basins), which have the same width as the beds. ...
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Conventional free subsurface drainage practices in the Moghan Plan, in northwest Iran, result in low irrigation efficiency and excessive volumes of drainage water causing extensive environmental problems. Controlled drainage (CD) is promoted to boost crop yields and reduce subsurface drainage flows and leaching of nutrients. This study was conducte...
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... Thus, water management in the coastal plains should principally revolve round creating more fresh surface water sources and their proper management with little dependence on the sub-surface source in order to maintain stability of the ecosystem. Sen and Oosterbaan (1992) presented a practical working method on integrated water management for Sundarbans through surface gravity induced drainage during summer / wet season (through land shaping)-cum-excess rainwater storage for irrigation during dry season. They computed for the same region drainable surplus, which may be stored for irrigation during dry (deficit) period. ...
Soil degradation in West Bengal is estimated to be occurring in 21,40,000 hectares of land, covering about 25% of the total geographic area of the state. Major cause of soil degradation is water erosion which affects 14% area of the state. Other significant causes are soil acidity, soil salinity and waterlogging. Some agricultural practices such as continuous cropping with limited supply of organic amendments, using high analysis chemical fertilizers, removal of crop residues and excessive tillage are the reasons for soil degradation. The negative effects of faulty agricultural practices on soils of the concerned areas are: decline in soil organic carbon, loss of soil fertility and contamination of soil with arsenic. The most promising strategies to restore degraded soils of the state are to develop appropriate site-specific management practices so that soil organic carbon is increased, soil fertility is enhanced and all forms of erosion are reduced. This will enable us to meet rapidly increasing food, feed, fiber, and fuel needs of our population, while protecting our vital soil resources.
... Sen and Oosterbaan [83] presented a practical working method on integrated water management for Sundarbans through surface gravity induced drainage during the rainy season (through land shaping)-cum-excess rainwater storage for irrigation during dry season. Ambast and Sen [84] developed a user-friendly software 'RAINSIM' primarily for small holdings in the Sundarbans region based on hydrological processes, as well as in different agro-climatic regions. ...
Sustainability 2015, 7, 3528-3570;
... Sen and Oosterbaan [83] presented a practical working method on integrated water management for Sundarbans through surface gravity induced drainage during the rainy season (through land shaping)-cum-excess rainwater storage for irrigation during dry season. Ambast and Sen [84] developed a user-friendly software 'RAINSIM' primarily for small holdings in the Sundarbans region based on hydrological processes, as well as in different agro-climatic regions. ...
Soil degradation in India is estimated to be occurring on 147 million hectares (Mha) of land, including 94 Mha from water erosion, 16 Mha from acidification, 14 Mha from flooding, 9 Mha from wind erosion, 6 Mha from salinity, and 7 Mha from a combination of factors. This is extremely serious because India supports 18% of the world's human population and 15% of the world's livestock population, but has only 2.4% of the world's land area. Despite its low proportional land area, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries account for 17% of the gross domestic product and employs about 50% of the total workforce of the country. Causes of soil degradation are both natural and human-induced. Natural causes include earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, avalanches, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods, tornadoes, and wildfires. Human-induced soil degradation results from land clearing and deforestation, inappropriate agricultural practices, improper management of industrial effluents and wastes, over-grazing, careless management of forests, surface mining, urban sprawl, and commercial/industrial development. Inappropriate agricultural practices include excessive tillage and use of heavy machinery, excessive and unbalanced use of inorganic fertilizers, poor irrigation and water management techniques, pesticide overuse, inadequate crop residue and/or organic carbon inputs, and poor crop cycle planning. Some underlying social causes of soil degradation in India are land shortage, decline in per capita land availability, economic pressure on land, land tenancy, poverty, and population increase. In this review of land degradation in India, we summarize (1) the main causes of soil degradation in different agro-climatic regions; (2) research results documenting both soil degradation and soil health improvement in various agricultural systems; and (3) potential solutions to improve soil health in different regions using a variety of conservation agricultural approaches.
Agriculture is the major activity next to the fishing of the poor villagers of the region of Sundarban which are growing up dependent on the cultivated area which is free from salinity. But nowadays the changing climates and socio-economic conditions of the island dwellers influence the cropping pattern of the region to be changed into many aspects.
The Sundarbans is an agglomeration of about 200 islands, separated by some 400 interconnected tidal rivers, creeks and canals spanning across two neighbouring countries of India and Bangladesh. It is the habitat of world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest and abode for the enigmatic Royal Bengal Tiger. The area, over time, has been continuously truncated in size and at present it is approximately three-fifths the size of what existed 200 years ago (about 16,700 km²), the rest having been cleared and converted for agriculture and allied activities. Of the present expanse of 10,217 km², 4262 km² (41.7%) is in India. About half of the area in India (2320 km²) is land mass. The rest 5955 km² (58.3%) is in Bangladesh. The eco-region has huge ecological significance in terms of the deluge of ecological services and functions for human welfare. But unbridled and naive anthropogenic avarice is taking a heavy toll of Sundarbans’ resources in both the countries ripping people of the region off their precious livelihoods. There is a need for concerted efforts by all players transcending the international border for its ecological sustenance. A succinct overview of Sundarbans comprising of its structure, its historical progression, its ecological and economic value, its challenges and livelihood of people in it is chronicled in this introductory piece for the book.
Suspended particulate matter (SPM) was collected by using high volume samplers (HVS) from two different locations: Bay of Bengal (BoB) and State Botanical Garden (SBG) situated in the eastern part of India. The SPM samples were collected on Whatman No.41 filter papers. The samples were simultaneously collected daily from both the locations during March 17–April 1, 2006. The average SPM concentration over BoB and SBG was found to be 39.05 and 78.14μg/m3 respectively. Na+ and SO42− were the most dominant water-soluble constituents over BoB and SBG respectively. The ratio of SO42−/NO3− concentrations in both the cases was observed to be >1 indicating that the contribution of atmospheric acidity was more due to SO42− than NO3−. From intra-correlation analysis it is found that at both the locations, Na+ and Cl− were well correlated while SO42−-Ca2+ and SO42−-NH4+ were poorly correlated indicating the later ion pairs to be derived from different sources. The Windrose diagrams for wind speed and direction show that for SBG, the wind blew from the SE and SW directions and brought in pollutants from soil and anthropogenic sources. In case of BoB, the wind parcels mostly were blown from the land mass (EES direction) showing the influence of anthropogenic pollutants on the marine aerosols. All the variables can be classified into three factors using principal component analyses technique. It explained 85% of total variance.
