Mukund Patil

International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics | ICRISAT · ICRISAT Developmet Center

This report is for soil health mapping and to make the soil health mapping mission of GoI productive

Groundwater augmentation through rainwater harvesting has become a prime strategy to address water security and cope with the impact of climate change, especially in semi-arid regions. Increased water availability due to groundwater augmentation and its impact on rainfed agriculture has been well documented, but its impact on groundwater quality wa...

Legumes occupy very important place in food systems for being the main source of protein for very large vegetarian population globally as such and an important component of sustainable agriculture because of their unique ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen biologically. However, productivity and production in legumes is quite low to commensurate wi...

Agricultural water management (AWM) interventions in Kothapally watershed enhanced provisional, regulating, and supporting ecosystem services. Kothapally watershed, which was in degraded stage before 1999, is transformed into highly productive stage through science-led natural resource management interventions. A number of AWM interventions such as...

The integrated watershed management approach is proved to be a suitable strategy for achieving holistic development in the semi-arid and arid regions through collective action. Among various livelihood options, livestock sector has emerged as one of the fastest-growing agricultural sub-sectors in India. However, there exists considerable scope for...

Microbial community constitute a major component of constructed wetlands (CWs), playing a major role in these systems capacities for treating wastewater. Constructed wetland system has a hydraulic regime, although the volume of inflow in the wetland is never the same as the outflow. Wetland are either of Free Water Surface (FWS) or Subsurface Flow...

The aim of this work was to study algal floway (AFW) to treat urban wastewater and to evaluate biomass productivity, lipid contents and biodiesel production. The results indicated the seasonal average algae productivity of 34.83 g dry weight m ² d ⁻¹ with a nutrient removal rate of 2.52 g m ² d ⁻¹ N and 1.25 g m ² d ⁻¹ P while the lipid content ran...

A lab scale experiment was conducted to assess the effects of anaerobic and aerobic treated brewery wastewater on seed germination and growth parameters of selected crop species like cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), mustard (Brassica nigra), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). Two wastewater samples were collected from efflu...

Purpose Composting is an environmentally sustainable alternative for bioconversion of agricultural residues into a nutrient-rich product that can enhance soil fertility/microbial diversity and thereby improve agricultural productivity. The goal of the current study was to evaluate the decomposition pattern of the agro-residues and assess the maturi...

Asian Paints Limited and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) collaborated to improve rural livelihoods through integrated watershed development programme. Six villages in Patancheru mandal of Medak district, Telangana, India covering an area of 7143 ha were selected in consultation with the local community for...

Unabated soil degradation due to low soil organic carbon (C) levels, multiple nutrient deficiencies including micro and secondary nutrients, rising salinity and soil loss due to erosion jeopardizes food security of swiftly rising global population projected to be 9.7 billion by 2050. Soils also play a major role in global C cycling and huge C seque...

This book with 13 chapters presents various efforts across India, made by different corporates in collaboration with ICRISAT. It describes how in each location, cutting across the sectors, both the corporate and a research organization have meticulously designed and executed location- specific projects in the interest of enhancing livelihoods and i...

Good sanitation and access to clean water, though prerequisites for healthy living, remain elusive for resource-poor rural communities living in the semi-arid tropics. Sustainable wastewater management, using constructed wetlands and implemented on a community scale, not only brings the possibility of healthy and hygienic living but also increases...

Brewing industry releases large quantities of wastewater after product generation. Brewery wastewater contains organic compounds which are biodegradable in nature. These biodegradable wastes can be recycled and reused and hence considered as suitable products for agriculture. But before using wastewater for agriculture, it is better to evaluate the...

Pathogen removal is essential for wastewater treatment and its potential reuse in agriculture. Three field-scale wastewater treatment systems consisting of free surface flow were operated around 1.5 years receiving water from urban domestic, rural domestic and industrial sources. The study was conducted to evaluate seasonal performance of construct...

Ageratum conyzoides were evaluated in a field scale subsurface flow constructed wetlands (CWs) to quantify its nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) uptake and compare with wetland plants (Pistia Stratiotes, Typha latifolia and Canna indica). The two-field scale subsurface flow CWs located in International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics,...

• Sustainable soil health management is a critical challenge for India and studies have shown that soils in many parts of the country suffer from widespread multiple nutritional deficiencies (ranging from 18 to 100%). This is a major constraint in improving crop yields and realizing the full potential of agriculture. • The situation is further comp...

In the semi-arid tropics (SAT) farmers practice calendar- based irrigation scheduling, which generally results in over irrigation and poor water use efficiency. The lack of a simple decision tool to decide timing and quantity of water to be applied is a bottleneck. An Excel-based decision support system termed Water Impact Calculator (WIC) is devel...

The disparity between volume of wastewater generated and treated has resulted in severe water pollution and eutrophication of the water bodies in most Indian cities. Constructed wetlands (CWs) present a low-cost wastewater treatment option; however, field scale studies with real life wastewater are limited. Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth), Ty...

Large variability and uncertainty of rainfall are the main limiting factors for crop growth in rainfed agriculture. Agriculture water management interventions are considered as suitable adoption strategy to enhance crop yield, productivity and income in rainfed condition. Three-year experimental data collected at the International Crops Research In...

Water scarcity and elevated potential in wastewater treatment in the last decades raise attention towards constructed wetlands (CWs). The present study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of CW for faecal coliform (FC) expulsion and to isolate and characterize the microbial communities. Significant differences were observed between influent an...

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are human-made systems, designed to treat a variety of industrial, domestic and agricultural wastewaters. This study investigated the efficiency of domestic wastewater treatment by two field scale subsurface flow CWs under different hydraulic loading rates (HLRs). Each CW had inlet and outlet chamber for wastewater collec...

The disparity between volume of wastewater generated and treated has resulted in severe water pollution and eutrophication of the water bodies in most Indian cities. Constructed wetlands (CWs) present a low-cost wastewater treatment option; however, field scale study with real life wastewater is limited. Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth), Typha...

The irrigation water scarcity in the dry-lands of the world is an emerging global challenge. There is an urgent need to raise awareness as well as provide economical solutions to abate the risk of raw wastewater irrigation, an emerging practice mainly in the peri-urban areas. The present study focuses on exploring the potential of free surface cons...

Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is a biofuel crop, which can be grown under tropical rainfed conditions without sacrificing food and fodder security. Three sweet sorghum cultivars (CSH 22 SS, NTJ 2 and ICSV 93046) with two row spacings (60 and 45 cm) and six nitrogen levels (0, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 kg ha−1) were grown on Vertisols d...

Biofuel production from feed stocks grown on wastelands is considered as a means to address concerns about climate change and improve energy security while at the same time provide an additional source of income for improving livelihood. The establishment of biomass plantations on wastelands is likely to affect local livelihoods and surrounding eco...

Seepage and percolation (SP) loss of water is a major reason behind the poor water productivity in wetland rice. Recent studies have indicated that preferential water flow through bunds around rice fields is primarily responsible for high SP loss in rice. To prevent such water loss, we took advantage of a critical observation made by Huang et al. (...

Polymer-coated urea (PCU) is an important alternative to uncoated urea for improving nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE). Only a few studies discuss their utility for lowland rice systems. A 2-year field study was conducted to examine if nitrogen loading is reduced in lowland rice ecosystem by using mixture of PCU and uncoated urea without sacrificin...