Studies on subsurface drainage were carried out on silty clay and clay soils in Gundur village from 2015 to 2016. The mean pH of samples ranged from 8.16 to 8.35 before sowing and 8.21 to 8.41 after harvesting and before sowing the electrical conductivity ranged from 10.92 to 14.65 dS m -1 and 9.28 to 13.68 dS m -1 after harvesting. Similarly, the Ca 2+ +Mg 2+ and Na + values were in the range of 34.01 to 37.14 and 10.47 to 12.89 Meq/100g before sowing of crops, after harvesting of the crops results obtained were in range of 33.34 to 36.92, 10.92 to 12.16 Meq/100g of soil. The ESP values were in the range of 15.11 to 17.74 before sowing and 13.86 to 16.69 after harvesting of crop. A glance at results reveals that pH was observed to be increased due to sodic nature of soil and excess application of the fertilizer. ESP was noticed to be reduced in smaller amount as compared to pre-sowing conditions, gypsum needed to be applied in required amount in order to turn the soil from sodicity to non-sodic soils. Finally, the yield was observed to be increased as 52.50 q ha -1 as compared to pre drainage conditions of 38.50 q ha -1 .

Protected cultivation of high value vegetables has tremendous potential and it has been gaining momentum from the last decade. With the progress of economy and the advent of improved technologies in agriculture, protected cultivation is being given lot of impetus. An experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of different protected structures on growth and yield of capsicum cv. Indira, in semi-arid region during 2017-18 and 2018-19 in the fields of AICRP on Plasticulture Engineering Technology, Raichur, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur. There were four treatments with five replications in the experiment consisting of different protective structures i.e., polyhouse, shade net and sides opened shade net with open field condition as a control. Protective structures had remarkable and significant influence on plant growth and yield parameters of capsicum. The capsicum grown under polyhouse exhibited higher plant height (71.67 cm), number of branches (13.90), number of leaves (75.56), rind thickness (0.55 cm) and chlorophyll content (92.16%), with maximum yield (2.70 kg/plant & 85.39 t/ha). On contrary, the mean per cent severity of powdery mildew was more under open field condition (52.60) followed by poly house condition (48.40), whereas the severity of powdery mildew is less in closed shade net (16.00) and sides opened shade net (16.40). Added to this, the water and fertilizer use efficiency was more in polyhouse compared to other structures and open condition. The results indicated that there is a bright scope for cultivation of capsicum under polyhouse.

An investigation was undertaken to evaluate the impact of distillery spentwash on soil enzyme activity and microbial dynamics. The pH of the untreated spentwash was acidic whereas the treated spentwash was alkaline in nature. The total solid contents of the untreated, primary and secondary treated spentwash were 83,000, 46,000 and 31,000 mg 1 respectively. The untreated and treated spentwash were rich in plant nutrients and in addition treated spentwash recorded appreciable amount of microbial load and enhanced enzyme activity. The field experiment which was taken up with various levels of spentwash being applied as one time land application prior to crop cultivation revealed that the application of spentwash to soil grown with maize crop recorded higher amylase and catalase enzyme activity. In addition spentwash application also showed significant increase with respect to microbial population viz. bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and Azotobacter. However, the effect of long term application of spentwash on physico-chemical and biological properties of soil and the impact on ground water quality should be carefully monitored.