In the eastern India, rainfed area occupies nearly two-third of its total cultivable area. Rice is the predominant crop which is no more beneficial to farmers of the region due to its low yield. So there is a need to change in a cropping system and to find better crop substitution which can give more returns to the farmers than the existing system. With this view, the study was conducted at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur to evaluate rice and sweetcorn based cropping system for rainfed upland ecosystem of Eastern India. For this purpose two cropping systems, rice-peanut and sweetcorn-peanut were taken into consideration. Two crop growth simulation models viz., CERES-rice and CERES-maize of DSSAT v4.0 (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer) were used to simulate the rice and maize yield of the region using historical weather data at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur for the years 1978 to 2007. The field experiment was carried out and the experimental data of yield components (yield and top weight) for the years 2009 to 2011 were used to calibrate and validate both the models. The comparative assessment of economic feasibility of the cropping systems (rice-peanut and sweetcorn-peanut) was also carried out to identify suitable cropping system for the region. The results of the models validated statistically which revealed that the models can predict the yield components with high accuracy. The net income from 1 hectare for rice-peanut and sweetcorn-peanut cropping pattern was Rs. 64415 and Rs. 90330, respectively. So it was concluded from the study that, for the rainfed upland ecosystem of Eastern India, sweetcornpeanut cropping system was more beneficial than rice-peanut cropping system. Sweetcorn-peanut cropping system can be adopted for the sustainable development in the region.KEY WORDS : CERES-maize, CERES-rice, Cropping system, DSSAT T v4.0, Rainfed HOW TO CITE THIS PAPER : Ubarhande, V.P. and Panda, S.N. (2014). Evaluation of rice and sweetcorn-based cropping system for rainfed upland ecosystem of Eastern India. Internat. J. Agric. Engg., 7(2) : 285-292.

Water balance study on Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Sindewahi, Distt.Chandrpur was conducted on 9 open wells during the rainfall 2005-06. During the year total rainfall received was only 1422 mm. The study indicated that the availability of total water balance during the year was about 964.94 mm (67.84 %) of the total rainfall. Out of the total rainfall 8per cent was surface runoff, about 18.67 per cent ground water recharge (Yg) and 37 per cent soil moisture storage. Maximum (75.45 ham) ground water storage was observed in the month of September followed by 63.45 ham in the month August and minimum (16.50 ham) in the month of June. The monthly ground water fluctuations were determined by considering the month of May as the driest season. The average ground water level was found higher 455 cm in the month of September and maximum seasonal fluctuation of ground water level was observed in well No. 2 i.e. 612 cm. The study indicated the annual status of ground water potential.

The micro irrigation is one of the water saving method of irrigation being employed at large in various countries. Government of Maharashtra has given more emphasis to micro-irrigation system and adopting them on large scale to save water. Drip irrigation is a novel irrigation method in India. The advantage of drip irrigation is that liquid fertilizers can be added in the irrigation water. It also diminishes leaching of nutrients. The installation costs are too high for the production of most annual crops but the production of high value perennial crops is economically profitable. An experiment was conducted at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Sindewahi, distt. Chandrapur, to study the performance of drip irrigation on growth and development of horticultural crops viz., mango, sapota and cashew nut at Ranwadi Water shed during the year 2002-03 to 2004-05. The result revealed the effect of drip irrigation treatment on growth and development of mango, sapota and cashew nut. It was found that the treatment 40 litres water day -1 plant -1 through drip was found superior than all other other treatment in respect of height (30.33), canopy (1043) and diameter (2.92) stem of mango plant. In respect of sapota plant, treatment 60 litre waterday -1 plant -1 was found satisfactorily superior in respect of height (28.4), canopy (787) and diameter (2.82) stem of sapota plant. In respect of cashew nut plant the treatment 60 litre of water alternate day -1 plant -1 were found statistically significant and they were at par in case of height (33.70), canopy (1341) and diameter (3.18) stem of Cashew nut plant. HOW TO CITE THIS PAPER : Mhaske, A.R., Taley, S.M. and Ubarhande, V.P. (2014). Performance of drip irrigation on growth and development of horticultural crop at Ranwadi water shed. Internat. J. Agric. Engg., 7(2) : 378-383.