STUDIES ON SALT AND WATER BALANCE IN SECONDARY SALINISED DEEP BLACK SOILS OF UPPER KRISHNA CANAL COMMAND

The farmers’ fields provided with sub-surface pipe drainage were chosen for
observations to know the salt and water balance. The field investigations indicated
that irrigation is main source of incoming water followed by rain fall. Among the
different components of out-going water, evapo-transpiration dominated over runoff
and drain discharge. The water balance was in favour of storage during kharif
and depletion during rabi. More salts were added through the irrigation than
seepage during both kharif and rabi. A total of 0.87 and 1.57 t of salts were added to
1.5 ha study area during kharif and rabi seasons respectively in I-C lateral pipe
drains. The incoming salt was more during rabi than kharif. The entire salt was
leached only through the drain discharge in both I-I and I-C lateral pipe drains. The
salt balance was in favour of leaching indicating more removal than addition.
Therefore, drains are working efficiently in leaching of salts.