Irrigation and Water Management

This book is primarily meant for undergraduate and postgraduate students of agriculture horticulture forestry and agricultural engineering. It would also be useful for agronomists irrigation engineers agricultural engineers ecologists agricultural officers and all others working in the field of water management. Thus the book has two major objectives to serve as a textbook for teaching “irrigation and drainage” or “water management” and act as a handbook for those involved in research and extension activities related to water management in agriculture. The stress is directed towards small holder irrigation in the tropics. The book covers most of the relevant areas of agricultural water management in 15 chapters. Contents 1.Water resources management; 2. Soil properties influencing water relations; 3. Nature of soil water; 4. Soil-plant-water relationships; 5. Crop water use; 6. Scheduling irrigation to crops; 7. Methods of irrigation; 8. Micro irrigation; 9. Quality of irrigation water; 10. Water management of major crops other than rice; 11. Water management in rice; 12. Measurement of irrigation water; 13. Increasing water productivity; 14. Agricultural drainage; and 15. Wetlands and their management About the author Dr C. George Thomas had been with the Kerala Agricultural University for a long time in various capacities and retired from regular service as Professor & Head Department of Agronomy. He also held the post of Dean College of Agriculture Thrissur and acted on various academic bodies including the Board of studies and Academic Council of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) and Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). For a brief period Dr. Thomas worked as the Director of Research Integrated Rural Technology Centre Palakkad as well. Presently he is the Chairman of Kerala State Biodiversity Board. He obtained MSc (Ag) in agronomy from the Kerala Agricultural University and PhD from the Indian Agricultural Research Ins