S.S. Zambare and Amaresh Das
Abstract
Quality of fifty seven number irrigation water sources from Navsari district of Gujarat state (India) was evaluated during pre and post-monsoon seasons of 2010 in relation to their adverse effect on soil, crop visà - vis environment for their use in agricultural crops. Water samples were collected from randomly selected 10-12 villages from each of five talukas of Navsari district (Gujarat). EC (Electrical Conductivity) and SAR (Sodium Absorption Ratio) based results revealed that 77 % of pre-monsoon and 61 % of post-monsoon water samples belonged to ‘high (0.25 – 0.75 dsm-1) to very-very high (>3.0 dsm-1) salinity’ hazards coupled with ‘low (SAR < 10) to very high (SAR>26) or medium (SAR 10 to 18) sodicity’ hazard class, indicating possibility of creating varying degree of adversity in irrigated soils, crop yield and environment. However, degree of salinity and sodicity hazard of water was found to reduce in post monsoon samples. “EC, SAR and RSC (Residual Sodium Carbonate)” based water class showed that about 49 and 5 per cent pre and post - monsoon water samples respectively belonged to “high SAR saline” category, while about 21 and 9 per cent pre and post- monsoon samples respectively came under “high alkali” category. All these samples of above categories pointed to their higher degree of possible adverse (deterioration) effect on soil, crop yield and environment. Such water sources should not be used as direct source of irrigation to crops to avoid any detrimental effect on soil, crop yield and environment as well.