Technological Interventions in Management of Irrigated Agriculture

With a roster of international contributors, this volume offers an abundance of solutions to address agricultural water management challenges in today’s water-scarce areas of the world. The authors present studies on farmer-friendly irrigation scheduling methods, model-based analysis of crop water requirements, ways to optimize surface irrigation systems, and hydraulic design and management of surface water systems. The book goes on to highlight ways to improve soil properties by taking into account spatial, temporal, and spectral variability in soil properties. The volume also covers various innovative research studies on soil and water productivity of vegetable cultivation under water-stressed areas, application of coir geotextiles, and the role of biofertilizers in controlling soil degradation and maintaining fertile topsoil. Crop management strategies to enhance the efficient use of marginal and saline lands for nonconventional crops are also discussed.

The book is divided into four sections, covering:

• engineering interventions in irrigation management
• technological interventions in management of soil properties
• technological inventions for soil and water conservation
• crop management for non-conventional use

This volume will serve as an invaluable resource for academicians, researchers, engineers, agronomists, extension officers, students, and farmers in the broad discipline of agricultural and biological engineering.

Megh R. Goyal, PhD, PE, is a Retired Professor in Agricultural and Biomedical Engineering from the General Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at University of Puerto Rico–Mayaguez Campus; and Senior Acquisitions Editor and Senior Technical Editor-in-Chief in Agriculture and Biomedical Engineering for Apple Academic Press Inc. He has worked as a Soil Conservation Inspector and as a Research Assistant at Haryana Agricultural University and Ohio State University. He was the first agricultural engineer to receive the professional license in Agricultural Engineering in 1986 from the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico. On September 16, 2005, he was proclaimed as "Father of Irrigation Engineering in Puerto Rico for the twentieth century" by the ASABE, Puerto Rico Section, for his pioneering work on micro irrigation, evapotranspiration, agroclimatology, and soil and water engineering. During his professional career of 45 years, he has received many prestigious awards. A prolific author and editor, he has written more than 200 journal articles and textbooks and has edited over 50 books.

Susmitha Nambuthiri, PhD, is a former postdoctoral scientist in the Horticulture Department of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. She has served as an agronomic resource professional with the state agriculture department of the Government of Kerala in India and has conducted several irrigation management projects across various crop production systems. She published more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, four book chapters, and more than 50 conference proceedings and abstracts in the area of optimizing soil and water management resources for sustainable crop production.

Richard Koech, PhD, is an Agricultural Engineer with diverse research interests that include irrigation engineering, agricultural water management, hydraulics and fluid mechanics, flow measurement and instrumentation, computational fluid dynamics, and, spatial analysis and GIS modeling. He is presently a Program Leader (Agricultural Water Management) at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia. His duties include research, teaching, and supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate research students. Dr. Koech has authored about 20 journal articles and conference papers. He has also written several book chapters and is a reviewer for many journals in his area of expertise. He worked as an Agricultural Engineer in the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya for nine years and later as a Lecturer at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), also in Kenya. Before joining the University of New England, Dr. Koech worked as a Research Engineer at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia. In his career, Dr. Koech has received scholarship awards from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to attend a short course at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in Japan; Australia Aid for International Development (AusAID) to pursue an MSc degree; and the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) to undertake PhD research.