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Weather and climate is a natural resource which is considered as a basic input in agricultural planning. It affects all the agricultural activities directly or indirectly. Agrometeorology is primarily concerned with the interactions among meteorological, hydrological and pedological factors that influence production systems in agriculture and allied sectors like horticulture, animal husbandry, fishery, forestry, etc.
Since agrometeorology is multidisciplinary in nature it has a well defined approach in theory and applications. Thus, a good understanding of the interrelationships that exist among all the concerned disciplines is required. An agrometeorologist defines all these interactions and correlates physical environments to biological responses and applies the acquired and relevant meteorological skills to help farmers for exploiting weather conditions to improve agricultural production both in quality and quantity.
In this backdrop, agrometeorology has been recommended as a core subject in the curriculum of the state agricultural universities. Keeping this in view, an effort has been made to write a textbook on agrometeorology which would be useful to the students as well as to the teachers. The common people, who watch weather phenomenon and take an interest in it, would also find it worth reading.
This book is primarily based on the syllabus of the course ‘Agricultural Meteorology’ meant for under graduate students of agriculture, horticulture and forestry. This book has been divided into twenty three chapters covering all aspects of agrometeorology. Concepts, definition, importance and scope, history and future needs of agrometeorology are described in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 details the basic information of atmosphere. Chapter 3 to chapter 13 include the weather parameters like radiation, temperature, humidity, evaporation, fog and dew, pressure, wind, clouds, monsoon and precipitation and their importance in agriculture. Applied aspects of meteorology like climatic hazards, agroclimatic classification, micrometeorology of crops, weather in relation to crop pests and diseases, weather in relation to animal production, climate change, weather forecasting, remote sensing and crop simulation modelling are discussed in Chapter 14 to chapter 22. Chapter 23 describes the features of an agrometeorological observatory.
In writing this book, the literature on agrometeorology developed by various organisations, agencies and institutes like WMO, FAO, NOAA, BOM, MAFF, IPCC, NASA, IMD, NDMA, CRIDA, ICRISAT, ICAR, AICRPAM, etc. is freely used. I am thankful to the organisations permitting me to quote or cite their literature in the text. I extend my sincere thanks to the authors and editors of various books, journals and periodicals which have been used as reference material in this book. Every care has been taken to cite the bibliographic references. However, any omissions, misrepresentations, incorrect citations or other mistakes that may have occurred are regretted.
The preparation of this book was not supported by any research grant, fellowship or other form of financial support.
I am indebted to my friend Dr Ranjan Kumar Patra, Professor (Soil Science), Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar who has meticulously edited every word of the manuscript. I am grateful to my colleagues in the All India Coordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming Systems and College of Agriculture, OUAT, Bhubaneswar for their help in various ways during the preparation of this textbook.
I express my gratitude to the New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi for bringing out the book timely and nicely.
I am thankful to my wife Jharashree and daughter Prachurya for their constant support and encouragement. I also express my indebtedness and gratitude to my beloved parents who are a constant source of inspiration to me throughout my academic journey.
This book is dedicated in the memory of my loving niece Anisha Dey who passed away prematurely in the course of preparation of the manuscript.
Weather and climate is a natural resource which is considered as a basic input in agricultural planning. It affects all the agricultural activities directly or indirectly. Agrometeorology is primarily concerned with the interactions among meteorological, hydrological and pedological factors that influence production systems in agriculture and allied sectors like horticulture, animal husbandry, fishery, forestry, etc.
Since agrometeorology is multidisciplinary in nature it has a well defined approach in theory and applications. Thus, a good understanding of the interrelationships that exist among all the concerned disciplines is required. An agrometeorologist defines all these interactions and correlates physical environments to biological responses and applies the acquired and relevant meteorological skills to help farmers for exploiting weather conditions to improve agricultural production both in quality and quantity.
In this backdrop, agrometeorology has been recommended as a core subject in the curriculum of the state agricultural universities. Keeping this in view, an effort has been made to write a textbook on agrometeorology which would be useful to the students as well as to the teachers. The common people, who watch weather phenomenon and take an interest in it, would also find it worth reading.
This book is primarily based on the syllabus of the course ‘Agricultural Meteorology’ meant for under graduate students of agriculture, horticulture and forestry. This book has been divided into twenty three chapters covering all aspects of agrometeorology. Concepts, definition, importance and scope, history and future needs of agrometeorology are described in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 details the basic information of atmosphere. Chapter 3 to chapter 13 include the weather parameters like radiation, temperature, humidity, evaporation, fog and dew, pressure, wind, clouds, monsoon and precipitation and their importance in agriculture. Applied aspects of meteorology like climatic hazards, agroclimatic classification, micrometeorology of crops, weather in relation to crop pests and diseases, weather in relation to animal production, climate change, weather forecasting, remote sensing and crop simulation modelling are discussed in Chapter 14 to chapter 22. Chapter 23 describes the features of an agrometeorological observatory.
In writing this book, the literature on agrometeorology developed by various organisations, agencies and institutes like WMO, FAO, NOAA, BOM, MAFF, IPCC, NASA, IMD, NDMA, CRIDA, ICRISAT, ICAR, AICRPAM, etc. is freely used. I am thankful to the organisations permitting me to quote or cite their literature in the text. I extend my sincere thanks to the authors and editors of various books, journals and periodicals which have been used as reference material in this book. Every care has been taken to cite the bibliographic references. However, any omissions, misrepresentations, incorrect citations or other mistakes that may have occurred are regretted.
The preparation of this book was not supported by any research grant, fellowship or other form of financial support.
I am indebted to my friend Dr Ranjan Kumar Patra, Professor (Soil Science), Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar who has meticulously edited every word of the manuscript. I am grateful to my colleagues in the All India Coordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming Systems and College of Agriculture, OUAT, Bhubaneswar for their help in various ways during the preparation of this textbook.
I express my gratitude to the New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi for bringing out the book timely and nicely.
I am thankful to my wife Jharashree and daughter Prachurya for their constant support and encouragement. I also express my indebtedness and gratitude to my beloved parents who are a constant source of inspiration to me throughout my academic journey.
This book is dedicated in the memory of my loving niece Anisha Dey who passed away prematurely in the course of preparation of the manuscript.