eChapters

4.1 Biomass Energy Resource

Among the various methods for producing electricity, biomass is one of the most common. This method uses animal waste, wood pellets, etc. to produce electricity. The use of biomass energy has proven beneficial over time and has the potential to be both reliable and consistent as an alternative energy source.

Organic matter is simply referred to as biomass. Or, to put it another way, biomass is anything living or ever living, including animal waste, crop waste, garden trash, etc. As a result, biomass renewable energy is the energy produced during the use of biomass. Biomass derives and stores its energy from the sun, which is absorbed by plants through a process known as photosynthesis. Plants contain chemical energy that is passed to animals and then eaten by people. Various plant and animal products, including sugarcane, corn crops, wood chips, and even dung, can be utilised. These substances, also referred to as feedstocks, are converted into a biomass fuel.

Introduction

Over 250 million people are directly affected by land degradation worldwide. Each year 12 million hectares are lost to deserts. Only 11 % of the global land surface can be considered as prime or Class-I land.

India contains 2.4 % of world’s total land. Out of the total geographical area of 329 million ha of the country, land use statistics are available for about 93 % of the total area which comes around 306 million ha. The arable land (net area sown plus the current and other fallow lands) was estimated at 166.14 million ha (54.2%) while the area under forest was accounted at 69.02 million ha (22.6%). Land put to non-agricultural uses was estimated at 22.97 million ha (7.5%) and the barren and uncultivable land at 19.44 million ha (6.4%). Permanent pastures and other grazing lands where estimated 11.04 million ha. (3.6%), land under miscellaneous uses at 3.62 million ha. (1.2%) and the cultivable waste land at 13.08 million ha (4.5%). By summing up these figures, the reporting area comes out 306 million ha.

2.1. Definition

Land which is presently lying unused or which is not being used to its optimum potential due to some constraints

The productivity of waste lands is extremely low, and the individuals who own them are impoverished and compelled to work for pay. Wastelands are therefore seen as a potent weapon for combating the problems of poverty and backwardness.
Definitions
Water and land are essential for the development of agriculture. Wasteland is eventually created when there is a decrease of vegetation cover, which causes erosion to take place. Waste lands are large areas of land that have been degraded and are rather difficult to plough.
The National Wasteland Development Board (NWDB) and the Planning Commission established a Technical Task Group. According to this group, wastelands are areas of deteriorated land that are currently underutilized due to various constraints, withthe exception of current use  (CSIR 1990). Depending on the random elements, the wastelands could be categorized under
1. I.erosion caused by water
2. Erosion caused by wind and
3. The Alkalinity and Salinity
The arid, stony, steeply sloped, and snow-covered wastelands are examples of the uncultivated wastelands.

I. Definition of wasteland

Wasteland include degraded forest, overgrazed pastures, drought- struck pastures, eroded valley, hill slopes, water logged marshy lands, barren lands etc.

Different authors have defined wastelands as:

Land which is lying unproductive or which is not being utilized to its potential.

Land which is incapable of producing material or services of value (American Society of Soil science).

Land which has been abandoned and for which there is no further use (Mine spoils).

Land which produces less than 20% of economic potential. e) Land where no greenery can be sustained.

Land which is neither under forest cover or agricultural cover or assigned for specific purposes such as National park or National hydro power projects.

The Technical Task Group Report of the National Wasteland Board defines the wasteland due to different constraints.

Background and Technology Intervention

Andhra Pradesh is India’s fourth largest state in terms of area and fifth in terms of population. Its capital Hyderabad is one of the largest and fastest growing cities in Southern India occupying 650 square kilometers along the bank of Musi River. History says that, the fifth sultan, Muhammad Quli Qutab Shah established Hyderabad on the banks of Musi River in 1591 to avoid the acute water shortages experienced at Golconda during his rule. Today, due to rapid urbanization and increased economic activities, the river has become a receptacle of untreated domestic and industrial waste dumping out of Hyderabad. It is estimated that nearly 350 MLD (Million Liters a Day) of polluted water and sewage originating from the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad flow into the river. Though this river water which is at the downstream of the city remains highly polluted and considered a major disaster in Hyderabad, it is a significant resource for semi-arid and peri-urban population where the cultivation of fodder grass, paddy and vegetables have contributed largely to the household food security.

Diverse categories of Food Products such as canning, preservation of fruits and vegetables, processing of poultry products, dairy goods and many more present different challenges for wastewater disposal and regular use of water. A significant source of environmental pollution is the dissipated water generated from food product development and other agricultural tasks. This waste is being considered the most strenuous and requires a high amount of capital to convert this waste into reusable waste and the main reason behind this is different nutritional components such as inorganic and organic carbon compounds, nitrogenous elements, suspended and dissolved solids, high amount of biochemical and chemical oxygen demands (BOD & COD).

Water is precious, but it is a finite natural resource. Although it accounts for about three-fourth of the earthís surface yet very small fraction of it i.e., only 2.7 per cent of the global water is available as fresh water. Around 2.8 billion people live in areas of high water scarcity (Anonymous, 2014d). Out of the total amount of the fresh available water merely 30 per cent is withdrawn to meet the water requirements of the human and livestock population while the remaining 70 per cent is required to produce food crops that fuel human activities.

Plants and any from of living organisms cannot live without water, since water is the most important constituent about 80 to 90% of most plant cell.

2.1 Role of water in crop and crop production

(A) Physiological importance

•The plant system itself contains about 90% of water

•Amount of water varies in different parts of plant as follows

•Apical portion of root and shoot >90%

•Stem, leaves and fruits - 70 - 90%

•Woods - 50 - 60%

•Matured parts - 15 - 20%

•Freshly harvested grains - 15 - 20%

Abstract

Pulses being nutritionally vital, is an important constituent of diet for a very large number of peoples. A part from being a relatively cheaper source of dietary protein, it is also an important source of calories, certain essential amino acid, minerals and vitamins. Post harvest scenario of pulse shows that 75 per cent of production was milled in pulses with as dehusked split i.e. dal. Traditionally green gram and black gram dal is dehulled manually after soaking in water. Present investigation was carried out to develop the wet type dehuller and study was carried out on water absorption characteristics of green gram and black gram. The result reveals that the dehulling efficiency of abrasion type mechanism was about 95 per cent and 92 per cent in case of shearing type mechanism. It has been observed that rate of water absorption was initially high and then gradually decreases i.e. 0.54 to 0.18 and 0.48 to 0.18 for black and green gram, respectively. 

    1.    Water activity (a_w) affects food chemistry and can be controlled by removal (dehydration or drying) or by chemically binding the water, reducing its activity. Water activity in foods ranges from 0.95 to 1.00 in fresh meats and vegetables to 0.20 in dried milk.

    2.    Water activity (a_w) may be defined in a number of ways, qualitatively, aw is a measure of unbound, free water in a system available to support biological and chemical reactions.

    3.    Water activity, not absolute water content, is what bacteria, enzymes, and chemical reactants encounter and is affected by at the micro environmental level in food materials.

    4.    Two foods with the same water content can have very different aw values depending upon the degree to which the water is free or otherwise bound to food constituents.

    5.    The term “water activity” is related to relative humidity. Relative humidity is defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapour in the air to the vapour pressure of pure water at the same temperature.

    6.    Water activity or aw is a property of solutions and is the ratio of vapour pressure of the solution compared with the vapour pressure of pure water at the same temperature. Under equilibrium conditions water activity equals:

1. Natural Mineral Water- Food Safety & Standard Regulations - 2011 and IS 13428:2005 Reaff. 2009 requirements
2. Packaged Drinking Water other than Natural Mineral Water- Food Safety & Standard Regulations - 2011 and IS 14543:2004 Reaff. 2009 requirements
3. Water for processed Food Industry- IS 4251 : 1967 Reaff. 1992 requirements
4. Drinking water- IS 10500 : 2012

5.1 Sampling

There are different sources of water such as rain, streams, canals, lakes, tanks, ponds, large reservoirs, shallow and deep wells, shallow and deep tube wells, as well as sewage effluents and sea water. The composition of the different sources of water vary with the season, rate of flow, the extent of effluents from the industrial units and sewage effluents from the municipal area during rainy season, the river tank and pond water becomes salty and muddy due to soil erosion. The depth of ground water also varies with the seasons. The sources of water available to the farmer for irrigation of crops are generally few such as canal, shallow and deep wells, pumping sets, tube wells and runoff water collected in excavations along roads, natural drains and adjoining areas under impeded drainage. The composition of water also varies with the season. Whatever may be sources of water, the water sample is taken along with the soil sample to soil testing laboratory for its analysis by way of assessing the suitability of water for irrigation.

For drawing maximum benefit the samples taken be representative of the water in bulk and it should be collected in a clean vessel. One to three litres capacity plastic bottles duly washed with a detergent are satisfactory. However, before filling with water samples the bottles must be rinsed with water samples three times. The information such as farmers name, owner of pumping sets, date and month of sampling depth of ground water, crops and soils being irrigated, any specific agricultural or human problems encountered to be briefly recorded along with the name of village, block, tehsil and district. The water sample should be properly labeled and submitted to soil testing laboratory for its analysis.

In agricultural systems, water quality is usually determined to  assess its suitability for irrigation and/or its use for aquaculture. Analysis of irrigation water is carried out, to know their nutrient load, suitability for irrigation purposes in general and to salt sensitive crops in particular, and their significance as nutrient suppliers as in practical crop production (Tandon,1993). For aquaculture, on the other hand, maintenance of pond environment for survival and growth of aquatic lives, forms the major purpose of such exercises. While both the assessments are mostly governed by some common variables, a few additional attributes are also used for identifying the water quality for these two different purposes. The most important characteristics, that determine the quality of irrigation water are:

Agriculture is biggest user of water, accounting 70% of all withdrawals. It is major water-consuming sector due to intensification of agriculture (CWC, 2021). With changing climatic condition, demand of water will increase. Hence, conservation and efficient management of limited water has become the need of the hour for sustainable fruit production. Since per unit returns from horticultural crops are higher, their production system improves the net return of farmers and would impart resilience to aberrant weather (Meghwal et al., 2018). Therefore, immense opportunities for quality production of water-economizing horticultural crops. In arid and semi-arid regions, uncertain, erratic and scanty’ rains coupled with meagre irrigation facilities leads to low and unstable yields.

Introduction

Despite fact that more than two-third of the earth’s surface is covered with water, currently, near about 450 million people in 29 countries are facing severe water shortage and at least 20 percent more water would be required to feed additional 3 billion populations by 2025. About 97.5 percent of ocean-sea water is not available due to its salinity and 2.49 percent is locked up in ice and only 0.01 percent is technologically available and economically accessible water either from surface or ground water sources for human uses. So water saving technologies developed so far is very pertinent to propagate amongst the users. Water is an essential natural resource for sustaining the environment and supporting life where the agriculture is the major user of water resource. Water is an indispensable for sustainable agricultural growth and development. Previously, rainfed agriculturewas associated primarily with conservational land treatments to check soil erosion and land degradation.But in the areas of medium to heavy rainfall, there is ample scope of tapping excess rain water through suitable water harvesting structures constructed for this purpose for its subsequent uses as irrigation or to apply lifesaving irrigation to the crops which should also come under the purview of water management for crop production. Although there is a difference in the objectives of water management where there is abundant availability of water from continuous flow connected with perennial sources or lakes and rivers and that of from restricted or limited supply from collection of excess rain through water harvesting structures.The former is associated with to obtain as much as yield of crop per unit area under water application and later is associated with increasing productivityof crop per unit of water application even under rainwater recycling and its effective management for the purpose of irrigation. Hence, both the rainwater and irrigation water are considered to be equally important to context of agricultural development of the country to get higher water use efficiency and proper utilization of water resources (Zaman,et.al., 2017).

Water is one of the most important and critical input for agricultural production system. The demand for food grains is increasing day by day due to increasing population. The irrigated agriculture provides the crop water productivity of about 2.5 tonnes per hectare and the overall irrigation efficiency is only about 30%, which is below the world average level. In the above scenario it is necessary to have the irrigation system in which both the crop water productivity and irrigation efficiency increases considerably. Micro irrigation has become the most viable and efficient technology in such a situation. It provides several advantages in the context of crop agronomy, water and energy conservation. Micro irrigation has the potential to achieve the crop water productivity to a desired level of 4 tonnes per hectare and simultaneously maintain the irrigation efficiency above 80%. The total coverage of micro irrigation in the tenth plan is only about 2 million hectare. The task force on micro irrigation (2004) has indicated a potential of 69 million hectare for our country. So there is a tremendous potential available and the coverage of micro irrigation has to be increased to cover more crop and more new areas.

Water is fundamental to every agricultural setup, and its continuous availability is especially vital for Rice–Aquaculture Farming (RAF). Before establishing an integrated system, the water source—whether a river, pond, well, or borehole— must be carefully selected. For optimal rice production, maintaining a consistent water depth of 15–20 cm is ideal. In the case of aquatic organisms, pond or trench water should be 65–70 cm deep, which ensures favorable conditions for growth in both warm and cool climates. Typically, crustaceans inhabit the bottom, while fish occupy the middle and upper water layers. Effective water and nutrient management form the foundation of a productive integrated farming system—whether it includes fish, livestock, poultry, crops, or horticulture. Water in these systems serves not just one component but is shared across units, making its quality, quantity, and timing critical. Likewise, nutrients from animal waste, pond sludge, crop residues, and wastewater must be efficiently reused to nourish plants, sustain aquatic life, and maintain soil health, all while limiting environmental losses. In fish–crop or fish–livestock integrations, nutrient-rich water from fish ponds—containing nitrogen and phosphorus from fish waste and feed—can be directed to vegetable plots or rice fields. Plants absorb these nutrients, effectively purifying the water before it recirculates to the fish units. Precise timing is essential: fish ponds should be fertilized 5–7 days before stocking to foster plankton growth, while irrigating crops with pond water must match plant nutrient needs and avoid salt accumulation. In crop–livestock systems, placing poultry or cattle sheds uphill allows gravity-fed runoff to be channeled into compost pits or directly onto fields, enriching the soil naturally. Soil moisture and nutrient levels should be monitored regularly to guide the balanced application of manures and fertilizers, minimizing leaching and preventing plant stress.

Introduction

Origin of Water Bodies and Hot Arid Regions (Thar Desert) 

The origin of the hot arid regions (Thar Desert) is a controversial subject. Some consider it to be 4000 to 10,000 years old, whereas others state that aridity started in this region much earlier. Another theory states that area turned to hot arid zones (desert) relatively recently: perhaps around 2000 - 1500 BC. Around this time the Ghaggar-Hakra ceased to be a major river. It now terminates in the desert but at one time was a water source for the Indus Valley Civilization centre of Mohenjodaro. It has been observed through remote sensing techniques that Late Quaternary climatic changes and neotectonics have played a significant role in modifying the drainage courses in this part and a large number of palaeochannels exist.