Department of Irrigation & Drainage Engineering

Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering was established during the year 1992. It offers M. Tech. (Agricultural Engg.) in Irrigation and Drainage Engg. degree with intake capacity of five students every year excluding ICAR nominees. It also offers Ph. D. (Agricultural Engg.) in Irrigation and Drainage Engg. degree with intake capacity of three students every year.

Courses Offered

=> Bachelor Of Technology (B.Tech.) Agriculture Engineering
=> Master Of Technology (M.Tech.) Agriculture Engineering
=> Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Agriculture Engineering

Research & Development / Topic

Research Activities

Adhoc research schemes /projects undertaken

Sponsored by INCID, New Delhi

=> Canal lining for efficient use under the command area of Katepurna Project
=> Control of water logging and salinity of salt affected area of Purna Valley under command of
Katepurna and Morna Project
=> Design, development and testing of sub-surface drip irrigation system

Sponsored by JISL, Jalgaon

=> Liquid fertilizer trials on Onion, Papaya, Cotton, Orange and Sugarcane

Sponsored by ASPEE, Mumbai

Design, development and testing of low cost efficient filter for drip irrigation

Research Achievements

The department has developed many useful technologies for the farmers to save irrigation water and increase the efficiency of irrigation. These are given in brief as follows:

=> Studies on drip irrigation system for onion, oranges, cotton, brinjal, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, ridge gourd, watermelon, chilli, sugar cane and ground nut revealed the saving in water by 45 to 50 per cent and increase in yield by 10 to 40 per cent.

=> A riser valve for irrigation pipeline is developed for water distribution.

=> Technologies are developed to save the crop in limited water by alternate furrow irrigation and broad based furrow irrigation without affecting yield levels significantly.

=> Use of water-soluble fertilizers through drip irrigation saves 25 to 30 per cent fertilizer over traditional fertilizer application.

=> Low cost gated pipe is developed for water distribution in flow irrigation system.

=> Incorporation of jowar stubbles, wheat straw, sugar cane trash at the rate of 5 tons/ha is recommended to improve drainage properties of soil with improvement of productivity by 10 per cent.

=> Incorporation of gypsum at the rate of 2 to 3 tonnes/ha after alternate year with proper drainage system increases yield by 30% and maintains the soil fertility.

=> In saline soils cultivation of ground nut on 2 rows broad bed furrow increases yield by 15% saving of water above 30% over the normal furrow irrigation.

=> Cyclic use to fresh and saline water by applying canal water to start with or mixing of both water enhances the yield by 50 per cent over irrigation with saline water only.

=> It is recommended to use drip irrigation system for irrigation in saline soils and discourage the use of sprinkler irrigation system.

=> Ready reckoner for deciding optimum lateral length and dripper spacing along the lateral, dripper discharge and field slope in the design of online drip irrigation system.

=> “V”- notch is developed to measure the flow of irrigation water.

=> Equations were developed for prediction of weekly pan evaporation for Akola and Nagpur.

Infrastructure

=> Irrigation Engineering
=> Drainage Engineering
=> Fluid Mechanics (Classroom)
=> Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
=> Seminar Room