Cropping pattern and Groundwater: A study of Panipat District of Haryana

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, major changes have occurred in agricultural activities - cropping patterns, crop combination and land use in Panipat district. Due to expansion of ply board industries in the region the area under wheat and rice has been replaced by new crop named Poplar (tree). The crop combination of the village i.e.sugarcane-wheatrice in 1990-1992 has been replaced by sugarcane-wheat-poplar in 2014-2016.Increasing cropping intensity has experienced a change in accordance with decline in waterlogged area. In fact, sugarcane is water demanding crop but the groundwater has not depleted due to the location of village along Yamuna River. In this village shallow water is not suitable for drinking purpose from last few years due to the excess use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides in the agricultural field and the leaching of contaminated water of Panipat city and industrial waste in Yamuna River. In shallow ground water conductivity and TDS is high and turbidity and DO is low from the normal values. The village has sandy and salty loam soil with low organic carbon, phosphors, sulpher and medium potash contents.