• Geoinformatics facilities at the lead centre (CSSRI) and two cooperating centres (WTC-IARI and NIH) were developed with the industry leading hardware and software- Dell Workstation with online UPS, ESRI ArcGIS ArcInfo, ERDAS Imagine Professional, MS Visual Studio, Large format HP scanner and plotter, Trimble DGPS and HP laserjet colour printer.

• Irri-agro informatics database of the Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) command (Fig.1) was created from eight authentic secondary source maps and data obtained from central and state organizations/departments using GIS, satellite remote sensing and GPS tools. The database has included canal network up to minor level, canal characteristics and inflow data, contours, groundwater quality, salt-affected soils, land use and land cover, cropping system, geology, waterlogging, rainfall, rail and road networks, and canal water user data. This database was used for identification of areas of low productivity in the irrigation command.

Fig.1. Irri-agro informatics database of the Western Yamuna Canal Command

• AquaCrop model was calibrated for sixteen treatment combinations of water and nutrient supplies for the kharif maize crop. The results revealed a good match between the model simulated output and observed values with R2 of 0.94 and model efficiency (E) of 0.91 (Fig. 2). Besides this, the ClimGen and CROPWAT models were also used to estimate the future crop water requirement for sustainable yield of maize crop under various scenarios to be used in DSS development.

[W1N1 (50% CWR, 0% N); W2N2 (75% CWR, 50% N); W3N3 (100% CWR, 100% N) W4N4 (125% CWR, 150

Fig. 2. Performance of AquaCrop model on yield of maize during kharif 2009

• Wheat experiment of three salt tolerant (KRL-210, KRL-19, and KRL1-3) and one high yielding variety (HD2894) under different salinity levels during rabi season was conducted to generate primary data for calibration and subsequent validation of AquaCrop model to be used in DSS.

Fig. 3. Experiment on effect of saline water on salt dynamics in the root zone and yield of wheat crop during rabi 2009-10

• A mathematical model with four possible canal operational scenarios-head reach priority, conjunctive use, proportionate supply, and tail reach priority was reviewed for efficient water resources management in distributaries of the WYC command and would be developed for comparing efficiency against the current proportionate supply operational scenario followed for supplying canal water to farms in the WYC Command.

• A framework and flow logic of DSS for the WYC Command was developed by integrating databases, models, GIS and spatial query interface using MS Visual Basic.NET. The DSS contained seven modules- Crop (ET), Water Demand-Canal Supply, Groundwater, Irrigation Scheduling, Modelling, Constraints, and BMPs based Strategies (Fig. 4). The Crop ET module has been developed.

Fig. 4. Screen captured window of DSS displaying canal network and ET image

• Ninety four stakeholders including water user association members and farmers from the project area (Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat and Jind districts) (Fig. 5) were sensitized to the prevalent problems- uncertain and adequate water supply, soil salinity and sodicity, water logging, surface water stagnation, soil fertility and use of poor quality waters for irrigation in the WYC command along with innovative management strategies for sustaining crop yield.

• A 10 days’ special course for project partners and staff on Performance Evaluation of Canal Irrigation Project using Remote Sensing and GIS has been fixed to be held at IIRS, Dehradun during 15-25 April 2010 to inculcate the basic RS and GIS skills and hands-on experience to the project partners and staff for day-today work of the project.

Fig.5. Dr. Ram Ajore, Director, CSSRI addressing farmers and water users association members in the Stakeholders’ Sensitization Training held at Karnal