Irrigation scheduling using intervention of Geomatics tools-A case study of Khedli minor

Food is the basic and compulsory requirement of the human being. It is expected that demand for food crops will double during the next 50 years with limited land and water resources. Production of food requires water. Global estimates indicates that irrigated agriculture sector consumes about 85% of the available water. Further it is expected that in this sector will witness increase water consumption about 20% by the year 2025. The requirement of water increases as the production increases. Proper utilization of water resource is required which is known as scheduling of water for irrigation or irrigation scheduling. Studies carried out in the water deficit area indicated that proper irrigation scheduling may save water and energy up to 35%. The present trend of irrigation has caused 25% depletion in ground water reserve by 2010. Research shows that increasing trend in demand of water in irrigation may lead to total depletion of the ground water table within 50 years. More enhancements required in techniques of irrigation scheduling as the data associated with the estimation of scheduling of water are not sufficient and reliable. An attempt has been made to solve some of the existing problems of data insufficiency and non reliable data can better be solved by the help of remote sensing and GIS. An endeavor has been made to compute the three main parameters influencing the irrigation scheduling namely, crop coefficient, albedo and crop surface temperature through intervention of remote sensing. The approach suggested for the irrigation scheduling using remote sensing and GIS can save irrigation water by 12.5% as compared to the conventional or prevailing approach in study area.