Bio-irrigation: A drought alleviation strategy through induced hydro-parasitization under bi-cropping practices of rainfed agro-ecosystem: A review Kumar R. Mohan*, Yamanura, Boraiah B. All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Castor, Zonal Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru-560 065, Karnataka, India *Corresponding Author: R. Mohan Kumar, All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Castor, Zonal Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru-560 065, Karnataka, India, Email: mohankumarr@uasbangalore.edu.in
Online Published on 15 July, 2022. Abstract Exploring ecosystem services for environment sustainability is the trending area of research in the field of natural resource management (NRM). Water is an important entity of agro-ecosystem, dryland agriculture greatly suffers due to want of moisture. Bi-cropping is one practice where different crops are grown in proximity to realize various benefits under uncertainties of dryland agriculture. Literacy among multifarious benefits of bi-cropping over monoculture is fairly rich among the researchers as well as growers. However, bio-irrigation is one such co-benefits which address about drought alleviating strategies under bi-cropping practice. In this technique, deep rooted plants suck up water from deep moist sub-soil and deposit part of that sucked water in the upper dry soil layers due to water potential gradient, during this hydraulic lift and redistribution shallow rooted neighboring crops in close proximity gets due benefits of this lifted water in alleviating drought. This is high time to device cropping systems of water limited environment to unlock the potentiality of dryland production units. Based on the published studies Piliostigma reticulatum, Guiera senegalensis, Panicum maximum, Festuca arundinacea and Cajanus cajan were identified as potential bio-irrigator arid agro-ecosystem. Top Keywords Agroecosystem, Bi-cropping, Bio-irrigation, Hydraulic-lift, Hydraulic-redistribution. Top |