Different Levels of Pusa Hydrogel on Soil Moisture Retention

Abstract

The pot experiment was carried out under polyhouse circumstances in the Department of Agrometeorology and Environmental Science, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, during the Kharif season (August-December) in 2019. Three levels of Pusa hydrogel (5 g, 10 g, and 20 g) were used in the experiments, with three replications in upland, upper medium land, and lower medium land soil. Hydrogels may exhibit drastic volume changes in response to specific external stimuli, such as the temperature, solvent quality, pH, electric field, etc. The purpose of this study was to see how the Pusa hydrogel-induced variable soil moistures affected the performance of the okra crop. The results showed that the treatment T3 (20 g Pusa hydrogel) had significantly higher soil moisture content than the other treatments. It had the highest average soil moisture content (25.1 percent in upland, 26.8 percent in upper midland, and 27.5 percent in lower midland soil), while the control (T7) had the lowest at 14.96 percent in upland, 15.55 percent in upper midland, and 15.57 percent in lower midland soil.