Introduction
In India scarcity of water is increasing with depletion of groundwater and huge consumption of water from industries and unnecessary utilization of water has led to decrease in available water. If water is available also much of the water is salty in nature which cannot be utilized for irrigating fields. With advancements in technology, there are many devices that irrigate land with the necessary amount of water at the right time and right place. Such one example is Soil Moisture Sensors
Overview
To save water and enable farmers to irrigate fields at right time ICAR- Sugarcane Breeding Institute developed a soil moisture indicator which is user-friendly electronic moisture indicating device. It was developed with the active participation of farmers and sugar factory personnel across three agro-climatic zones of Tamil Nadu through the Farmers‟ Participatory Action Research Project. Regularly Soil moisture is checked through a tensiometer but its price high costing around 4000/- but this Soil moisture Indicator costs low and can be used easily.
It has two metal sensor rods which are separated at a 3cm distance between two of them and should be inserted in soil up to 30cm deep and after pressing the switch the electronic circuit decodes conductivity or resistance and colours glow through LED which indicates soil moisture. It has three LED light through which it determines Soil moisture
| Glow Colour in LED | Status of Soil Moisture | Suggestions |
| Blue | Full moisture | Irrigation not needed |
| Green | Sufficient moisture | Irrigation may not be required immediately |
| Orange | Low moisture | Suitable for Irrigation |
| Red | Very much low moisture | Immediate irrigation |
Sugarcane Breeding Institute has registered four designs of Soil Moisture indicators and the patent is in progress. a Bangalore based firm Tech Source Solutions has made an agreement with the institute.
Advantages of Soil Moisture Indicator
Suitable for all agriculture fields and potted plants also and it costs as low as about Rs.1200/-, provides instant soil moisture status. Farmers experienced that in the traditional method of scheduling irrigation takes 42 irrigation but while using this indicator 36 irrigations scheduling can be done based on Sugarcane crop. From this indicator lakhs, litres of water can be saved as sugarcane requires a huge amount of water for getting a good yield.
Conclusion
Sugarcane, Rice crops requires a heavy amount of water and the depletion of water resources in agriculture has been a serious cause and it’s an alarming situation. In fields of sugarcane and rice particularly efficient irrigation management practices like irrigation-scheduling with proper technique is required, using soil moisture indicator to check moisture is rarely practised. To save water and adopt irrigation scheduling farmers needs to be encouraged through the government schemes for explaining the farmers about efficient use of irrigation water and scheduling irrigations based on soil moisture status