Preserving Water at the Root Zone

The soil present at the root zone of the plants actually acts as the water storage reservoir.  This moisture carrying soil is very for a plant life. To increase the moisture, there is a need to increase the infiltration rate of water into the soil so that water is readily available in the root zone. The water that infiltrates into this reservoir can be stored for a longer period of time for crop use that results in good agriculture production. The preservation of rainwater by this method helps increasing the agriculture production in arid agriculture systems. This article focuses on presenting various methods for preserving rain water at the root zone of plants.

The infiltration rate of water into the soil however, depends upon many factors. These include soil texture, soil cover, soil structure, the degree and dryness of soil. It also depends heavily on the distribution of rainfall along with the intensity of rainfall. The chief enemy of good infiltration of water into the soil is the run-off of water from the fields that results in poor infiltration and thus agriculture production is lost. 

Any practice, aimed at increasing the infiltration rate of water into the soil helps increasing the storage of rain water into the soil. There are several agronomic practices that can increase the infiltration of rainwater into the soil and thus helps in increasing the agriculture production in the arid lands. These are;

1. By leveling the agricultural fields equally so that no slope is available to the water to run-off. Digital land leveler can serve the purpose greatly here.
2. By avoiding creation of compactness in the soil. This can be reduced by occasional ploughings in agriculture fields.
3. By establishing high alleys or bounds around the agriculture fields.
4. By increasing the vegetative cover over the soil.
5. By creating terracing.
6. By doing strip cropping along the contours.

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