Dryland farming-introduction and definition and importance

Introduction
Agriculture is the single largest livelihood sources in India with nearly two thirds of people
depend on it. Rainfed agriculture is as old as agriculture it self. Growing of crops entirely under
rainfed conditions is known as dryland agriculture. Depending on the amount of rainfall
received, dryland agriculture can be grouped into three categories:
Definitions
a) Dry farming: is cultivation of crops in regions with annual rainfall less than 750 mm. Crop
failure is most common due to prolonged dry spells during the crop period. These are arid
regions with a growing season (period of adequate soil moisture) less than 75 days. Moisture
conservation practices are necessary for crop production.
b) Dryland farming: is cultivation of crops in regions with annual rainfall more than 750 mm. In
spite of prolonged dry spells crop failure is relatively less frequent. These are semi arid tracts
with a growing period between 75 and 120 days. Moisture conservation practices are necessary
for crop production. However, adequate drainage is required especially for vertisols or black
soils.
c) Rainfed farming: is crop production in regions with annual rainfall more than 1150 mm. Crops
are not subjected to soil moisture stress during the crop period. Emphasis is often on disposal of
excess water. These are humid regions with growing period more than 120 days. United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific distinguished dryland agriculture
mainly into two categories: dryland and rainfed farming. The distinguishing features of these two
types of farming are given below.
Dryland vs. rainfed farming

Importance of Dry farming in Indian Agriculture

1. About 70% of rural population lives in dry farming areas and their livelihood depend on
success or failure of the crops
2. Dryland Agriculture plays a distinct role in Indian Agriculture occupying 60% of
cultivated area and supports 40% of human population and 60 % livestock population.
3. The contribution (production) of rainfed agriculture in India is about 42 per cent of the
total food grain, 75 per cent of oilseeds, 90 per cent of pulses and about 70 per cent of
cotton.
 4. By the end of the 20th century the contribution of drylands will have to be 60 per cent if
India is to provide adequate food to 1000 million people. Hence tremendous efforts both
in the development and research fronts are essential to achieve this target.
5. More than 90 per cent of the area under sorghum, groundnut, and pulses is rainfed. In
case of maize and chickpea, 82 to 85 per cent area is rainfed. Even 78 percent of cotton
area is rainfed. In case of rapeseed/mustard, about 65.8 per cent of the area is rainfed.
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, 61.7, 44.0, and 35.0 per cent area under rice, barley
and wheat, respectively, is rainfed.
6. At present, 3 ha of dryland crop produce cereal grain equivalent to that produced in one
ha irrigated crop. With limited scope for increasing the area under plough, only option
left is to increase the productivity with the modern technology and inputs, since the per
capita land availability which was 0.28 ha in 1990 is expected to decline 0.19 ha in 2010.
7. The productivity of grains already showed a plateau in irrigated agriculture due to
problems related to nutrient exhaustion, salinity build up and raising water table.
Therefore, the challenges of the present millennium would be to produce more from
drylands while ensuring conservation of existing resources. Hence, new strategies would
have to be evolved which would make the fragile dryland ecosystems more productive as
well as sustainable. In order to achieve evergreen revolution, we shall have to make grey
areas (drylands) as green through latest technological innovations.
8. Drylands offer good scope for development of agroforestry, social forestry, horti-sylvi-
pasture and such other similar systems which will not only supply food, fuel to the village
people and fodder to the cattle but forms a suitable vegetative cover for ecological
maintenance.
Dimensions of the problem:
Majority of the districts in India are dry farming districts and covers 60 per cent of the total
cultivated area. Most of this area is covered by crops like millets, pulses, oilseeds, cotton
etc.,.These areas spread throughout the country i.e. Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. In south
India the Deccan plateau which is rain shadow area consisting of parts of Karnataka, (Bellary,
Raichur, Kolar, Tumkur, Dharwad, Belgam, Gulberga) and Maharastra (Sholapur, Parbani, Puna,
Aurangabad). The dry farming areas in Andhra Pradesh are found in Kurnool, Anantapur,
Kadapa, Mahaboobnagar, Chittoor, and Nalgonda districts.
a) The area under dryland agriculture is more in India ( 60 per cent of total cultivable area)
b) Areas of low rainfall ( below 750 mm) constitute more than 30 per cent of total
geographical area
c) About 84 districts in India fall in the category of low rainfall area
d) Providing irrigation to all the drylands is expensive and takes long time
e) Even after providing all the irrigation potential in India 55 per cent area remains as
rainfed
Area under dry lands
Globally the area under drylands is about 6150 m.ha. In India out of the total cultivated area of
143 m.ha the area under drylands is about 85 m.ha, which comes to 60% . It is estimated that
even after creating entire irrigation potential for irrigation about 55% of total cultivated area
remain as rainfed. Except in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Pondichery the percentage of area
under drylands is high in all other states. In Andhra Pradesh the area under drylands is about
6.576 m.ha (60 %).
Dry land area in different regions of India
Dry climates and their classification- objectives and activities of CRIDA
Indices of Aridity
Aridity refers to a condition of deficiency of water due to either insufficient precipitation or
excess water loss over supply. The term “arid” is derived from a Latin word, “arere” which
means „dry‟.
Assessment of the degree of aridity of a place is necessary to serve as a base for the application
of technology, for the interpretation of resource assessment and for transfer of technology. It also
useful to analyse the climatic resources and to identify specific climatic constraints for planning
agricultural development.
The degree of aridity can be assessed from climatic parameters and plant criteria. More than 50
classifications of agro-climate was made by many scientists. Some of the important
classifications are discussed below.
Classification of dry climates
Thornthwaite and Mather (1955)
They have taken the Moisture Index (Im) as the criteria for classification of dry climates

Im = [(P-PE)/PE] 100

where, P = Precipitation, PE = Potential Evapo-transpiration

Im Quantity Climate classification

100 and above Per humid
20 to 100 Humid
0 to 20 Moist sub humid
-33.3 to 0 Dry sub humid
-66.7 to -33.3 Semi arid
-100 to -66.7 Arid

Troll (1965)
Based on thermal and hygric variables and number of humid months, climate is classified and
said to be of agricultural use. Humid month is one having mean rainfall exceeding the mean
potential evapotranspiration. ICRISAT classified the Semi-arid tropics (SAT areas) in India by
adopting this classification. According to this classification, a climate which has 5 to 10 arid
months(a month where precipitation is less than PET) or 2 to 7 humid months is called semi-arid
tract (SAT ), whereas humid climate will have 7 to 12 humid months and arid climate has less
than 2 humid months.

Humid months Climate classification

12.0 to 9.5 Tropical rainforest
9.5 to 7.0 Humid Savannah
7.0 to 4.5 Dry Savannah (Wet – dry SAT)
4.5 to 2.0 Thorn Savannah (Dry SAT)
2.0 to 1.0 Semi desert (Arid)
1.0 to 0.0 Desert (Arid

Papadakis (1961)
Moisture Index (H) based on precipitation, soil moisture storage and PET was developed.
H = [P + W] / E
where,
P = Monthly precipitation
E = Monthly PET
W = Water stored from previous rainfall

H value Climate
Less than 0.25 Arid
0.25 to 0.50 Dry
0.50 to 0.75 Intermediate
0.75 to 1.00 Intermediate humid
1.00 to 2.00 Humid
More than 2.00 Wet

Hargreaves (1971)
Moisture Availability Index (MAI) is used for the classification. It is the ratio of dependable
precipitation to potential evapotranspiration. It is a measure of adequacy of precipitation in
supplying crop water demand.

MAI Climate classification

0.0 to 0.33 during all months Very arid
More than 0.34 for 1-2 months Arid
More than 0.34 for 3-4 consecutive months Semi arid

Steiner et al., (1988)

After careful consideration of several definitions, Steiner et al. (1988) consider aridity index
concept of the United Nations Conference on Desertification based on the balance between
precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ETP) to be appropriate for wide scale adoption.
According to this definition the areas with P/ETP ratio between 0.03 and 0.20 are arid and areas
with the ratio between 0.2 and 0.5 are semi-arid.
FAO classification
This classification is based on 'growing period concept' of the FAO. Areas having a growing
period between 1 and 74 days are classified as arid and those with a growing period between 75
and 119 days are semiarid. (Growing period is the number of days during a year when
precipitation exceeds half the potential evapotranspiration, plus a period to use an assumed 100
mm of water from excess precipitation (or less, if not available) stored in the soil profile).
ICAR classification of agro- climatic zones
ICAR while establishing the dryland centers in different agro -climatic zones of the country in
1970, used the simple formula of Thornthwaite (1955) for estimating the moisture index.
Moisture Index = 100 [(P-PE)/PE]
Thornthwaite and Mather (1955) gave only six classifications while the ICAR (Krishnan and
Mukhtar Singh (1968) had eight moisture indices with eight moisture belts indicating eight zones
in India. The scale adopted in defining climatic zones in terms of moisture indices are

All India coordinated Research Project on dryland Agriculture of ICAR has divided climate into
three types based on moisture deficit index (MDI)
MDI = [(P-PET)/PET]
where, PET is estimated based on temperature as PET= 2T where T is average temperature in °C
.
Climate MDI
Sub humid 0 to 33.3
Semi arid - 33.3 to 66.6
Arid > - 66.6

Arid and semi-arid zones

a) Arid regions: The arid zones will have moisture index between –66.7 to –100.
Precipitation is less than potential evaporation for the greater part of the year. Arable crop
production is not possible without irrigation. Growing period is between 1 to 74 days.
b) Semi-arid zones: They have moisture index values between –33.3 to –66.7. Crop
production is possibly by adopting moisture conservation practices. Growing period is
between 75 to 119 days.
A semi-arid climate is essentially a mixed climate in which a fairly moist or rainy season
alternates with a completely dry season. Hence, the climate is described as alternating
wet and dry climate. Rainfall occurs during 2 to 7 months of the year.
When number of wet months is 2.0 to 4.5, it is described as dry SAT and when rainy
months ranges from 4.5 to 7.0 it is called as wet SAT. Rainfall quantity ranges from 400
to 750 mm per year, with a variability of 20 to 30%. But, the onset, closure and duration
of rainy season exhibits wide variability between years. Distribution of rainfall within the
 season also exhibits wide fluctuations between years. Mean annual temperature is more
than 18 °C.
Arid and Semi arid regions of India
Total area under arid and semiarid regions in India extends over 135.8 million Hectares

Temperature in arid and semiarid temperate region is maximum at 32°C in July and minimum at
-14°C in January – February. Temperature in arid and semiarid tropics is maximum at 40-42°C
in May and minimum varies from 3-5°C in Punjab and Haryana and 18-24°C in Tamil Nadu.
Distribution of arid and Semi-arid regions of India
The words “Arid” and “Semiarid” must be understood differentially from dry farming. All the
dry farming areas are located in arid and semi arid regions only. But not all the arid and semiarid
regions come under dry farming areas. When irrigation facilities are available, irrigated farming
is practiced extensively in arid and semiarid regions also. Eg. Punjab, Haryana.
Progress of dryland Agricultural Research in India
Though dryland farming is as old as agriculture, the systematic research work was started only
from 1923 with the start of Research Centre at Manjri near Pune, in Bombay province by V.A.
Tamhane. Later Imperial Council of Agricultural Research (presently Indian Council
Agricultural Research) started research schemes at Bombay, Madras, Hyderabad and Punjab
provinces. Around 1933, systematic work was started on different aspects of crop production
under rainfed conditions. The findings of the period were related to rainfall analysis. It was
found that rainfall was not only scarce but also erratic. The dry spells during the crop period
ranged from 20 to 55 days. Therefore, the emphasis on research was given to conserve soil
moisture and to reduce evaporation. Based on the studies conducted between 1933 and 1943,
package was developed for better crop production under rainfed conditions. The important
practices are:
1. Formation of contour bunds.
2. Repeated harrowing in black soils to conserve moisture.
3. Addition of farm yard manure to maintain the soil fertility.
4. Wider spacing for crops grown on residual moisture.
The package of practices were named after the province from which they were developed as
Bombay dry farming practices, Madras dry farming practices, Hyderabad dry farming practices
and Punjab dry farming practices. The adoption of these practices was low due to marginal
increase in yield. Government programmes mainly concentrated on contour bunding which
provided employment during drought periods. During 1954, the soil conservation training and
demonstration centers were established by Indian Council of Agriculture Research at eight
locations.
These centers concentrated on soil conservation techniques and training of officers on soil
conservation, while crop production received low importance. During 1970, ICAR started All
India Coordinated Research Project on Dryland Agriculture at 23 locations spread all over India.
Under the scheme, an integrated approach was adopted to solve the problems of dryland
agriculture, by including the disciplines of agronomy, soil science, plant breeding and
agricultural engineering. The important practices developed under the scheme are contingent
cropping, efficient crops and cropping systems, water harvesting and supplemental irrigation,
drought resistant varieties, fertilizer recommendation and agricultural implements. Watershed
approach was fallowed to popularize these technology by including soil conservation practices
with improved dryland practices, alternate crops and other ancillary enterprises. In 1983, 47
model watersheds were developed. Based on the success of this approach in increasing the
productivity of drylands, the national watershed development programme for dryland agriculture
was started through out the country.
The chronology of events in dryland agricultural research in India is as follows.
1920 Scarcity tract development given importance by the Royal Commission on
Agriculture
1923 Establishing Dryland Research Station at Manjri (Pune) by Tamhane
1933 Research Stations established at Bijapur and Solapur
1934 Research Stations established at Hagari and Raichur
1935 Research Station established at Rohtak (Punjab)
1942 Bombay Land Development act passed
1944 Monograph on dry farming in India by N.V. Kanitkar (Bombay, Hyderabad,
Madras Dry Farming Practices)
1953 Establishing Central Soil Conservation Board
1954 Establishing Central Soil Conservation Centres
1970 Research Centres established under AICRPDA in 23 locations
1972 Establishment of ICRISAT
1976 Establishment of Dryland Operational Research Projects
1983 Starting of 47 model watersheds under ICAR
1984 Initiation of World Bank assisted Watershed Development Programmes in
four states. Establishing Dryland Development Board in Karnataka
1985 Birth of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture at Hyderabad
1986 Launching of NWDPRA programmes by Government of India in 15 states.

Recognizing the importance of rainfed agriculture, the ICAR gave a new impetus by launching
the All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA) in 1970, based
at Hyderabad with 23 cooperating centers spread across the country. Pooling of expertise and
leveraging the strengths of AICRPDA net work eventually resulted in the establishment of
Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) at Hyderabad, on April 12, 1985 to
provide leadership in basic strategic research in dryland agriculture while continuing research on
location specific ORP„ s at AICRPDA centers. At present the AICRPDA centers are located at
25 places.
Mandate/objectives of CRIDA
a) To conduct basic and applied researches that will contribute to the development strategies
for sustainable faming systems in the rainfed areas.
b) To conduct basic and applied researches that will contribute to the development strategies
for sustainable faming systems in the rainfed areas.
c) To act as a repository of information on rainfed agriculture in the country d) To provide
leadership and co ordinate network with state agricultural universities for generating
location specific technologies for rainfed areas
d) To act as a centre for training in research methodologies in the fields basic to
management of rainfed farming systems
e) To collaborate with relevant national and international agencies in achieving the above
objectives , and
f) To provide consultancy
Soil erosion- types of soil erosion and factors affecting soil erosion
Definition
Soil erosion is the process of detachment of soil particles from the top soil and transportation of
the detached soil particles by wind and / or water.
The agents causing erosion are wind and water. The detaching agents are falling raindrop,
channel flow and wind. The transporting agents are flowing water, rain splash and wind.
Nature and extent of erosion
The problem of soil erosion exists all over the country. Out of the 329 m.ha of India‟s
geographical area about 175 m.ha (53.3%) is subjected to soil erosion and some kind of land
degradation (Druvanarayana, 1993). About 150 m.ha is subjected to wind and water erosion. It is
estimated that about 5333 Mt of soil is detached annually by soil annually. Out of this 29 % is
carried away by rivers to seas and about 10% is deposited in reservoirs resulting in 1-2 % of loss
of storage capacity annually. The estimated annual soil loss is 16.35 tones/ha/year.
Physiographically India is divided into three regions as follows:
a) Himalayan region: Geologic immaturity made this region more vulnerable to erosion.
High degree of seismicity of the area, very steep slopes, weak geological formation and
improper land use practices accelerate erosion losses. Gullying, land slides and slips are
most common.
b) Gangetic plains: Major problems in the region are riverine erosion, drainage, saline and
alkali soil conditions.
c) Peninsular region: Main problems of this region are rill and gully erosion. Arid regions
have severe wind erosion. Semi arid regions are subjected to sheet and gully erosion and
ravines are serious problem in Yamuna and Chambal region. Floods and stream bank
cutting and sand deposition have degraded lands of north east region with heavy rainfall.
South and south east are characterized by undulating terrain with severe erosion in black
and red laterite soils.
Losses due to erosion:
i. Loss of fertile top soil
ii. Loss of rain water
iii. Loss of nutrients
iv. Silting up of reservoirs
v. Damage to forests
vi. Reduction in soil depth
vii. Floods
viii. Adverse effect on public health
ix. Loss of fertile land
x. Economic losses
Types of erosion:
There are two major types of soil erosion
a) Geological erosion (Natural or normal erosion): is said to be in equilibrium with soil
forming process. It takes place under natural vegetative cover completely undisturbed by
biotic factors. This is very slow process.
b) Accelerated erosion: is due to disturbance in natural equilibrium by the activities of man
and animals through land mismanagement, destructing of forests over grazing etc., Soil
loss through erosion is more than the soil formed due to soil forming process. Based on
the agents causing erosion, erosion is divided into
a. Water erosion b. Wind erosion c. Wave erosion
Water erosion
Loss of soil from land surface by water including run off from melted snow and ice is usually
referred to as water erosion.
Major erosive agents in water erosion are impacting/ falling raindrops and runoff water flowing
over soil surface.
Process of water erosion
Detachment of soil particles is by either raindrop impact or flowing water. Individual raindrops
strike the soil surface at velocities up to 9 m/s creating very intensive hydrodynamic force at the
point of impact leading to soil particle detachment. Over land flow detaches soil particles when
their erosive hydrodynamic force exceeds the resistance of soil to erosion. Detached soil particles
are transported by raindrop splash and runoff. The amount of soil transported by runoff is more
than due to raindrop splash. Thus the falling raindrops break the soil aggregates and detach soil
particles from each other. The finer particles (silt and clay) block the soil pores and increase the
rate of runoff and hence loss of water and soil.
Forms of water erosion
Water erosion occurs in stages identified as sheet erosion, rills, gullies, ravines, landslides and
stream bank erosion.
a) Sheet erosion: It is the uniform removal of surface soil in thin layers by rainfall and
runoff water. The breaking action of raindrop combined with surface flow is the major
cause of sheet erosion. It is the first stage of erosion and is least conspicuous, but the
most extensive.
b) Rill erosion: When runoff starts, channelisation begins and erosion is no longer uniform.
Raindrop impact does not directly detach any particles below flow line in rills but
increases the detachment and transportation capacity of the flow. Rill erosion starts when
the runoff exceeds 0.3 to 0.7 mm/s. Incisions are formed on the ground due to runoff and
erosion is more apparent than sheet erosion. This is the second stage of erosion. Rills are
small channels, which can be removed by timely normal tillage operations.
c) Gully erosion: It is the advanced stage of water erosion. Size of the unchecked rills
increase due to runoff. Gullies are formed when channelised runoff form vast sloping
land is sufficient in volume and velocity to cut deep and wide channels. Gullies are the
spectacular symptoms of erosion. If unchecked in time no scope for arable crop
production.
d) Ravines: They are the manifestations of a prolonged process of gully erosion. They are
typically found in deep alluvial soils. They are deep and wide gullies indicating advanced
stage of gully erosion.
e) Landslides: Landslides occur in mountain slopes, when the slope exceeds 20% and width
is 6m. Generally land slides cause blockage of traffic in ghat roads.
f) Stream bank erosion: Small streams, rivulets, torrents (hill streams) are subjected to
stream bank erosion due to obstruction of their flow. Vegetation sprouts when streams
dry up and obstructs the flow causing cutting of bank or changing of flow course.
Factors affecting water erosion
a) Climate: Water erosion is directly a function of rainfall and runoff. Amount, duration and
distribution of rainfall influences runoff and erosion. High intensity rains of longer
duration causes severe erosion. Greater the intensity, larger the size of the raindrop.
Rainfall intensity more than 5 cm/hr is considered as severe. Total energy of raindrops
 falling over a hectare land with rainfall intensity of 5 cm /hr is equal to 625 H.P. This
energy can lift 89 times the surface 17.5 cm of soil from one ha to a height of 3 ft. Two-
thirds of the above energy is used for sealing soil pores. Runoff may occur without
erosion but there is no water erosion without runoff. The raindrop thus breaks down soil
aggregates, detaches soil particles and leads the rainwater with the fine particles. These
fine particles seal the pores of the surface soil and increases runoff causing erosion.
b) Topography: The degree, length and curvature of slope determine the amount of runoff
and extent of erosion. Water flows slowly over a gentle slope where as at a faster rate
over a steeper one. As water flows down the slope, it accelerates under the forces of
gravity. When runoff attains a velocity of about 1 m/s it is capable of eroding the soil. If
the percent of slope is increased by 4 times the velocity of water flowing down is
doubled. Doubling the velocity quadruples the erosive power and increases the quantity
of soil that can be transported by about 32 times and size of the particles that can be
transported by about 64 times.
c) Vegetation: Vegetation intercepts the rainfall and reduces the impact of raindrops. It also
decreases the velocity of runoff by obstructing the flow of water. The fibrous roots are
also effective in forming stable soil aggregates, which increases infiltration and reduces
erosion.
d) Soil Properties: Soil properties that influence soil erodability by water may be grouped
into two types.
i. Those properties that influence the infiltration rate and permeability
ii. Those properties that resist the dispersion, splashing, abrasion and transporting forces
of rainfall and runoff. The structure, texture, organic matter and moisture content of
upper layers determine the extent of erosion. Sandy soils are readily detachable but
not readily transportable. Soils of medium to high clay content have low infiltration
capacities and they are readily transported by water after they are dispersed, but their
detachability is generally low.
e) Man and beast Man and beast accelerates erosion by extensive farming and excessive
grazing. Faulty practices like cultivation on steep slopes, cultivation up and down the
slope, felling and burning of forests etc., leads to heavy erosion. Excessive grazing
destroys all vegetation and increases the erosion.
Estimation of soil loss by water erosion
Based on the mechanism and factors influencing soil erosion, a universal soil loss equation
(USLE) developed by Wischmeier (1959) is most useful for predicting soil loss due to water
erosion. It is an empirical equation and estimates average annual soil loss per unit area as a
function of major factors affecting sheet and rill erosion. It enables determination of land
management erosion rate relationships for a wide range of rainfall, soil slope and crop and
management conditions and to select alternative cropping and management combinations that
limit erosion rates to acceptable limits.
A= R x K x L x S x C x P
where, A= predicted soil loss in t/ha/year
R= rainfall erosivity factor or index
K= soil erodibility factor
L= length of slope factor
S= slope steepness factor
C= soil cover and management factor and
 P= erosion control factor
Wind erosion
Erosion of soil by the action of wind is known as wind erosion. It is a serious problem on lands
devoid of vegetation. It is more common in arid and semi arid regions. It is essentially a dry
weather phenomenon stimulated by the soil moisture deficiency. The process of wind erosion
consists of three phases: initiation of movement, transportation and deposition. About 33 m.ha in
India is affected by wind erosion. This includes 23.49 m.ha of desert and about 6.5 m.ha of
coastal sands. The Thar Desert is formed mainly by blow in sand.
Mechanism of wind erosion
Lifting and abrasive action of wind results in detachment of tiny soil particles from the granules
or clods. The impact of these rapidly moving particles dislodge other particles from clods and
aggregates. These dislodged particles are ready for movement. Movement of soil particles in
wind erosion is initiated when the pressure by the wind against the surface soil grains overcomes
the force of gravity on the grains. Minimum wind velocity necessary for initiating the movement
of most erodable soil particles (about 0.1 mm diameter) is about 16 km /hr at a height of 30.5 cm.
Most practical limit under field conditions, where a mixture of sizes of single grained material
present is about 21 km/hr at a height of 30.5 cm.
In general movement of soil particles by wind takes place in three stages:
saltation, surface creep and suspension.
a) Saltation: It is the first stage of movement of soil particles in a short series of bounces or
jumps along the ground surface. After being rolled by the wind, soil particles suddenly
leap almost vertically to form the initial stage of movement in saltation. The size of soil
particles moved by saltation is between 0.1 to 0.5 mm in diameter. This process may
account for 50 to 70% of the total movement by wind erosion.
b) Surface creep: Rolling and sliding of soil particles along the ground surface due to impact
of particles descending and hitting during saltation is called surface creep. Movement of
particles by surface creep causes an abrasive action of soil surface leading to break down
of non-erodable soil aggregates. Coarse particles longer than 0.5 to 2.0 mm diameter are
moved by surface creep. This process may account for 5 to 25% of the total movement.
c) Suspension: Movement of fine dust particles smaller than 0.1 mm diameter by floating in
the air is known as suspension. Soil particles carried in suspension are deposited when
the sedimentation force is greater than the force holding the particles in suspension. This
occurs with decrease in wind velocity. Suspension usually may not account for more than
15% of total movement.