ICAR AIEEA-PG — Agricultural Engineering & Technology (Major Subject Group 10) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersPlanning a whole watershed: delineating it, classifying its land, budgeting its water and choosing harvesting structures with the people who live there.
In the exams: GATE AG Section 4 Watershed Management; ICAR AIEEA-PG Unit VII; ICAR AICE subject 40 Unit 6; TNPSC Unit III; RPSC AAE Unit 2
ICAR AIEEA-PG — Agricultural Engineering & Technology
Unit VII single-answer MCQs: definitions and formulas of morphometric parameters, land capability classes and subclasses, USBR irrigability classes, types of harvesting structures, and the history of Indian watershed programmes.
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA-PG spread across the units of Watershed Planning & Management. Difficulty: 33 easy, 31 medium, 5 hard.
| Watershed characterisation and morphometry | 15 | |
| Land capability classification | 9 | |
| Cost-benefit analysis of watershed projects | 7 | |
| Water budgeting | 6 | |
| Rainwater harvesting: check dams, percolation tanks and farm ponds | 6 | |
| Roof-top rainwater harvesting | 6 | |
| Participatory watershed planning | 6 | |
| Land irrigability classification | 5 | |
| National watershed programmes | 5 | |
| Watershed delineation | 4 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A 2,000 ha sub-watershed has three erosion intensity mapping units: 600 ha (weightage 17, delivery ratio 0.9), 900 ha (weightage 14, delivery ratio 0.8) and 500 ha (weightage 11, delivery ratio 0.7). Using SYI = [Σ(Ai × Wi × Di) / Aw] × 100 and the bands very high > 1300, high 1200–1300, medium 1100–1200, low 1000–1100, very low < 1000, the sediment yield index and priority are:
C. 1,156 — medium
Σ(Ai × Wi × Di) = 600×17×0.9 + 900×14×0.8 + 500×11×0.7 = 9,180 + 10,080 + 3,850 = 23,110. SYI = 23,110 / 2,000 × 100 = 1,155.5, which falls in the medium band (1100–1200). Leaving out the delivery ratio gives 1,415 and a false 'very high'; forgetting the factor 100 gives 11.6.
Further reading: AIS&LUS (Soil and Land Use Survey of India) priority delineation methodology
Land capability class VIII land is best used for:
D. recreation, wildlife or water supply
Class VIII has limitations that preclude commercial plant production, including grazing and woodland production. Occasional cultivation fits class IV; controlled grazing and woodland fit classes VI and VII.
Further reading: Klingebiel and Montgomery, USDA Agriculture Handbook 210 (1961)
In land capability classification, the subclass symbols e, w, s and c stand for limitations due to:
A. erosion, excess water, soil root zone, and climate
The four subclasses are e (erosion hazard), w (wetness, drainage or overflow), s (soil root zone limitations such as shallowness, stones, low water capacity, salinity or sodicity) and c (climatic limitation). Salinity is included under s, and slope is expressed through erosion hazard.
Further reading: Klingebiel and Montgomery, USDA Agriculture Handbook 210 (1961)
In the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) land classification for irrigation, land classes 1, 2 and 3 are:
B. arable classes of decreasing suitability for irrigated farming
Classes 1, 2 and 3 are arable, with class 1 the most suitable and class 3 restricted. Class 4 is limited arable or special use, class 5 non-arable pending further study and class 6 non-arable.
Further reading: USBR land classification
For a watershed over one year: rainfall 850 mm, runoff at the outlet 120 mm, deep percolation 95 mm and an increase in soil moisture storage of 15 mm. There is no inflow across the divide. Actual evapotranspiration is:
B. 620 mm
P = ET + Q + R + ΔS, so ET = 850 − 120 − 95 − 15 = 620 mm. Adding the storage increase (650 mm) gets its sign wrong: water that went into storage did not evaporate. 635 mm ignores storage altogether. 730 mm subtracts only the runoff (850 − 120).
A farm pond has a catchment of 8 ha. Seasonal rainfall is 650 mm and the seasonal runoff coefficient is 0.25. The runoff available to fill the pond is:
B. 13,000 m³
Runoff = C × P × A = 0.25 × 0.65 m × 80,000 m² = 13,000 m³. 52,000 m³ is total rainfall on the catchment (runoff coefficient omitted). The other two are factor-of-ten slips in converting hectares to m².
Further reading: Critchley and Siegert, FAO Water Harvesting manual (1991)
Which of the following is a good site characteristic for a check dam on a drainage line?
D. A narrow, well-defined channel with stable high banks and a gentle bed slope upstream
A narrow section keeps the structure short and cheap; stable banks prevent outflanking; a gentle bed slope makes the stored pool extend far upstream; and nearby users make use of the stored water and recharge. Steep beds give short pools and wide channels need long, costly structures.
When computing the volume of a farm pond with sloping sides, the average end-area formula compared with the prismoidal formula generally:
C. overestimates the volume
For a frustum of a pyramid the average end-area method, h(A1 + A2)/2, weights the large top area too heavily and gives a larger value than the exact prismoidal result, (h/6)(A1 + 4Am + A2). For a 30 m square top, 18 m square bottom and 3 m depth the two give 1,836 m³ and 1,764 m³.
'Social fencing' in watershed management refers to:
C. protection of treated or closed areas through rules agreed and enforced by the community itself
Social fencing means the community agrees not to graze or cut in a regenerating area and enforces the rule itself, often with fines or watchers it appoints, instead of relying on physical fences or state orders that are hard to enforce.
In India, a very large share of water conservation and harvesting works in villages, such as farm ponds, check dams and desilting of tanks, is also carried out under:
B. the rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS)
Water conservation and harvesting are among the permissible works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which combines wage employment with asset creation. The other programmes deal with roads, urban areas and railways.
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