Study of Four PUSA Varieties of Paddy Husk and the Effects of Its Burning on the Environment
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Abstract
Green revolution belt in the Northern India includes the state of Haryana. It’s a major producer of Paddy in India as 18 districts are involved in Paddy cultivation. Out of these 7 districts are having very good paddy cultivation yielding more than 2500kg per hectare. In these districts the farmers are utilising the fields all through the year and for that matter are using all types of machinery to increase the speed of harvesting. Hence, they are using Combine harvesters to harvest the crops of Paddy. This increases the speed of harvesting at a low cost but brings with it another problem which is it cuts the crops at a height of about 10cm from the ground. This stubble of paddy which is left in the field is a major issue as the farmers are burning and removing the stubble from their fields after harvesting the crop.
Burning of paddy stubble and other agro wastes has resulted in air pollution problems which are not only in Haryana but has also spread to Delhi particularly which results in a smog condition in the cold winter months.
Research is done in the SRM University Sonepat district of Haryana from the year 2023-2025 by burning the stubble and straw of four different varieties of paddy which are majorly grown in Haryana. Then the gaseous pollutants are tested along with suspended particles which are released by burning of the stubble and straw of paddy. The data is compared with the CPCB data to find out the consistency in the results. Also, the months in which there is more pollution is found by comparison of the results with the CPCB data.
This study is to understand the pollutants released by burning of stubble of four different varieties of Paddy which is resulting in adverse effects on the population. It is found that Carbon monoxide, Sulphur dioxide, Nitrogen dioxide, Carbon dioxide and particulate matter are released in considerable amounts but they do not vary much based on variety. Also physical parameters of the paddy husk is studied which shows similar results.