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A field experiment was conducted during September 2016 to March 2017 to study the soil moisture and groundwater dynamics underneath four biodrainage vegetation in a waterlogged land of lower Indo-Gangetic plain of West Bengal. Four natural vegetation flora viz., Kadamba (Neolamarckia cadamba), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sp.), Lamboo (Dysoxylum sp.) and Banana (Musa sp.) including a non-vegetated area as control were selected for evaluation. The results of the study showed that all four biodrainage plantations had differential potential in extracting and depleting soil water from deeper soil layers and decline in groundwater table. However, the canopy of Eucalyptus vegetation has higher efficiency in exhausting the surplus soil water from deeper layers and lowering the elevated groundwater table than underneath Lamboo, Banana and kadamba vegetation. Thus, the low-cost monoculture biodrainage potential species like Eucalyptus as partial substitution or complementary association to and/ in conjunction with conventional subsurface drainage could be commissioned with suitable plant geometry to combat the sustained waterlogging and environmental hazards and maintain the desired soil water regimes for timely agricultural crop production in rabi season.

Key words: Biodrainage, Waterlogging, Water table, Soil mosture, Land reclamation.