The management transfer of irrigation districts from the public to the private sector became a broad strategy throughout the world. Although the extent to which the process is being implemented, there is little information available on the results of these transfer programs. In addition, there is no established procedure to analyze economic feasibility and general performance of the irrigation districts. In this context, the aim of this research was to develop a model to evaluate the performance of self-managed irrigated areas transferred from public sector to private irrigator associations. A list of performance indicators proposed by the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts to monitor the public perimeters and pre-classification information from two public companies, San Francisco and Parnaiba Valleys Development Company (CODEVASF) and National Department of Works Against Droughts (DNOCS) were used in this research. A statistical multivariate model with discriminant analysis (MDA) was performed to identify the indicators importance in order to discriminate the current level of the irrigation areas. The data resulting from multivariate discriminant analysis was used to create an artificial neural network (ANN) that classifies the irrigated areas related to management. It was observed that the indicator Generated Revenue per Hectare (GRH) was the most important in the discriminating process regarding self-management. The neural network created from the values of the performance function resulted from multivariate discriminant Water Resour Manage analysis showed be capable of assessing the performance of Irrigated Perimeters over time and also be adequate as a tool for resource allocation and evaluation of self-managed irrigated areas.

CARACTERÍSTICAS FÍSICAS DE CÁPSULAS POROSAS PARA USO NA IRRIGAÇÃO LOCALIZADA     PEDRO IDELANO DE ALENCAR FELÍCIO1; RENATO SÍLVIO DA FROTA RIBEIRO1; ALEXSANDRO OLIVEIRA DA SILVA1; JOSÉ CARLOS DE ARAÚJO1 E RAIMUNDO NONATO TÁVORA COSTA1   1 Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Av. Mr. Hull, s/n, Pici, CEP:60356-001, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brasil. E-mail: idelano.felicio@gmail.com; renato@ufc.br; alexsandro@ufc.br; jcaraujo@ufc.br; rntcosta@ufc.br     1 RESUMO   Há diversos usos para as cápsulas porosas na agricultura, contudo, estas devem ser caracterizadas por parâmetros de avaliação como pressão de borbulhamento e condutância hidráulica. O objetivo da pesquisa foi aferir as características físicas de cápsulas porosas para uso na irrigação localizada. Para o sistema de irrigação proposto, utilizaram-se dez cápsulas porosas na execução do ensaio experimental que consistiu em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado com três tratamentos, constando de diferentes manejos de irrigação (manejo via clima, via solo e via cápsula porosa) com dez repetições, totalizando 30 unidades experimentais, tendo sido avaliados parâmetros de produção e crescimento da cultura do rabanete. A pressão de borbulhamento média observada foi de 2,34 atm, enquanto a condutância hidráulica apresentou valor médio de 9,27 x 10-6 cm² s-1. Para a cultura em estudo não houve diferenças entre os tratamentos estudados, sendo que a massa fresca da raiz apresentou valores de 7,4 g planta-1 para o manejo via clima e 4,7 g planta-1 para o manejo via cápsula porosa, não sendo estatisticamente diferentes pelo teste de Tukey (p<0,05). O uso de sistema de irrigação por cápsulas porosas apresenta-se como uma alternativa viável para o cultivo de hortaliças em pequenas áreas.   Palavras-chave:  Pressão de borbulhamento, condutância hidráulica, emissor.     FELÍCIO; P. I. A.; RIBEIRO, R. S. F.; SILVA. A. O.; ARAÚJO, J. C.; COSTA, R. N. T. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF POROUS CAPSULES FOR USE IN  IRRIGATION SYSTEM LOCATED     2 ABSTRACT   There are different uses for porous capsules in agriculture, however they must be characterized by assessment parameters like  bubbling pressure and hydraulic conductance. The objective of this work was to measure physical characteristics of porous capsules for localized irrigation use. For the proposed irrigation system, porous capsules were used in the execution of experimental trial, consisting of a completely randomized design with three treatments, different irrigation managements (climate management, soil management and porous capsule management) with 10 replications, totaling 30 experimental units, the culture chosen was radish, and parameters of production and growth were assessed. The average bubbling pressure found was 2.34 atm, while conductance presented values of 9.27 x 10-6 cm² s-1. For the crop study, differences between the treatments studied by the Tukey test (p <0.05) were not found; fresh root mass presented values of 7.4 g plant-1 for the climate management and 4.7 g plant-1 for management of porous capsule. The use of porous capsule irrigation systems is a viable alternative for growing vegetables in small areas.   Keywords:  Bubbling pressure, hydraulic conductance, emitter.