Design, Development, and Performance Evaluation of a Fertigation Device for Distributing Solid Fertilizer

Abstract

Solid fertilizers, which have a low operating cost, are widely applied in Chinese crop fields. In order to distribute solid fertilizer through fertigation, an innovative device with a simple structure was designed, which can feed, dissolve, and distribute fertilizer simultaneously. The parameters of the outlet pipe and fertilizer-feeding component were designed, and a preliminary equation for calculating the fertilizer-feeding flowrate was established. Then experiments were conducted to optimize the established equation. Obtained results showed that the deviation between the measured and the calculated feeding flowrate through the optimized equation was about 5%. This ensured that the fertilizer-feeding flowrate can be adjusted accurately. Experiments were also conducted to explore the effect of the working parameters on the fertilization uniformity of the designed device. It was found that as the fertilization time and inlet water flowrate increases, the fertilization uniformity increases but fertilizer concentration decreases. Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that the designed fertigation device outperforms the conventional pressure differential tank that is normally applied to distribute solid fertilizers.

Investigation of Hydraulic Performance Based on Response Surface Methodology for an Agricultural Chemigation Proportional Injector

“…Li et al [24] analyzed the structure principle and main performance parameters of a fertilization pump, and also carried out a hydraulic performance test, indicating that the injection ratio of the fertilization pump was relatively stable under different inlet and outlet pressure differences. Zhang et al [25] designed an innovative piece of equipment with a simple structure to distribute solid fertilizer through a fertigation system. In actual engineering applications, Bracy [26], Tayel [27] and Li [11,15] successfully applied a PI as one kind of injector to inject fertilizer into irrigation water and indicated that the use of a PI can result in good water and fertilizer distribution uniformity because of the high injection precision of the Venturi injector.…”