Distribución y pérdidas de agua y nitrato bajo fertirriego por surcos alterno y convencional

Abstract

Alternate furrow irrigation and surface fertigation have been known as techniques to control water and fertilizer losses. The main goal of this field study was to characterize the combined effect of these techniques on water and nitrate losses and on soil water and nitrate concentration. Two types of alternate furrow irrigation, i.e., variable alternate furrow irrigation (AFI) and fixed alternate furrow irrigation (FFI), as well as conventional furrow irrigation (CFI) were considered in the experiments. Results evidenced higher infiltration at irrigated furrows under AFI and FFI as compared to CFI. Increased lateral water movement under alternate irrigation resulted in lower water and nitrate losses via runoff and deep percolation. Water application efficiency for the CFI, FFI and AFI strategies amounted to 61.3%, 71.8% and 77.0% in the first fertigation and 36.4%, 58.8% and 60.7% in the second fertigation, respectively. Nitrate runoff for the CFI, FFI and AFI strategies amounted to 32.4%, 31.2% and 25.7% in the first fertigation and 44.3%, 35.1% and 32.7% in the second fertigation, respectively. Soil water content and nitrate concentration at the upstream part of the experimental field were larger than at the middle and downstream parts for all three irrigation regimes. Overall, alternate furrow fertigation, particularly AFI, stands as a simple and practical management practice for water and fertilizer conservation in agricultural fields.Additional key words: alternate furrow irrigation; fertigation; water and nitrate losses. Resumen Distribución y pérdidas de agua y nitrato bajo fertirriego por surcos alterno y convencionalEl riego por surcos alternos y el fertirriego por superficie se han venido utilizando por separado como técnicas con capacidad demostrada para controlar las pérdidas de agua y fertilizantes. El principal objetivo del ensayo descrito en este trabajo fue caracterizar el efecto del uso conjunto de estas técnicas en las pérdidas de agua y nitratos, en el agua en el suelo y en la concentración de nitrato en el suelo. En el ensayo se consideraron dos tipos de fertirriego por surcos alternos, variable (AFI) y fijo (FFI), así como el riego por surcos convencional (CFI). Los resultados evidenciaron una mayor infiltración en los surcos AFI y FFI que en los surcos CFI. El aumento del movimiento lateral del agua en el riego alterno resultó en menores pérdidas de agua y nitrato por escorrentía y percolación profunda. La eficiencia de aplicación del agua para las estrategias CFI, FFI y AFI fue de 61,3%, 71,8% y 77,0% en el primer fertirriego, y de 36,4%, 58,8% y 60,7% en el segundo fertirriego, respectivamente. Las escorrentías de nitrato en las estrategias CFI, FFI y AFI fueron de 32,4%, 31,2% y 25,7% en el primer fertirriego y de 44,3%, 35,1% y 32,7% en el segundo fertirriego, respectivamente. El contenido de agua en el suelo y la concentración de nitrato en el extremo aguas arriba del campo experimental resultó mayor que en la parte media o en el extremo aguas abajo en las tres estrategias ensa...

Calibration of infiltration, roughness and longitudinal dispersivity coefficients in furrow fertigation using inverse modelling with a genetic algorithm

“…Therefore, a great obstacle in the improving surface irrigation performance is the difficulty of estimating the infiltration parameters (Bautista, Warrick, & Strelkoff, 2014;Elliott, Walker, & Skogerboe, 1983). In recent decades, surface fertigation has been identified as a technology to increase fertiliser distribution uniformity and application efficiency (Abbasi, Simunek, Van Genuchten, Feyen, & Adamsen, 2003;Ebrahimian, Keshavarz, Play an, 2014;Ebrahimian, Liaghat, Parsinejad, & Play an, 2012;Ebrahimian et al, 2013b;Perea, Strelkoff, Adamsen, Hunsaker, & Clemmens, 2010). Hence identifying soil characteristics in such fertigation systems which convey and infiltrate fertilisers as well as irrigation water became an issue of great concern.…”

Surface fertigation: a review, gaps and needs

“…In these cases, the use of statistical designs oriented towards the use of ANOVA techniques is desirable to firmly assess the relationship between fertigation performance and experimental treatments. However, the large size of the experimental units (a set of irrigated furrows, a border or a basin) makes such designs very diff icult to implement in practice (Ebrahimian et al, 2012b). Statistically designed experiments are not known in surface fertigation.…”

“…Among them, water inflow discharge and its hydrograph during the injection (Abbasi et al, 2003c;Moravejalahkami et al, 2012), soil infiltration (Abbasi et al, 2003c;Sabillón & Merkley, 2004), start time and duration of fertilizer application, irrigation depth (Abbasi et al, 2003c;Ebrahimian et al, 2012b), the method of fertilizer injection (pulsed or continuous) (Boldt et al, 1994;Playán & Faci, 1997;García-Navarro et al, 2000;Perea-Estrada, 2005), tillage record before fertigation (Bandaranayake et al, 1998), concentration of fertilizer solution (Abbasi et al, 2003c), the dispersion coefficient (García-Navarro et al, 2000;Abbasi et al, 2003c), the surface irrigation method (Ebrahimian et al, 2013b), or the field slope and the downstream condition (free draining or blocked end). These variables differ in their effect on management indicators.…”

“…Fertigation in alternate (every-other) furrows Ebrahimian et al (2012b) characterized the combined effect of alternate furrow irrigation and surface fertigation on water and nitrate losses. Two types of alternate furrow irrigation, i.e., variable alternate furrow irrigation (AFI) and fixed alternate furrow irrigation (FFI), as well as conventional furrow irrigation (CFI) were considered in the experiments.…”

Contribution of the cotton irrigation network to farm nitrous oxide emissions

“…A study of furrow-irrigated cotton in Emerald, Queensland, Australia, with application of 250 kg N ha , showed average N runoff to be 18.8 and 11.3 kg N ha -1 for 2001-02 and 2002-03, respectively (Mchugh et al 2008). In furrow-irrigated maize production systems in Iran, nitrate (NO 3 -) runoff ranged from 26 to 70 N ha -1 after application of 60 kg N ha -1 (Ebrahimian et al 2012). Nitrogen species lost via runoff may subsequently undergo denitrification to form N 2 O in the water column or drain sediments.…”