Evaluating two irrigation controllers under subsurface drip irrigated tomato crop

Abstract

Smart systems could be used to improve irrigation scheduling and save water under Saudi Arabia's present water crisis scenario. This study investigated two types of evapotranspiration-based smart irrigation controllers, SmartLine and Hunter Pro-C2, as promising tools for scheduling irrigation and quantifying plants' water requirements to achieve water savings. The effectiveness of these technologies in reducing the amount of irrigation water was compared with the conventional irrigation scheduling method as a control treatment. The two smart irrigation sensors were used for subsurface irrigation of a tomato crop (cv. Nema) in an arid region. The results showed that the smart controllers significantly reduced the amount of applied water and increased the crop yield. In general, the Hunter Pro-C2 system saved the highest amount of water and produced the highest crop yield, resulting in the highest water irrigation efficiency compared with the SmartLine controller and the traditional irrigation schedule. It can be concluded that the application of advanced scheduling irrigation techniques such as the Hunter controller under arid conditions can realise economic benefits by saving large amounts of irrigation water.Additional key words: smart irrigation; ET controllers; subsurface irrigation; automatic controllers; irrigation water use efficiency; arid region; tomato yields.Abbreviations used: C (control irrigation); Dg (depth of irrigation water); (Dg)t (total depth of irrigation water); DW (dry weight); ET (evapotranspiration); ETr (reference evapotranspiration); FW (fresh weight); H (Hunter controller); ICS (irrigation control system); IWUE (irrigation water used efficiency); Kc (crop coefficient); SDI (subsurface drip irrigation); SL (SmartLine controller); WUE (water use efficiency); Y (total fresh yield).

Installation and Adjustment of a Hydraulic Evapotranspiration Multisensor Prototype

“…For deviations from a normal to lower ET rate, these models increase the time interval between consecutive irrigation cycles to avoid excessive irrigation. Thus, companies claim up to 30% water savings [4].…”

Effects of Irrigation Method on Pollination and Pollinators (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) in an Open-Field Tomato Crop

“…Efficient water use is one of the principal concerns today, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Thus, different irrigation systems and management strategies have been introduced to the tomato crop to improve water use efficiency in irrigation (Al Ghobari et al 2016;Gerçek et al 2017). However, irrigation practice changes may influence other factors that affect crop yield, such as pollinators and pollination.…”

Qualidade do solo utilizando diferentes coberturas e preparos do solo em área de cana-de-açúcar

“…Dentre os métodos indiretos, a utilização de sensores de reflectometria no domínio da frequência (FDR) aumentou na última década para a determinação do teor de água no solo devido a sua facilidade de leitura e pela medição não destrutiva (FARES e ALVA, 2000). Os sensores FDR fornecem informações rápidas, precisas, em profundidade e podem ser acoplados em sistemas automáticos de leituras de dados, possibilitando o aumento da frequência de coleta de dados (HARDIE et al, 2013;AL-GHOBARI et al, 2016). A importância das sondas inseridas no solo foi retratada por Mazahrih et al (2008) em um cronograma de irrigação mais preciso, que comparando com outros modelos de sensores, o inserido no solo reduz erros na leitura e gera uma perturbação mínima durante sua instalação.…”