Surface irrigation management in relation to water infiltration and distribution in soils

Abstract

Water infiltration and storage under surface irrigation are evaluated, based on the initial soil water content and inflow rate as well as on the irrigation parameters and efficiencies. For that purpose, a field experiment was conducted using fruitful grape grown in alluvial clay soil at Shebin El-Kom in 2008 grape season. To evaluate the water storage and distribution under partially wetted furrow irrigation in comparison to the traditional border irrigation as a control method, two irrigation treatments were applied. They are known as wet (WT) and dry (DT) treatments, at which water was applied when the available soil water (ASW) reached 65% and 50%, respectively. The coefficient of variation (CV) was 6.2 and 10.2% for WT and DT respectively under the furrow irrigation system as compared to 8.5% in border. Water was deeply percolated as 11.9 and 18.9% for wet and dry furrow treatments respectively, as compared with 11.1% for control with no deficit. The application efficiency achieved was 86.2% for wet furrow irrigation achieving a high grape yield (30.7 t/ha). The relation between the infiltration (cumulative depth, Z and rate, I) and opportunity time (t<sub>0</sub>) in minutes for WT and DT treatments was: Z<sub>WT</sub> = 0.528 t<sub>0</sub><sup>0.6</sup>, Z<sub>DT</sub> = 1.2 t<sub>0</sub><sup>0.501</sup>, I<sub>WT</sub> = 19 t<sub>0</sub><sup>–0.4</sup>, I<sub>DT</sub> = 36 t<sub>0</sub><sup>–0.498</sup>. Also, empirical power form equations were obtained for the measured advance and recession times along the furrow length during the irrigation stages of advance, storage, depletion, and recession.

Performance Evaluation of Gated Pipes Technique for Improving Surface Irrigation Efficiency in Maize Hybrids

“…The uniformity coefficient (UC) can be expressed in power distribution for water infiltrated depth which determined from Equation (13) as stated by [20].…”

Prediction of hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity in soils at steady-state infiltration

“…Over time, the infiltration rate slowed and reached the final (basic) infiltration rate (I b ). At this stage, the I b value was not influenced by the initial water content, whereas I b had a unique value after 4.7 h from the beginning of infiltration in both field sites (Amer and Amer 2010;Amer 2011). This observation is important regarding the applicability of I b in predicting water sorptivity at the steady-state infiltration (S w ), as well as to estimate the hydraulic conductivity in the studied soils.…”

“…To determine the effect of initial soil moisture on the infiltration rate, a separate experiment was carried out at Shebin El-Kom on the alluvial clay soil in which the available soil water content was reduced by 35 and 50%, as described by Amer and Amer (2010).…”

An improved approach to estimating the infiltration characteristics in surface irrigation systems

“…The required data for infiltration determination collected during an irrigation event (i.e., advance and recession times, inflow rate, and slope, which are used to describe many approaches in surface irrigation) or prior to an irrigation event form the array of existing field measurements (e.g., using a DRI). The advance and recession times have been defined in many studies e.g., [1][2][3][4], where the advance time is the time-distance relationship in water front advance, and the recession time is the time-distance relationship begins when the depth of surface water at the upstream decreases to zero and continues until the surface is drained.…”