Premium
A Simple Method to Design Irrigation Rate and Duration and Improve Water Use Efficiency
Author(s) -
Assouline Shmuel
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2019wr025221
Subject(s) - irrigation , infiltration (hvac) , environmental science , surface runoff , environmental engineering , population , duration (music) , agricultural engineering , water resource management , agronomy , engineering , materials science , medicine , art , ecology , literature , environmental health , composite material , biology
Abstract Irrigated agriculture will have to increase production to meet the demand for food of the population of the world. A simple physically based method is presented that allows to determine appropriate irrigation rate and duration to avoid runoff, thus contributing to the design of efficient irrigation. The method relies on the infiltration capacity curve of the soil under interest. This curve allows determination of two important relationships: (a) maximal irrigation rate vs. irrigation dose and (b) irrigation duration versus rate. Two case studies illustrate the application of the method to adapt irrigation to the reduction of soil infiltration capacity resulting from the quality of the irrigation water (treated wastewater) or soil surface sealing. The range of irrigation rates for which duration can be estimated as the ratio between the required dose and the application rate is defined.