Premium
IMAGE: a physically‐based one dimensional irrigation management model for soil salinity control
Author(s) -
AlAjmi A.,
Nortcliff S.,
Simmonds L.P.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-2743.2002.tb00238.x
Subject(s) - irrigation , environmental science , soil salinity , hydrology (agriculture) , soil salinity control , salinity , irrigation management , irrigation scheduling , soil water , leaching model , infiltration (hvac) , dryland salinity , soil science , agronomy , soil fertility , geology , geography , soil biodiversity , oceanography , geotechnical engineering , biology , meteorology
. This paper describes a study of 37 farms in the Batinah region of Oman where fodder crops and date palms are grown using saline irrigation water. Soil water salinities (ε s ) range from 2 to 50 dS m –1 . Soil water salinity depends on irrigation water quality and management factors such as the amount and frequency of irrigation and the area of the irrigation basin relative to the vegetation canopy. An irrigation management model for soil salinity control IMAGE has been developed, based on the salt balance of the profile assuming that the ε s is in equilibrium with the irrigation water. The input parameters required to run the model include the annual water application, irrigation interval, soil textural class, potential evaporation, the ratio of crop canopy to irrigation basin area and the salinity of irrigation water. Verification of the model using rather uncertain data from a survey of the farms showed that this simple approach predicted ε s to within 2.5 dS m –1 in 82% of cases. The model showed that ε s was highly sensitive to the size of irrigation basin and the amount and scheduling of irrigation, and so provides a tool for optimizing salinity management.