scholarly journals Kansas Center Pivot Uniformity Evaluation Overview

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 867-874
Author(s):  
Danny H Rogers ◽  
Jonathan Aguilar ◽  
Vaishali Sharda

Abstract. Center pivot irrigation systems are the most common system type in Kansas for a variety of factors – one of which is the ability to deliver a uniform depth of water application for a variety of crops and field conditions. Uniform applications are dependent on properly designed, installed and operated sprinkler nozzle packages. Uniformity evaluations were conducted as part of the Mobile Irrigation Lab (MIL) project to promote adoption of improved irrigation management practices with an emphasis on ET based irrigation scheduling. Since efficient and uniform water applications are critical to successful irrigation scheduling; MIL assessment included evaluation of sprinkler package performance using a single line catch can test. Catch can data was used to calculate the coefficient of uniformity (CU) and average application depth. The average CU value of the tested systems was 78.7 with a range of from 91.9 to 53.2. Many of the factors affecting pivot uniformity could have been identified and corrected with a visual inspection and/or comparison to the manufacturer’s sprinkler design specifications. Some of the catch tests indicated poorly designed and/or maintained sprinkler systems with reduced uniformity directly impacting crop performance, water use efficiency and economic results. Initial information was used in extension programs to illustrate the effect of various correctable sprinkler package deficiencies on performance and to encourage irrigation farmers to examine their nozzle packages and operating conditions. Keywords: Center pivot irrigation, Sprinkler packages, Uniformity.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anh Thi Tuan Nguyen

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Economic as well as water shortage pressure on agricultural use of water has placed added emphasis on efficient irrigation management. Center pivot technology has made great improvement with variable rate irrigation (VRI) technology to vary water application spatially and temporally to maximize the economic and environmental return. Proper management of VRI systems depends on correctly matching the pivot application to specific field temporal and areal conditions. There is need for a tool to accurately and inexpensively define dynamic management zones, to sense within-field variability in real time, and control variable rate water application so that producers are more willing to adopt and utilize the advantages of VRI systems. This study included tests of the center pivot system uniformity performance in 2014 at Delta Research Center in Portageville, MO. The goal of this research was to develop MOPivot software with an algorithm to determine unique management areas under center pivot systems based on system design and limitations. The MOPivot tool automates prescriptions for VRI center pivot based on non-uniform water needs while avoiding potential runoff and deep percolation. The software was validated for use in real-time irrigation management in 2018 for VRI control system of a Valley 8000 center pivot planted to corn. The water balance model was used to manage irrigation scheduling. Field data, together with soil moisture sensor measurement of soil water content, were used to develop the regression model of remote sensing-based crop coefficient (Kc). Remote sensing vegetation index in conjunction with GDD and crop growth stages in regression models showed high correlation with Kc. Validation of those regression models was done using Centralia, MO, field data in 2016. The MOPivot successfully created prescriptions to match system capacity of the management zone based on system limitations for center pivot management. Along with GIS data sources, MOPivot effectively provides readily available graphical prescription maps, which can be edited and directly uploaded to a center pivot control panel. The modeled Kc compared well with FAO Kc. By combining GDD and crop growth in the models, these models would account for local weather conditions and stage of crop during growing season as time index in estimating Kc. These models with Fraction of growth (FrG) and cumulative growing degree days (cGDD) had a higher coefficient of efficiency, higher Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency and higher Willmott index of agreement. Future work should include improvement in the MOPivot software with different crops and aerial remote sensing imagery to generate dynamic prescriptions during the season to support irrigation scheduling for real-time monitoring of field conditions.


Irriga ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 528-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Rossi Vicente ◽  
Everardo Chartuni Mantovani ◽  
ANDRÉ LUÍS TEIXEIRA FERNANDES ◽  
FÁBIO TEIXEIRA DELAZARI ◽  
EDMILSON MARQUES FIGUEREDO

EFEITO DE DIFERENTES LÂMINAS DE IRRIGAÇÃO NAS VARIÁVEIS DE DESENVOLVIMENTO E PRODUÇÃO DO CAFEEIRO IRRIGADO POR PIVÔ CENTRAL  MARCELO ROSSI VICENTE1; EVERARDO CHARTUNI MANTOVANI2; ANDRÉ LUÍS TEIXEIRA FERNANDES3; FÁBIO TEIXEIRA DELAZARI4 E EDMILSON MARQUES FIGUEREDO5 1 Instituto Federal do Norte de Minas Gerais, Salinas, MG, [email protected] Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, [email protected] Universidade de Uberaba, Uberaba, MG, Fábio Teixeira Delazari, [email protected] Departamento de Fitotecnia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, [email protected] Bahia Farm Show, Luís Eduardo Magalhães, BA, [email protected]  1      RESUMO O presente trabalho foi conduzido com objetivo de avaliar o efeito de diferentes lâminas de irrigação nas variáveis de produção, estádios maturação de frutos e eficiência no uso da água pela cultura do cafeeiro irrigado por pivô central equipado com emissores LEPA, na região Oeste da Bahia. Realizou-se o trabalho na fazenda Café do Rio Branco, localizada em Barreiras - BA em cafeeiros adultos da variedade Catuaí IAC 144. O experimento obedeceu ao delineamento de blocos casualizados, composto de cinco tratamentos correspondentes à 70, 85, 100, 125 e 150% da lâmina de irrigação determinada pelo software Irriplus. As produtividades, os estádios de maturação dos frutos e eficiência no uso da água do cafeeiro foram submetidos à análise de variância e regressão, em que os modelos foram escolhidos baseados na significância dos coeficientes de regressão utilizando-se o teste t de 1 a 10% de probabilidade. Diante dos resultados obtidos, pode-se concluir que, a produtividade da cultura do café foi expressivamente dependente da lâmina de água aplicada, sendo que a maior produtividade (60 sc ha-1) foi alcançada com a lâmina de irrigação acumulada de 661 mm ano-1, correspondente à 96% da lâmina de irrigação determinada pelo software Irriplus. A lâmina que proporcionou a máxima porcentagem de frutos cereja (44,1%) foi de 723 mm ano-1 (105%). A lâmina que proporcionou a maior eficiência no uso da água foi de 480 mm ano-1 (70%). Palavras-Chave: Coffea arabica, manejo da irrigação, emissor LEPA, uso eficiente da água.  VICENTE, M. R.; MANTOVANI, E. M.; FERNANDES, A. L. T.; DELAZARI, F. T.; FIGUEREDO, E. M.EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF IRRIGATION DEPTHS   ON GROWTH AND PRODUCTION VARIABLES OF COFFEE UNDER CENTER PIVOT  IRRIGATION     2        ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different irrigation depths on yield, ripening stages and water use efficiency by the   coffee crop irrigated by center pivot with LEPA emitters in western Bahia. The experiment was carried out at the Café Rio Branco farm, in Barreiras city, Bahia state, using  adult coffee trees of cv. Catuaí IAC 144. A completely randomized block design was used with five treatments consisting of 70, 85, 100, 125 and 150 % of ETc, determined by the Irriplus software.  Data of yield, fruit ripening stage and water use efficiency were evaluated   using analyses of variance  and regression. Models were chosen based on level of significance of   regression coefficients using the Student´s t-test, 1 to  10% probability.  Based on the results,  coffee crop yield was highly dependent on  the water depth applied. The highest yield (3.6 ton/ha) was achieved  using accumulated irrigation depth of 661 mm year -1 (96 % of Etc).  Water depths of   723 mm year-1 (105 %) and 480 mm year-1 (70% ETc)  provided the highest percentage of cherry fruit (44.1%) and the highest water use efficiency, respectively. Keywords: Coffea arábica, irrigation management, LEPA emitter, water use efficiency.


2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 191-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.J. Goyne ◽  
G.T. McIntyre

The Cotton and Grains Adoption Program of the Queensland Rural Water Use Efficiency Initiative is targeting five major irrigation regions in the state with the objective to develop better irrigation water use efficiency (WUE) through the adoption of best management practices in irrigation. The major beneficiaries of the program will be industries, irrigators and local communities. The benefits will flow via two avenues: increased production and profit resulting from improved WUE and improved environmental health as a consequence of greatly reduced runoff of irrigation tailwater into rivers and streams. This in turn will reduce the risk of nutrient and pesticide contamination of waterways. As a side effect, the work is likely to contribute to an improved public image of the cotton and grain industries. In each of the five regions, WUE officers have established grower groups to assist in providing local input into the specific objectives of extension and demonstration activities. The groups also assist in developing growersÕ perceptions of ownership of the work. Activities are based around four on-farm demonstration sites in each region where irrigation management techniques and hardware are showcased. A key theme of the program is monitoring water use. This is applied both to on-farm storage and distribution as well as to application methods and in-field management. This paper describes the project, its activities and successes.


2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 1181 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Kaine ◽  
D. Bewsell ◽  
A. Boland ◽  
C. Linehan

Market research was conducted to develop an extension program targeting the specific irrigation management needs of growers in the stone and pome fruit industry within the Goulburn Valley, Victoria. The process of integrating market research with extension practice proved challenging, as it required the development of an extension program that was fundamentally different from what was originally envisaged. However, it was essential to achieve this integration in order to meet the original objectives for the extension program as set by the funding body. We found, in most cases, that the motivation for stone and pome fruit growers in the Goulburn Valley to change orchard irrigation management practices was not because they needed to save water, or to increase water use efficiency. Instead, growers were changing practices in order to save time irrigating, improve the scope for managerial flexibility in the orchard, or when redeveloping their orchard to a closer planting design. These findings suggest that growers in the Goulburn Valley are more likely to respond to an extension program consistent with these motivations rather than a program promoting water use efficiency.


Horticulturae ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Nikolaou ◽  
Damianos Neocleous ◽  
Nikolaos Katsoulas ◽  
Constantinos Kittas

Precision agricultural greenhouse systems indicate considerable scope for improvement of irrigation management practices, since growers typically irrigate crops based on their personal experience. Soil-based greenhouse crop irrigation management requires estimation on a daily basis, whereas soilless systems must be estimated on an hourly or even shorter interval schedule. Historically, irrigation scheduling methods have been based on soil or substrate monitoring, dependent on climate or time with each having both strengths and weaknesses. Recently, plant-based monitoring or plant reflectance-derived indices have been developed, yet their potential is limited for estimating the irrigation rate in order to apply proper irrigation scheduling. Optimization of irrigation practices imposes different irrigation approaches, based on prevailing greenhouse environments, considering plant-water-soil relationships. This article presents a comprehensive review of the literature, which deals with irrigation scheduling approaches applied for soil and soilless greenhouse production systems. Irrigation decisions are categorized according to whether or not an automatic irrigation control has the ability to support a feedback irrigation decision system. The need for further development of neural networks systems is required.


2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 2035-2050 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Hunsaker ◽  
G. J. Fitzgerald ◽  
A. N. French ◽  
T. R. Clarke ◽  
M. J. Ottman ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 2053-2065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liwang Ma ◽  
Zhiming Qi ◽  
Yanjun Shen ◽  
Liang He ◽  
Shouhua Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Deficit irrigation has been shown to increase crop water use efficiency (WUE) under certain conditions, even though the yield is slightly reduced. In this study, the Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) was first calibrated with measured data from a large weighing lysimeter from 1998 to 2003 at the Yucheng Experimental Station in the North China Plain for daily evapotranspiration (ET), soil water storage (0-120 cm), leaf area index (LAI), aboveground biomass, and grain yield. The calibrated model was then used to explore crop responses to ET-based irrigation management using weather data from 1958 to 2015 and identify the most suitable ET-based irrigation schedules for the area. Irrigation amount was determined by constraining irrigation to a percentage of potential crop ET (40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% ETc) at the various growth stages of wheat [planting to before winter dormancy (P-D), green up to booting (G-B), booting to flowering (B-F), and flowering to maturity (F-M)] and of maize [planting to silking (P-S) and silking to maturity (S-M)], subject to seasonal water availability limits of 100/50, 200/100, 300/150, and 400/200 mm and no water limit for wheat/maize seasons, respectively. In general, wheat was more responsive to irrigation than maize, while greater influence of weather variation was simulated on maize than on wheat. For wheat with seasonal water limits, the highest average WUE was simulated with the highest targeted ETc levels at both the G-B and B-F stages and lower targeted ETc levels at the P-D and F-M stages. However, the highest average grain yield was simulated with the highest targeted ETc levels at all four growth stages for no water limit and the 400 mm water limit, or at both the G-B and B-F stages for the 300 and 200 mm water limits. For maize, lower targeted ETc levels after silking did not significantly affect maize production due to the high season rainfall, but irrigation of 60% ETc before silking was recommended. These results could be used as guidelines for precision irrigation along with real-time weather information. Keywords: Deficit irrigation, Evapotranspiration, Growth stage, RZWQM, Water use efficiency, Wheat and maize.


2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 1915-1922
Author(s):  
Xiumei Li ◽  
Weixia Zhao ◽  
Jiusheng Li ◽  
Yanfeng Li

Abstract. To improve the management of variable-rate irrigation (VRI) systems in semi-humid climates, three different soil-based irrigation management methods were evaluated on their potential for reducing irrigation water use and maximizing crop yield and water use efficiency (WUE) during the 2016 and 2017 growing seasons of summer maize in the North China Plain. The three irrigation management methods evaluated were soil water balance modeling (SWB), measured soil water content (SWC), and a combination of SWB and the rain forecast for the next three days (RF). The experiments were implemented on four management zones delineated by available soil water holding capacity of a center-pivot VRI system. A similar irrigation trigger point (70% of field capacity) was used for the three irrigation management methods in the four management zones. In the two seasons, the total water application in the SWC treatments varied in a larger range among the management zones, and the irrigation water applied was 22% and 21% less than in the SWB and RF treatments, respectively. Similar yields were obtained among the irrigation management methods in both seasons. The maximum WUE was always observed with the SWC treatments for the four management zones in the 2017 season. The WUE with the SWC treatments was 36% and 23% higher than with the SWB and RF treatments, respectively. Considering the amount of irrigation water applied, yield, and WUE, our results demonstrated that the SWC method was more suitable for VRI management than the SWB and RF methods in this semi-humid climate. Keywords: Center pivot, Soil water balance, Soil water content, Rain forecast, Summer maize, Yield.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2930
Author(s):  
Mathias Kuschel-Otárola ◽  
Diego Rivera ◽  
Eduardo Holzapfel ◽  
Niels Schütze ◽  
Patricio Neumann ◽  
...  

Irrigation management is a key factor in attaining optimal yields, as different irrigation strategies lead to different yields even when using the same amount of water or under the same weather conditions. Our research aimed to simulate the water-use efficiency (WUE) of crops considering different irrigation strategies in the Central Valley of Chile. By means of AquaCrop-OS, we simulated expected yields for combinations of crops (maize, sugar beet, wheat), soil (clay loam, loam, silty clay loam, and silty loam), and bulk density. Thus, we tested four watering strategies: rainfed, soil moisture-based irrigation, irrigation with a fixed interval every 1, 3, 5, and 7 days, and an algorithm for optimal irrigation scheduling under water supply constraints (GET-OPTIS). The results showed that an efficient irrigation strategy must account for soil and crop characteristics. Among the tested strategies, GET-OPTIS led to the best performance for crop yield, water use, water-use efficiency, and profit, followed by the soil moisture-based strategy. Thus, soil type has an important influence on the yield and performance of different irrigation strategies, as it provides a significant storage and buffer for plants, making it possible to produce “more crop per drop”. This work can serve as a methodological guide for simulating the water-use efficiency of crops and can be used alongside evidence from the field.


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