Development of an Automatic Irrigation Method Using an Image-Based Irrigation System for High-Quality Tomato Production

In this study, we developed an automatic irrigation method using an image-based irrigation system for high-quality tomato production in a greenhouse by investigating effects of a diurnal periodic cycle of irrigation on the photosynthesis, growth, yield, and fruit quality of tomatoes. The diurnal periodic cycle in a moderate wilting–full recovery treatment (MR) with a medium threshold value was more frequent than that in a severe wilting–full recovery treatment (SR) with a high threshold value. Mean daily maximum wilting ratios for MR and SR were 7.2% and 11.3%, respectively, when wilting ratios were set to threshold values of 7% and 14%, respectively. Total irrigation amounts in MR and SR were similar and lower than that in the untreated control. Net photosynthetic rate decreased under water stress, with values in MR being higher than that in SR, and recovered rapidly to more than 90% of its maximum value following irrigation. Plant growth and fruit yield per plant in MR and SR were lower than that in the control. Water stress treatment could improve fruit quality when it commenced at the anthesis stage or early fruit development stage. Total irrigation amount was a more important parameter than the threshold value for controlling the growth, yield, and fruit quality of tomatoes.

Effect of Performance of Water Stashes Irrigation Approaches on Selected Species of Plant’s Water Productivity in Urban Rooftop Agriculture with Respect to Climate Change

Urbanization and population growth have led to urban areas with a substantial concrete surface compared to adjacent rural areas, creating challenges regarding fresh food, water security, and the need for agricultural land. Climate change affects the rainfall pattern and ground water in urban areas, so the gradual growth of urban rooftop agriculture (URTA) is an increasing trend for the owners of residential buildings. URTA is increasing in the form of private initiatives, but without consideration of efficient water management techniques and application of other related inputs. URTA differs substantially from traditional agriculture in terms of sunshine, thermal regime, the moisture dynamics of a concrete roof top, etc. Considering these aspects of URTA, an effective, efficient, science-based and economically viable irrigation method is necessary to popularize this approach and consequently increase the productivity of crops. With this in mind, the drip irrigation method is considered for the cultivation and determination of water productivity for selected species of plants such as the Bottle Gourd, Tomato, Chili, and Brinjal in the URTA, which was also compared to the traditional irrigation approach. This is why groundwater and green (grey and rain) water were considered as the source of irrigation during the dry season, based on the daily crop evapotranspiration and moisture content of the plant growing medium. For this reason, ET0 of the selected crops was measured using the CROPWAT 8.0 model. The results of this study revealed that the optimum irrigation water requirement of any crop in URTA is around 54% access (ETc), and 46–64% of access irrigation water is used by the traditional method compared to the drip irrigation method. The study reported that with drip irrigation with potable water, the yield was increased by 21.43–22.40% and rain and grey-water also increased yield by 31.87–33.33% compared to container and traditional pipe irrigation. It was also found that the water qualities of mixed water (grey and rainwater) are in an acceptable range limit for irrigation. As a result, urban planners, city dwellers, and researchers can formulate appropriate plans to cultivate different species of plants through this water saving irrigation method using green water, and should explore the concept of water-smart URTA technologies as organic inventions embedded in these results.

Influence of the quality of viscoelastic removal on phacoemulsification results. Part 1. Type of the postoperative period course depending on the quality of viscoelastic removal in phacoemulsification

BACKGROUND: The reasons for the development of postoperative reactive inflammation under optimal conditions for the operation are errors in the surgical technique and the presence of viscoelastic residues. The likelihood of developing ophthalmic hypertension exists with the use of viscoelastic of any type. Its incomplete evacuation can be explained by the difficult visualization due to its transparency. Analysis of the dependence of the postoperative period course on the quality of viscoelastic removal at phacoemulsification can be considered to be relevant and expedient. AIM: The aim was to study the type of the postoperative period course depending on the quality of viscoelastics removal at phacoemulsification. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 104 eyes of randomly chosen patients who underwent femto-laser assisted phacoemulsification, divided into 2 groups according to ophthalmic viscoelastics characteristics (colored or transparent). Both groups were split into 2 subgroups each depending on method of viscoelastics removal. Tonometry and biomicroscopy were performed 3 hours after phacoemulsification and on the post-op Day 1. Patients with Tyndall effect were examined daily until its disappearance. RESULTS: At comparable preoperative IOP indices, its elevation 3 hours after surgery took place in subgroups 2a and 2b, the highest being in subgroup 2a. The greatest number of eyes with Tyndall effect, at all follow-up periods, was found in subgroup 2a, the lowest in subgroup 1b. The total number of eyes with keratopathy (as epitheliopathy) observed 3 hours after surgery was 7, four of them being from subgroup 2a. CONCLUSIONS: The conducted research showed that the type of early postoperative period course of phacoemulsification depends on visualization possibility of the viscoelastic and of the method of its removal. Minimal changes of hydrodynamics and maximal number of eyes with absence of inflammation took place when using colored viscoelastic and impulse irrigation method.

Rice Cultivation Technology at Low-Pressure Drop Irrigation in the Conditions of Kyzylorda Region

The article explores the method of drip irrigation of agricultural crops, which provides a high coefficient of irrigation water (80–95%) and land (95%) use. This method helps to significantly save irrigation water by reducing losses for evaporation and filtration outside the root system zone, which eliminates surface runoff, unevenness of irrigation and creates the ability to maximize the use of irrigated areas for agricultural crops. The use of drip irrigation in vegetable production in the south of Kazakhstan since 2000 has radically changed the approach to the “water – soil – plant” complex. The authors believe that a metered feeding regimen would form a new approach to irrigation of agricultural crops, such as rice. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) as a food culture serves as one of the products consumed in food. It is grown in 120 countries on the area of more than 165 million hectares. Rice, unlike other agricultural crops, has a high biological plasticity and adaptive ability, which in modern agriculture allows it to be cultivated in a wide range of climatic conditions and irrigation methods, such as flooding, periodic irrigation and dry conditions. In world practice a continuous flooding of checks was the most widespread method of watering. This technology consumes about 50% of the total volume of irrigation water or 30% of the world’s fresh water reserves. The irrigation rate of rice cultivated with the use of this technology is in the range of 20–25 thousand m3/ha, which significantly exceeds the biological water consumption of rice agrocenosis. A significant part of the irrigation water is lost for filtration, discharges and lateral outflows. Currently, the use of drip irrigation method in rice fields is poorly studied. The research is aimed at substantiating the technology of rice cultivation using a low-pressure drip irrigation method in the conditions of Kyzylorda region

Assessment of Groundwater Quality and Soil Salinity/Status Under Various Irrigation Systems in Arid Region of Jamshoro District

The agricultural lands are being affected due to groundwater (GW) quality issues. To address this worldwide problematic situation, various irrigation studies have been practiced to identify the effects on the soil conditions. The current study has been designed to assess the GW quality and soil salinity/sodicity by different irrigation techniques in the remote mountainous area of Jamshoro district at Gul Muhammad Khaskheli farm Thana Boula Khan. The experimental plot was designed under furrow, pitcher and poly ethylene bag irrigation system. These soil characteristics indicated that the drain-ability of the soil was high, with an infiltration rate of 1.60 cm/h and water holding capacity was low. Water samples were collected at each irrigation time from sowing to harvest. The soil understudy was non-saline (ECe < 4.0 dS/m) and non-sodic (pH < 8.0, SAR < 7.5 and ESP < 15.0) before crop sowing in all the three methods of irrigation at all the three sampling depths, i.e., 0-15 cm, 15-30 cm and 30-60 cm. Thus, the quality of water used for cultivation of ladyfinger/Okra crop under all irrigation methods was Class-I quality water.The investigated results shown that ECw (electrical conductivity of water) was < 1.5 dS/m, pH < 8.0, SAR (sodium adsorption ratio) < 10.0 and RSC (residual sodium carbonate) were non detective. After crop harvest changed a little bit, change was observed in the soil, i.e., under furrow and pitcher irrigation method, the ECe, SAR. and ESP (exchangeable sodium percentage) decreased in the wetted zone and increased at the wetted periphery. Under the polyethylene bag irrigation method, ECe, SAR and ESP decreased at depths 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm but these increased at lower depth, i.e., 30-60 cm after crop harvest. However, the soil remained non-saline and non-sodic.

A Framework for Irrigation Performance Assessment Using WaPOR data: The case of a Sugarcane Estate in Mozambique

The growing competition for the finite land and water resources and the need to feed an ever-growing population requires new techniques to monitor the performance of irrigation schemes and improve land and water productivity. Datasets from FAO’s portal to monitor Water Productivity through Open access Remotely sensed derived data (WaPOR) is increasingly applied as a cost-effective means to support irrigation performance assessment and identifying possible pathways for improvement. This study presents a framework that applies WaPOR data to assess irrigation performance indicators including uniformity, equity, adequacy and land and water productivity differentiated by irrigation method (furrow, sprinkler and centre pivot) at the Xinavane sugarcane estate, Mozambique. The WaPOR data on water, land and climate is near-real-time and spatially distributed, with the finest spatial resolution in the area of 100 m. The WaPOR data were first validated agronomically by examining the biomass response to water, then the data was used to systematically analyse seasonal indicators for the period 2015 to 2018 on ~8,000 ha. The WaPOR based yield estimates were found to be comparable to the estate-measured yields with ±20 % difference, root mean square error of 19 ± 2.5 ton/ha and mean absolute error of 15 ± 1.6 ton/ha. A climate normalization factor that enables the spatial and temporal comparison of performance indicators are applied. The assessment highlights that in Xinavane no single irrigation method performs the best across all performance indicators. Centre pivot compared to sprinkler and furrow irrigation shows higher adequacy, equity, and land productivity, but lower water productivity. The three irrigation methods have excellent uniformity (~94 %) in the four seasons and acceptable adequacy for most periods of the season except in 2016, when a drought was observed. While this study is done for sugarcane in one irrigation scheme, the approach can be broadened to compare other crops across fields or irrigation schemes across Africa with diverse management units in the different agro-climatic zone within FaO WaPOR coverage. We conclude that the framework is useful for assessing irrigation performance using the WaPOR dataset.

An Evaluation of a New Scheme for Determination of Irrigation Depths in the Egyptian Nile Delta

Innovative irrigation techniques should be implemented to improve irrigation management in dryland countries. In this regard, a new scheme, that uses three sets of irrigation depth and numerically simulated cumulative transpiration, was evaluated in the Egyptian Nile delta in 2020. Presuming that water is volumetrically priced, the proposed scheme can maximize net incomes at optimum irrigation depths considering quantitative weather forecasts. A field experiment was carried out with a randomized complete block design using a major crop, maize, to assess the feasibility of the proposed scheme in comparison to a sensor-based irrigation method under conditions of dry climate and clay loamy soil. The proposed scheme could increase the gross net income of farmers and conserve irrigation by 21% and 35%, respectively, compared to a sensor-based irrigation method, although the yield and its components were almost the same with no significant statistical differences. The model could accurately simulate soil water content in the topsoil layers with a RMSE of 0.02 cm3 cm−3. The proposed scheme could be a useful tool to spare the costs of expensive soil monitoring sensors while saving water and improving net income.