SOIL CONDITIONER EFFECT ON SOIL WETTING PATTERNS UNDER PULSED DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Researcher, Agric. Eng. Res. Inst. (AEnRI), ARC, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

Abstract

Optimal drip irrigation design and management depend on soil wetting patterns where, sandy soil under continuous drip irrigation was the depth of wetting pattern is relatively higher than the width that leads to increase deep percolation beyond root zone. Therefore, the study aim to improve drip irrigation efficiency using soil conditioners with pulse drip irrigation. An empirical mathematical model was used to describe soil wetting patterns. The laboratory experiments were conducted on sand soil using soil conditioners named commercially by Composite that contains mixed materials in the rate of 5:1 from local "Aswan Clay and Hydrogel (super absorption polymer, SAP) with pulsed drip irrigation at cycle ratio equal 0.5 for different cycles times "P" (20, 30, 40 and 60 minutes). And also, an empirical model by Al-Ogaidi, et al., (2016) was used to estimate the wetted radius of dripper at the soil surface and at the depth of the wetting pattern. Results demonstrated that using composite with pulse flow technique in sand soil led to increase both soil moisture distribution, moisture percent, and the wetting front advances in horizontal direction more than vertical direction. Percentage of the surface and maximum wetted radius to wetted depth under dripper were increased. Also, the percentage of the soil surface wetted radius for all treatments compared to continuous flow without soil conditioner was increased. Predicted and observed values were compared well to test model applicability in laboratory conditions on the basis of model performance parameters. The result shows the advantage of soil conditioner with pulsed flow method for reducing the deep percolation of water under the root zone, while obtaining a wide horizontal spread of wetting.

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