Sprinkler irrigation management in loam soil

Abstract

Water stress is a major yield-reducing factor in agriculture. The sprinkler irrigation systems are often regarded as a hydraulics problem. The average rate of water application is usually fixed at some level below the basic infiltration rate of the soil to avoid surface water runoff. However, water starts to accumulate on the soil surface when the water application rate exceeds the infiltration rate for a sufficiently long period. Surface runoff occurs when sufficient water accumulates on the soil surface to overflow shallow depressions and flow over or past surface. A good pasture management is the production of economically optimum forage yield and quality without compromising the environment. This field experiments aims to determine irrigation time for traveling irrigation device Bauer Rainstar T-61, and the required water supply rate without puddles and runoffs formation to loamy soil. Results showed that irrigation rate without soil erosion for 5–10 cm high plants is 12.8–15.8 mm at the vegetation beginning, and 19.2–23.4 mm at the vegetation end; for plants 10–20 cm high is 30.0 mm at the beginning of vegetation and 30.0 mm at the vegetation end. The watering time for the water runoff process varies from 64-150 minutes.