3. Samuel Dasberg · Dani Or
Drip Irrigation
With 61 Figures and 24 Tables
Springer
4. Dr. Samuel Dasberg
Agricultural Research Organization
Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences
The Volcani Center
Bet Dagan 50250
Israel
Dr.Dani Or
Departments of Plants, Soils and Biometeorology
and Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Utah State University
Logan, UT 84322-4820
USA
ISSN 1433-7576
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dasberg,S.
Drip irrigation / Samuel Dasberg, Dani Or.
p. cm. -- (Applied agriculture, ISSN 1433-7576)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I. Microirrigation. 1. Or, Dani, 1955- . 11. Title. III. Series.
S619.T74D37 1999
631.S'S7--dc21
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ISBN 978-3-662-03965-6 ISBN 978-3-662-03963-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-03963-2
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1999
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5. Preface
The aim of this book is quite ambitious: here, we attempt to bridge the gap
between soH physicists, agronomists, horticulturists, hydraulic engineers, de-
signers, manufacturers and users of drip irrigation systems. We believe that
progress in drip irrigation hinges on the contributions of professionals made in
all related disciplines and their cooperation.
The last decade has seen great development in the field of drip irrigation, al-
though the drip-irrigated area has not increased at the same rate as in the pre-
vious decade. However, our understanding ofthe processes involved in water and
solute distribution and in plant response has increased vastly. The tools for op-
timal design of drip systems have improved tremendously. The main progress
has been in the development and in the manufacture ofsophisticated equipment;
not only improved types of emitters and laterals, but also auxiliary equipment
such as new filtration systems, controllers and sensors. In this book we highlight
the need to maintain a proper balance between the hydraulic design of drip
systems and aspects oftheir management and maintenance. Drip irrigation has
a potential for high water use efficiency, but many well-designed systems suffer
from bad management.
We are indebted to the late Eshel Bresler for his contribution to our under-
standing of water and solute movement under drip irrigation and its appli-
cation to system design. Some parts of a previous publication entitled "Drip
irrigation manual" authored by S. Dasberg and E. Bresler were used in the pre-
paration of this book. Special thanks are due to Dr. Markus TuBer (Utah State
University) and to Ms. Eleanor Watson (Utah State University) for their able
assistance in manuscript preparation and preliminary reviews of the material.
We also thank Drs. Yossi Shalhevet, Reuven Steinhardt and Gerald Stanhill
(ARO, Institute of SoH, Water and Environmental Sciences) for their reviews
and useful comments. The partial support of the US-Israel Binational
Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD) through grant IS-2131-
92RC provided the foundation for the collaborative effort leading to this book
and is gratefully acknowledged.
Finally, we would like to thank our families for bearing with us during our
preoccupation with the writing of this book.
Bet Dagan/Logan
March 1999
Samuel Dasberg
Dani Or
6. Contents
1 Introduction .................................................. .
1.1 Definitions ............................................... .
1.2 Historical Overview ....................................... .
1.3 Specific Attributes of Drip Irrigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.1 Advantages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.1.1 Controlled Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.1.2 Maintenance of High Soil Water Potential
in the Root Zone .................................... 5
1.3.1.3 Partial Soil Wetting ................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.1.4 Maintaining Dry Foliage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.1.5 Use of Low-Quality Water ............................ 8
1.3.1.6 Economic and Energy Benefits ............ . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.1.7 Fertilizer, Herbicide and Pesticide Application
(Fertigation and Chemigation) ................ . . . . . . .. 10
1.3.1.8 Adaptation to Marginal Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 11
1.3.1.9 Adaptation to Landscape Irrigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.1.10 Adaptation to Protected Crops ........................ 11
1.3.2 Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 11
1.3.2.1 Clogging of Emitters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.2.2 Salt Accumulation in Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 13
1.3.2.3 Mechanical Damage ................................. 13
1.3.2.4 Lack of Microclimate Control ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.3.2.5 Irrigation for Seed Emergence ........................ 14
1.3.2.6 Operational Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 Drip System Components ........................................ .
2.1 Emitters .................................................. .
2.1.1 Flow Rate and its Variation .......................... .
2.1.2 Form of Pressure Dissipation ........................ .
2.1.3 Emitter-Lateral Assembly ............................ .
2.1.4 Discharge Regulation by Pressure Compensation ....... .
2.1.5 Flow Regime ....................................... .
2.1.6 Emitter Pressure-Discharge Relationship .............. .
2.1.7 Temperature Dependence ........................... .
2.2 Laterals .................................................. .
2.3 Mains
2.4 Filters
15
15
15
15
18
19
19
20
21
21
23
23
7. VIII
2.6
2.4.1 Centrifugal Sand Separators
(Vortex Filters or Hydrocyclone Filters) ............... .
2.4.2 Gravel or Media Filters .............................. .
2.4.3 Screen Filters ...................................... .
2.4.4 Disk Filters ........................................ .
2.4.5 Chemical Water Treatment ........................... .
2.5 Fertilizing Systems ................................. .
2.5.1 Venturi Tube Principle .............................. .
2.5.2 Fertilizer Tank (By-Pass System) ..................... .
2.5.3 Injection System ................................... .
Automation .............................................. .
24
24
25
25
28
29
29
31
31
32
3 Soil Water and Salt Regime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 36
3.1 Modeling Soil Water Regimes ................................ 36
3.1.1 Water Flow Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 36
3.1.2 Numerical Solutions-General Flow Conditions .......... 37
3.1.3 Analytical Solutions-Steady State
and Transient State Flow ............................. 40
3.1.4 Applications of Analytical Solutions-
Illustrative Examples ................................ 46
3.1.5 Analytical Solutions-Design
vs. Management Perspectives ......................... 49
3.1.6 Models For Water Distribution Based On Simplified
Geometry and Volume Balance ....................... 50
3.1.7 Plant Water Uptake .................................. 53
3.2 Modeling Solute Distribution and Dynamics .. . . . . . . . . .. 58
3.2.1 Solutes and Drip Irrigation ........................... 58
3.2.2 Solute Transport Equations ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 60
3.2.3 Numerical Solutions for Solute Transport
Under Drip Irrigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 62
3.2.4 Analytical Solutions for Solute Transport ... . . . . . . . . . . .. 63
3.2.5 Solute-Plant Interactions ............................. 65
4 Drip System Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 70
4.1 General Considerations ..................................... 70
4.2 Emitter Spacing and Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 71
4.2.1 Emitter Spacing for Non-Overlapping Wetted Volumes ... 71
4.2.2 Emitter Spacing and Discharge for a Wetted Strip. . . . . . .. 74
4.3 Hydraulic Design of Laterals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 75
4.3.1 Uniform Slope ...................................... 75
4.3.2 Non-Uniform Slope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 80
4.3.3 Varying Tube Size ................................... 82
4.3.4 Energy Loss Across Emitter Connections ............... 83
4.4 Hydraulic Design of Main Lines and Submain .... . . . . . .. 84
4.4.1 Design of Main Lines and Submains ................... 84
4.4.2 Computer Aided Hydraulic Design .................... 84
4.5 Effects ofVariability in Hydraulics, Soil and Plant Properties ..... 85
4.5.1 Effects of Emitter and Hydraulic Variability . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85
8. IX
4.5.2 Effects of Soil Spatial Variability and Plant Root Zone .... 89
4.5.3 Influence of Soil Spatial Variability
on Monitoring Soil Water Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 92
4.6 Filtration Design ........................................... 94
4.6.1 Water Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 94
4.6.2 Water Treatment .................................... 95
4.7 Fertigation Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 96
4.8 Subsurface Drip Design ..................................... 97
4.9 Drip Irrigation in Greenhouses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 99
5 Monitoring and Management of Drip Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 100
5.1 General Considerations ..................................... 100
5.2 Irrigation Scheduling and Water Balance ...................... 100
5.2.1 Irrigation Amounts and System Capacity ............... 102
5.2.2 Effect of Time of Day ................................ 102
5.2.3 Evapotranspiration and Crop Coefficients .............. 103
5.2.4 Threshold-Based Irrigation Management ............... 106
5.3 Monitoring Methods, Sensors, and Irrigation Guidelines . . . . . . . .. 108
5.3.1 Soil-Based Sensors for Monitoring Soil Water Status ..... 108
5.3.2 Climatic Monitoring of Evapotranspiration ............. 118
5.3.3 Plant Monitoring .................................... 120
5.4 Drip System Evaluation and Maintenance ...................... 122
6 Practical Applications of Drip Irrigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 125
6.1 Orchards and Ornamental Trees .............................. 125
6.1.1 Citrus .............................................. 125
6.1.2 Avocado ........................................... 129
6.1.3 Deciduous Trees ..................................... 130
6.1.4 Vineyards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 131
6.2 Field and Fodder Crops ..................................... 131
6.2.1 Cotton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 131
6.2.2 Other Row Crops ....................... . . . . . . . . . . . .. 134
6.2.3 Sugar Cane ......................................... 135
6.2.4 Forage Crops ....................................... 135
6.3 Vegetables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 136
6.4 Subsurface Irrigation ....................................... 137
References ......................................................... 139
Appendix (Case Studies) ............................................. 152
Subject Index ...................................................... 161
