1. The document describes 5 different irrigation systems: flood, basin, furrow, ring, and border strip/modified furrow systems. 2. The flood system involves flooding the entire flat land area with water. The basin system uses small patches around trees with sloped edges to prevent water contacting tree trunks. 3. The furrow system divides orchards into furrows to apply water, with size varying by soil/slope. The ring system applies water in rings around trees to prevent nut splitting. 4. The border strip/modified furrow system uses a main channel to simultaneously irrigate multiple furrows, allowing deep penetration and slow horizontal movement of water with minimal erosion.

2. Irrigation water management

3. 1. Flood System:
 When the land is flat, the entire area is flooded
by letting in water. This system is commonly
practiced in canal or tankard areas, in wet lands
for banana, and other crops.
 This is a water method as the water is supplied in
excessive quantity.
 The entire area is allowed to saturate with water
and the interval between two irrigations is kept
fairly long. It also causes stagnation in shallow
and ill drained soils.

4. Flood irrigation

6. 2. Basin System:
 This system is widely practiced on large scale all over
the world. A basin is a small patch or land bounded
around a tree.
 It is usually a square with the tree in the centre. The
soil gradually slopes down from, the base of the tree to
the edge of tile basin, resulting in a trough.
 Circular basins are also made sometimes. Water let In
from the main water channel first reaches the
periphery, soaks the outer area and "gradually spreads
towards the trunk, and thus is prevented from coming
in contact with the tree trunk. This system is useful for
loamy soils.

7. Basin irrigation

8. 3. Furrow System:
 Furrow system of irrigation is commonly practiced in orchards in
Western countries. The entire orchard is ploughed up and divided into
furrows.
 The number of furrows between the rows of trees depends on the age of
the plantation . When trees are young, a single furrow is sufficient, A
furrow is ordinarily about 200 to 300 feet long about 18 inches wide at
the top and 6 inches deep, with sloping sides.
 The size of the furrow varies with the type of soil and slope of the
land, Furrow run at right angles to the slope or gradient of the land.
When the land is highly sloppy the length of the furrow is reduced.
 Normally, for every. 100 feet of the length of the furrow a six inch
gradient of fall is adequate. Furrows are kept hallow so that water may
spread quickly all over the area. When furrows are deep the water is likely
to be absorbed by deeper layers or the soil and water intake becomes
high, Thus by adjusting the depth of furrows, the quantity of water to be
applied to crops can be controlled.

9. Furrow irrigation

10. 4. Ring System:
 In this system the water is applied in a ring around the
tree. The method is recommended for coconut or areca nut
trees, is in this system the water is not allowed to touch the
bark of the tree thereby reducing the chances or nut
splitting to which the trees are susceptible. The size of the
ring will increase as the trees grow.
 In applying water to crops, care should be taken to see
that the optimum quantity is applied at proper interval. The
water applied should reach the entire root zone of the tree.
For this it is necessary to study the relationship between
the spread of trees and root penetration.

11. Ring system of
irrigation

12. 5. Border Strip or Modified Furrow System:
 A better system of irrigation is the modified furrow system.
Water is applied from one main channel simultaneously into
several furrows.
 It is let out first in a main feeder channel where it rises up and
flows uniformly into all the furrows at the same period A
good initial preparation of land is necessary. The land should be
perfectly leveled with a gently slope.
 In this system, water penetrates quickly into the deeper
layers, the horizontal movement is slow. There is thus deep
penetration of water into the entire root zone of the crop.
 Erosion is almost eliminated due to slow flow of water
supervision is easy, the main feeder or head channel alone has to
be regulated and this saves considerable amount of labour

13. Border strip or modified
furrow system of
irrigation