Farmers' irrigation practices in a high rainfall area

Recent droughts in the humid southeastern United States have focused attention on the need for and use of supplemental irrigation. Total annual rainfall amounts are sufficient for most crops in the region. However, erratic distribution of rainfall and the low water-holding capacities of most soils in the region cause frequent drought stresses in many crops. An on-farm study was conducted in southeastern Alabama to evaluate the effects of farmers' irrigation scheduling decisions on soil moisture variations in peanut fields irrigated with center-pivot irrigation systems. The study showed that the way irrigation was practiced in this high rainfall area often caused soil moisture deficit (SMD) level higher than the desired SMD limit during over 20% of the 140-day growing season. This is partially due to farmers' tendency to delay irrigation in anticipation of rainfall which may or may not occur, as rainfall during the growing season is often erratic and local. In contrast SMD in non-irrigated fields was higher than the SMD limit for half of the growing season.Abbreviations SMD soil moisture deficit - ET evapotranspiration - R_eff effective rainfall - WHC water holding capacity     

The effect of over-irrigation on the growth and production of Gossypium hirsutum

Summary A field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of overirrigation on the growth characteristics and production of cotton. Over-irrigation, resulting in saturated soil conditions, was achieved by flood irrigation at different levels of soil water depletion on a soil with a low percolation rate. The highest seedcotton and lint yields were obtained from plants that did not experience over-irrigation at any time during the growing season; similar yields were obtained from plants that only experienced moderate over-irrigation after the onset of flowering (Table 9). The yield response could be related to branch growth, flowering rate and length of growing season (Tables 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8).     

Water use estimates for various rice production systems in Mississippi and Arkansas

Rice irrigation-water use was estimated in Mississippi (MS) and Arkansas (AR) in 2003 and 2004. Irrigation inputs were compared on naturally sloping (i.e. contour-levee system) and mechanically graded fields. In MS, rice production consumed, on average, 895 mm water, but irrigation inputs were greatly affected by production system. Contour-levee systems accounted for 35% of the production area and consumed 1,034 mm irrigation. Fields mechanically graded to a consistent slope of approximately 0.1% (i.e. straight-levee systems) consumed 856 mm irrigation and accounted for 60% of the production area. Fields devoid of slope (i.e. zero-grade system) accounted for 5% of the production area and consumed 382 mm irrigation. In AR, contour-levee rice production consumed 789 mm compared to 653 mm with a straight-levee system. Using low pressure, thin wall (9–10 mil) disposable irrigation tubing to deliver water to each paddy independently reduced irrigation inputs by 28% in MS and 11% in AR when compared to a single-point (levee-gate) distribution system.     

Reclamation of saline organic soil

Summary Reclamation of saline, organic soils in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California was accomplished by both sprinkling and continuously ponding water on the soil surface. The reclamation data support the generalized guideline established for saline, organic soil.A 70% reduction in the average root zone salinity required 3 months under ponding, compared to 4 months under sprinkling. Although accurate measures of water application on the ponded trials were not possible, the limited data indicate that the amount of water required is about the same per unit depth of soil reclaimed for both ponding and sprinkling. Reclamation proceeded more quickly under the second ponding trial than for sprinkling or the first ponding trial because of improved subsurface drainage. With sprinklers, 70% of the salt was removed from the soil profile to a depth of 1.2 m after 850 mm of leaching water entered the profile. Reclamation by ponding required about the same quantity of water but the water required for leaching could be reduced significantly by improved drainage.     

A model of decision-making and information flows for information-intensive agriculture

This paper describes the development of a systems based model to characterise farmers’ decision-making process in information-intensive practices, and its evaluation in the context of Precision Agriculture (PA). A participative methodology was developed in which farm managers decomposed their process of decision-making into brief decision statements along with associated information requirements. The methodology was first developed on a university research farm in Denmark and further revised during testing on a number of research and commercial farms in Indiana, USA. Twenty-one decision-analysis factors were identified to characterise a farm manager’s decision-making process. Then, a general data flow diagram (DFD) was constructed that describes the information flows “from data to decision”. Illustrative examples of the model in the form of DFDs are presented for a strategic, a tactical and an operational decision. The model was validated for a range of decisions related to operations by three university farm managers and by five commercial farmers practicing PA for cereal, corn and soybean production in Denmark and in Indiana, USA.     

Potential farmer contributions to the design process: Indications from Indonesia

The paper argues that conventional irrigation design processes rely heavily on predetermined design criteria, often without allowing for interactions with farmers and revising of criteria during implementation. Six cases from a tertiary development project in North Sulawesi, Indonesia are described, where farmers altered what had been designed and constructed by contracting and agency engineers. Through field inspections and farmer interviews, the farmers' alternative set of design criteria was elicited to explain why the farmers changed what had been constructed. A total of 27 cases are analyzed to show the relative importance of:

Quality and maximum profit of industrial tomato as affected by distribution uniformity of drip irrigation system

The tomato industry reformed its system of payment by weight of tomato, introducing a corrective system based on percent level of fruit dry matter produced. Such a decision implies significant changes in the management of irrigation systems, with a need to emphasize the technological quality of the marketable product. Three levels of distribution uniformity of the irrigation system are analysed, and related production functions of crop yield and percent of dry matter are presented as well as their use on the optimisation of dry matter, expected revenues and seasonal applied water. Results are critically influenced by the distribution uniformity. They demonstrate the inter-relationship between crop production, percent fruit dry matter and irrigation management, and the importance of considering non-uniformity in the economic analysis of industrial tomato production. Decreases in uniformity lead to a reduction in dry matter production per unit land. Decreases in dry matter are also observed with increasing levels of seasonally applied water, with the optimal level always lower than the required for maximum yield. Such interaction suggests a continuous and inverse relationship between profit and water applied. However, due to the corrective system of payment, by levels of percent of dry matter produced, for some uniformity, the expected revenue follows the yield-water production function instead of the dry matter function. This fact introduces disturbances in the optimal water applied inducing higher than expected levels of water applied for profit maximisation. The simulated data also show that incentives to switch to new systems or management practices able to raise the distribution uniformity result more from profit losses than increases in water price.     

大型灯泡式贯流泵CFD计算

大型灯泡式贯流泵在国内的研究与运用远远滞后于水轮机,导致国内低扬程泵站的选型一直突破不了传统的结构模式。为了研究解决国内低扬程泵结构选型问题,结合南水北调东线工程的蔺家坝泵站大型灯泡贯流泵,对适用低扬程工况的大型灯泡式贯流泵结构形式、流道水力损失、压力分布、流速分布进行了流体数值计算,并与模型试验作了比较。结果表明,流体数值计算的结果与试验数据非常接近,这为今后国内低扬程泵站设计选型提供了参考。