Farmer's perspective on irrigation performance

Of the many client groups with interests in irrigation system performance, farmers are probably the least often considered. This paper attempts to explore the meaning of irrigation performance from their perspective, highlighting at the outset basic difference between this perspective and that of system managers. It then reviews several important concepts underlying a consideration of performance in irrigation systems. The paper then proposes and discusses a set of twelve measures of irrigation service judged to be of interest to farmers. These are adequacy, timeliness, equity, tractability, convenience, predictability, temperature, sediment content, salt content, nutrient content, toxics, and pathogens.     

Effects of arrangement of surge-rootirrigation emitters on growth,yield andwater use efficiency of apple trees

Six-year old apple trees were selected for field experiment. The objective of this study was to obtain the reasonable arrangement of surge-root irrigation emitters in apple orchards. There were three factors: the buried depth H( 25,40,55 cm),the horizontal distance L( 30,40,60 cm) between the emitters and the trunk of the experimental tree,and the number of the irrigation emitters N( 1,2,4). The effect of the arrangement of surge-root irrigation emitters on the growth,yield and irrigation water use efficiency( IWUE) of apple trees were studied in Northern Shaanxi where the irrigation quota takes 60%-75% of the field water capacity. The results showed that the arrangement of emitters for surge-root irrigation had a significant effect on apple tree yield and IWUE,especially,the yield and IWUE reached 28 388. 17 kg/hm2 and 16. 83 kg/m3 in treatment T3,respectively. At the same L and N levels( T1,T2,and T3),the yield and IWUE in treatment T3 were the highest,and the yields in treatments T1 and T2 were decreased by 26.22% and 31.48%,while IWUE is reduced by14.02% and 18.12% compared with T3,respectively. At the same H and N levels( T3,T4,and T5),the yield and IWUE of apple trees were decreased with increasing L level. Especially,when L was 30 cm( T3),the yield and IWUE were the highest. The same L and H levels( T3,T6,and T7) could promote the growth of apple trees when N was 2( T3). Compared with treatment T3,it was found that the increment of new shoots was decreased by 8.07%-18.71%,and the fruit diameter was decreased by 5.41%-9.11%. Therefore,two emitters should be arranged symmetrically on both sides of an apple tree,each was buried at a 40 cm depth and 30 cm away from the trunk of the tree to effectively improve the yield and IWUE of the apple tree in mountainous areas in Northern Shaanxi.     

灌溉试验站规划的有关问题

根据全国的气候、农业、水利及经济发展水平等区划，合理地选择各省的中心站及重点试验站，并对其进行科学地规划设计，对于总体把握我国灌溉试验基础数据尤为重要。针对目前正在全国进行的灌溉试验站网规划，对省级中心站及重点站的课题规划、试验站的总体布置及设施设备规划和做好本次规划的其他有关问题进行了探讨。     

灌溉兼防洪水库的优化调度

我国干旱半干旱地区，天然降水量少且时程及地域相差大，并有很大的随机性。对有水库调节的地区，如何处理天然降水的随机性，合理利用有限的水资源，解决人畜饮水、工业用水、林业及农业灌溉耗水，使其在各种情况下都能达到最佳的社会效益和经济效益，该文选用动态规划法，编制的电算程序，很好地解决了这一问题。     

南方易渍农田水稻节水增产灌溉方式试验研究

针对我国南方易渍稻田土壤粘重、地下水位高、通透性差等特点，提出不同的灌水方法，并通过对大量的试验结果分析，得出了适宜的灌水方法及地下水埋深。     

Water Pricing and Sustainability of Self-Governing Irrigation Schemes

The sustainability of self-governingirrigation schemes is currently underpressure in many countries as publicfinancial support is decreasing.Furthermore, growing global concernregarding water scarcity means thatefficient water use is essential.Theoretically the choice and implementationof a water-pricing system should play acentral role in achieving this objective,both by recovering water costs and byencouraging farmers to adopt more efficientbehaviour. In the Senegal River Delta newlyestablished water users associations (WUAs)have chosen low water charges, which areaffordable for the majority of farmers butwhich underestimate long-term maintenancecosts. Combined with the difficulty ofcollecting and managing farmers' fees, thischoice has drawn them into a vicious circleleading to scheme deterioration and poorwater service. New alternatives have beendiscussed with them using a simulation toolthat takes into account both the watercosts and the farmers' incomes. Comparedwith the present fixed water charge basedonly on cultivated land, a two-part optionbased both on equipped and irrigated areasensures the recovery of fixed expenses suchas maintenance, while encouraging farmersto intensify their farming systems byadopting double cropping. Neverthelesschoosing a relevant water charge does notensure by itself the sustainability of anirrigation scheme. Combined supportproviding WUAS and farmers with efficientadvice regarding management andorganisational skills should alsocontribute significantly to achieve thisprime objective.     

宁蒙引黄灌区田间节水潜力计算方法分析

以黄河干流宁蒙大型自流引黄灌区为研究对象,采用分项法以及两种计算顺序对宁蒙引黄灌区田间节水潜力进行了计算,分析了不同计算顺序对田间节水潜力计算结果的影响,并采用综合法对分项法计算结果进行了验证,表明计算方法可靠。     

香梨幼林园在不同灌溉条件下生长的动态变化相关分析

在香梨3年生幼林园内,进行了常规沟植、渠道内外二侧种植的土壤贮水量和树木新梢生长量、叶片生长状况变化的测定。结果表明,渠外行的土壤贮水量和生长状况均好于沟植和渠内行。揭示了影响树木生长的不同灌溉条件的土壤水分状况和过程。提出了生产中要提倡渠外行栽种香梨,保持沟植香梨,放弃渠内行栽植香梨的生产模式理论依据。     

The feasibility of using variable rate water application under a central pivot irrigation system

The purpose of this paper was to assess the feasibility and significance of applying spatially variable irrigation under a central pivot system at the Federal German Agricultural Research Center, Braunschweig, Germany. The assessment was based on soil moisture holding capacity, soil depth variation and root development. Soil texture analysis was carried out by sampling on a 60 meter grid. The German Agro-Meteorological Model was applied to simulate the water balance in the crop-soil-atmosphere system for the growing season 2003/4. The research findings are presented in terms of six scenarios: 20, 30, 40 mm water application depths per irrigation under both variable rate application and uniform application. The comparison revealed that the loss of water was higher for the uniform application scenarios than that for the variable rate application (VRA) scenarios for the applications of 20 and 30 mm. The VRA scenario of 20 mm water application was found out to be the best option for water conservation.     

Irrigated land retirement

Land retirement is ceasing irrigation withthe goal of reducing load, in general, ofdissolved constituents and, in particular,of trace elements, present in subsurfacedrainage generated from irrigated lands. Retirement is achieved through a process ofgoal setting, strategy development anddetermining effects, developing landselection criteria, implementation, andmonitoring. In this study, effects of landretirement are evaluated using hydrologic,soil and economic models as well as resultsfrom a field demonstration study. From themodeling and field monitoring, a process isdeveloped to meet the goals of a landretirement program in the San JoaquinValley of California.Potential negative effects listed for landretirement included loss of agriculturalproductivity, perhaps permanently, and lossof revenue to surrounding communities. Uncertainties included those associatedwith reuse of retired lands as wildlifehabitat, with retired-land maintenanceincluding dust control, with potentialpreservation of retired lands in reservefor future re-introduction to irrigated ordry-land agriculture, and withinstitutional changes concerning repaymentof federal and state water contracts. Benefits would accrue from economic returnto the landowner from the sale of property,the sale or lease of irrigation watersupply, the reduced cost of handlingdrainage, and allocation of freed-up waterto beneficial uses, and the reduced risk ofselenium exposure to fish and wildlife.A recommended sequential approach to selectand manage retired land is to identifyprimary objectives; formulate and implementarea-specific land retirement scenarios;measure biologic, hydrologic, soils andeconomic consequences in the short term andthe long term and manage and monitorretired lands based on dynamic biologic,hydrologic and soil conditions.