"Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years."
The design and management of systems used to apply water to crops.
Water supply and source: Understanding the sources of water and how it is supplied to the irrigation system. This involves studying the different water sources, their quality, availability, and methods of extraction.
Soil properties and water retention: Understanding the soil types, their structure, texture, and composition, and how these affect water retention capacity. This is a crucial aspect of irrigation design, as it affects the amount and frequency of water application.
Irrigation system design: Choosing the appropriate irrigation system design that is suited to the area climate, soil type, and crop type. This involves selecting the appropriate type of system, including drip, sprinklers, or flood irrigation, and designing the irrigation system layout.
Irrigation scheduling and water management: This involves designing and implementing an appropriate irrigation schedule to ensure the efficient use of water and prevent water wastage. Water management also involves monitoring and controlling the water application, including the use of sensors, valves, and irrigation control.
Irrigation system maintenance and repair: Proper maintenance of the irrigation system is necessary to ensure optimum performance and prevent system failure. The maintenance and repair practices include regular inspection of piping, valves, pumps, and irrigation equipment.
Crop requirements: Understanding the crop type, its water requirements, and the stage of growth is necessary to determine the amount and timing of irrigation application. It involves studying the crop's water demand, disease susceptibility, and nutritional requirement.
Pump types and selection: Understanding the various types of pumps used for irrigation and their selection criteria. This includes selecting the appropriate pump type, such as centrifugal, positive displacement, or jet pumps, based on factors such as head, flow rate, and power capacity.
Irrigation water quality: Understanding the quality of irrigation water is necessary to determine its suitability for plant growth and the potential risks of waterlogging, salinization, or contamination. This involves studying water quality parameters such as pH, EC, TDS, and hardness.
Water conservation and efficiency: Understanding the importance of water conservation and management strategies in the agriculture sector. This includes studying the various techniques to reduce water loss and increase water-use efficiency, such as soil moisture monitoring, cover cropping, and mulching.
Environmental impact assessment: Assessing the potential environmental impact of the irrigation system, including the risks of soil erosion, nutrient leaching, or waterlogging, and developing strategies to minimize these impacts.
Irrigation system economics: Understanding the economics of irrigation systems, including the capital costs, operating costs, and benefits. This involves analyzing the cost-benefit ratio of irrigation systems, including factors such as water-use efficiency, crop yield, and profitability.
Irrigation laws and regulations: Understanding the legal and regulatory framework for irrigation systems, including water allocation laws, environmental laws, and irrigation system ownership and rights.
Drip Irrigation: A method of irrigating crops by applying water directly to the root zone of the plant. It minimizes evaporative losses and ensures maximum water use efficiency.
Sprinkler Irrigation: Uses overhead sprinklers to apply water to the crop in a way that creates a rain-like effect. It’s commonly used for large areas of land.
Flood Irrigation: The oldest form of irrigation in which water flows over the fields and is absorbed by the soil. It’s cost-effective but is less water-efficient compared to other modern methods.
Center Pivot Irrigation: A mechanical irrigation method that involves a circular system of pipes rotating around a pivot point. The equipment moves in a circle to irrigate from the center.
Subsurface Irrigation: Uses underground pipes to distribute water directly to the root zone. This method increases water capture, boosts plant growth and is ideal for agricultural crops.
Surface Irrigation: A method of irrigation where water flows directly over the soil surface. This method is ideal for row crops such as cereal grains, small fruit, and vegetables.
Trickle Irrigation: Water slowly drips to the root zone through emitters. It’s an easy system to use and is ideal for small to mid-sized gardens.
Netfim Irrigation: This involves the use of drip irrigation tubing perforated with small holes at intervals that will ensure a uniform water spread.
Micro Irrigation: A form of irrigation that involves the use of tiny droppers that enable the delivery of water and nutrients directly to each root zone. It’s ideal for small landscape and garden settings.
Solid Set Irrigation: With this system type, sprinklers are permanently mounted over the field, to irrigate the land evenly.
"Irrigation helps to grow crops, maintain landscapes, and revegetate disturbed soils in dry areas and during times of below-average rainfall."
"Irrigation is also employed to protect crops from frost, suppress weed growth in grain fields, and prevent soil consolidation."
"It is also used to cool livestock, reduce dust, dispose of sewage, and support mining operations."
"Drainage, which involves the removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given location, is often studied in conjunction with irrigation."
"There are several methods of irrigation that differ in how water is supplied to plants."
"Surface irrigation, also known as gravity irrigation, is the oldest form of irrigation and has been in use for thousands of years."
"In sprinkler irrigation, water is piped to one or more central locations within the field and distributed by overhead high-pressure water devices."
"Micro-irrigation is a system that distributes water under low pressure through a piped network and applies it as a small discharge to each plant."
"Drip irrigation delivers water directly to the root zone of plants."
"Subirrigation has been used in field crops in areas with high water tables for many years. It involves artificially raising the water table to moisten the soil below the root zone of plants."
"Irrigation water can come from groundwater (extracted from springs or by using wells), from surface water (withdrawn from rivers, lakes or reservoirs) or from non-conventional sources like treated wastewater, desalinated water, drainage water, or fog collection."
"Rainfed agriculture is common in many parts of the world and refers to when irrigation is supplementary to rainfall."
"Full irrigation is less common and only occurs in arid landscapes with very low rainfall or when crops are grown in semi-arid areas outside of rainy seasons."
"The environmental effects of irrigation relate to the changes in quantity and quality of soil and water as a result of irrigation and the subsequent effects on natural and social conditions in river basins and downstream of an irrigation scheme."
"Depletion of underground aquifers through overdrafting."
"Soil can be over-irrigated due to poor distribution uniformity or management wastes water, chemicals, and may lead to water pollution."
"Over-irrigation can cause deep drainage from rising water tables that can lead to problems of irrigation salinity requiring watertable control by some form of subsurface land drainage."
"Irrigation has been developed by many cultures around the world."
"Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been developed by many cultures around the world."