SPRINKLER IRRIGATION LATERAL DESIGN BASED ON SPRINKLER HYDRAULIC PERFORMANCE UNDER DIFFERENT SOIL TOPOGRAPHY CONDITIONS

Abstract

Field experiments were carried out in the experimental farm of Agricultural Production and Research Station, National Research Centre (NRC), El Nubaria Province, El-Beheira Governorate, Egypt. This study included three different main plots according to the soil slope (0.0 %, 1.5 %, and 3.0 %). Every main plot contains four different sub-main plot according to the sprinklers spacing treatments (10 m × 10 m, 12 m × 12 m, 15 m × 15 m, and 18 m × 18 m) at three sprinkler operating pressure (2, 3, and 4 bar). Tests were conducted to study the effect of different treatments on uniformity and also to access the best design of sprinkler irrigation lateral under different soil slopes that are given the best moisture and salinity distributions in the soil profile. From the comparison between all studied sprinklers spacing for pressures in the range of 2-4 bars, the highest values of uniformity were at sprinklers spacing 10 m × 10 m while the lowest values of uniformity were at sprinklers spacing 18 m × 18 m. The yield of wheat was affected by the soil slopes and the sprinklers spacing, where the highest value of wheat yield was (4.454 ton/ fed) recorded for the sprinklers spacing (10mx10m) under soil slope 0% while the lowest value of wheat yield was (2.159 ton/ fed) for the sprinklers spacing (18x18 m) under soil slope 3%. It could be concluded that the best conditions of using sprinkler irrigation system for wheat crop production are the sprinklers spacing 10mx10m and operating pressure 4 bar under all applied slopes that are given the best water and salinity distribution in the soil profile.

Keywords: Sprinkler irrigation, uniformity, sprinklers spacing, soil slope, moisture distribution, salt distribution, infiltration, wheat.