Evaluation of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Designs in a Soil Profile with a Capillary Barrier

Enhanced water use efficiency (WUE) is the key to sustainable agriculture in arid regions. The installation of capillary barriers (CB) has been suggested as one potential solutions. CB effects are observed between two soil layers with distinctly different hydraulic properties. A helps retain upper, relatively fine-textured layer, suppressing losses by deep drainage. However, retaining a shallow surface layer also intensifies loss evaporation. subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) may prevent such loss. This study evaluated performance SDI profile using pot experiment and numerical analysis HYDRUS (2D/3D) software package. ring-shaped emitter was selected for system its low capital expenditures (CapEx) maintenance. Strawberry model plant. results indicated that proposed effective terms WUE. revealed CB’s depth influences system’s balance more than emitter’s depth. While led root uptake strawberry less drainage, it induced