Vertical soil moisture profiles based on the principle of maximum entropy (POME) were validated using field and model data and applied to guide an irrigation cycle over a maize field in north central Alabama (USA). The results demonstrate that a simple two-constraint entropy model under the assumption of a uniform initial soil moisture distribution can simulate most soil moisture profiles that ...

This article treats the issue of remote monitoring and control of greenhouse environment through a distributed system that interconnects several subsystems. Thus, a wireless data acquisition subsystem, a fully automated subsystem made of PLCs and industrial communication networks and an irrigation subsystem consists of two water tanks, sensors and actuators are interconnected. According to data...

Conservation of species in agroecosystems has attracted attention. Irrigation channels can improve habitats and offer conditions for freshwater species conservation. Two questions from biodiversity conservation point of view are: 1) Can the irrigated channels maintain a rich diversity of macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and amphibians over the cultivation cycle? 2) Do richness, abundance and com...

The productivity of olive trees in arid and semi-arid environments is closely linked to irrigation. It is necessary to improve the efficiency of irrigation techniques to optimise the amount of olive fruit produced in relation to the volume of water used. Partial root-zone drying (PRD) is a water saving irrigation technique that theoretically allows the production of a root-to-shoot signal that ...

A new method of treating pleural empyema or pneumonectomy space infection by irrigation was evaluated in 11 patients. The infected cavities were filled with an antibiotic or antiseptic solution for three hours, and allowed to drain for one hour. This cycle was repeated every four hours for seven to 10 days. When cultures of the infected cavity became sterile the irrigation tube was removed and ...

To investigate the physiological responses of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L., Alstar hybrid) to water stress under different levels of zinc fertilizer, an experiment was conducted at the Isfahan Agricultural Research Center, Isfahan, Iran, during 2008 and 2009 using a randomized complete block design within a split plot layout with three replications. Five irrigation treatments used in thi...

This study provides the first data on muscle activity patterns during active feeding in a larval anuran. Data regarding muscle function during gill irrigation and hyperexpiration are also provided. Electromyographic and kinematic data were recorded from six mandibular and hyoid muscles in unanesthetized, unrestrained larvae of Rana catesbeiana. Only three (hyoangularis, orbitohyoideus, anterior...

Dwindling water resources combined with meeting the demands for food security require maximizing water use efficiency (WUE) both in rainfed and irrigated agriculture. In this regard, deficit irrigation (DI), defined as the administration of water below full crop-water requirements (evapotranspiration), is a valuable practice to contain irrigation water use. In this study, the mechanism of paclo...

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have been highly developed which can be used in agriculture to enable optimal irrigation scheduling. Since there is an absence of widely used available methods to support effective agriculture practice in different weather conditions, WSN technology can be used to optimise irrigation in the crop fields. This paper presents architecture of an irrigation system by i...

It is well documented that human modification of the hydrological cycle has profoundly affected the flow of liquid water across the Earth's land surface. Alteration of water vapor flows through land-use changes has received comparatively less attention, despite compelling evidence that such alteration can influence the functioning of the Earth System. We show that deforestation is as large a dr...