ABSTRACT- A detailed understanding of crop rooting systems will facilitate water use reduction, optimized nutrient uptake and irrigation scheduling more efficiently. A field experiment was conducted during 2005-2006 to investigate sugar beet rooting depth growth, irrigated with three irrigation methods (subsurface drip, surface drip and furrow) and two water qualities (recycled wastewater: EC= ...

Indiahas the largest area under onion (Allium cepa) crop but its average productivity (14.21 t ha-1) is considerably lower than the world’s average of 19.4 t ha-1. Besides low productivity, irrigation efficiencies are also very low i.e. 30-35% in India. Managing onion crop with less than adequate irrigation water availability is a challenge in several parts of the country. Options of i) deficit...

As more subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) systems are being installed throughout the plains of Texas for cotton production, irrigators are concerned about the high cost of installation and the potential benefits of alternative designs. A field study was conducted at the Texas AgriLife Research facilities at Halfway, Texas, to document the agronomic impacts of distribution uniformities on cotton ...

One of the biggest obstacles to the widespread adoption of subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) on the High Plains of Texas is the high cost of initial installation. In some cases, SDI costs can be reduced if systems are designed using lower irrigation uniformity standards. The question becomes “what is the cost in terms of cotton lint yield of lowering the uniformity standards for SDI design?” A S...

Gary A. Clark Research Agricultural Engineer Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) systems deliver water to the root zone of crops using polyethylene drip tubing that is permanently buried below the soil surface. In properly designed and operated systems, little or no wetting of the soil surface occurs, nor is there visual evidence of the system performance. Because SDI systems apply water different...

This research was designed to evaluate and compare the applicability of two different types of irrigation including traditionally (surface irrigation) and simple sub-surface drip irrigation (using pricked-pipe covered with plastic cloth). Two plots containing 39 pistachio trees with 720 m2 area were selected in Rafsanjan, Iran. Both plots were irrigated using exactly the same quantity and quali...