Sprinkler Irrigation

A software called FRUPAT was developed for calculating input and output coefficients (Technical Coefficients) of fruit production systems in South Patagonia. FRUPAT combined locations (Río Chubut valley; Sarmiento valley; Los Antiguos valley; Río Chico valley), edaphic environment (good quality soil with water-table depth exceeding 2 m; good quality soil with water-table depth between 1 and 2 m; low water holding capacity soil without water-table influence), fruit-tree crops (sweet cherry; plum; peach; apple; walnut), training systems (tatura; central leader; vase), irrigation systems (drip; furrow) and frost control systems (sprinkler irrigation; heating; passive) that provided 1080 multi-annual fruit production activities. Parameters have been identified as default values and most of those can be easily modified by the user. Relevant inputs and outputs can be estimated, such as gross value of product, expenditures, financial result, biocide use, N-fertiliser surplus and labour. As an example of how FRUPAT can be used, some results are presented for a single physical environment (good quality soil with water-table depth exceeding 2 m, in the Río Chubut valley) using sprinkler irrigation as frost control method. First, 5 crops under a single production technique (vase with furrow irrigation) are compared in terms of their monetary technical coefficients. Subsequently, results of sweet cherry under different production techniques (3 training systems with 2 irrigation systems) are presented. Finally, the time course of gross value of product, total expenditures, financial result and cumulative financial result are analyzed for a single activity (sweet cherry, trained as tatura under drip irrigation). FRUPAT may be used as a stand-alone tool for simple analysis as demonstrated here or as an intermediate step for linear programming.

The main objective of this research was to compare different irrigation methods based upon a parametric evaluation system in an area of 15,193 ha in the North Andimeshk Plain located in the Khuzestan Province, in the southwest of Iran. Soil properties of the study area such as texture, depth, electrical conductivity, drainage, calcium carbonate content and slope were derived from a semi-detailed soil study carried out on the North Andimeshk Plain on a scale of 1:20,000. Once the soil properties were analyzed and evaluated, suitability maps were generated for surface, sprinkler and drip irrigation methods using Remote Sensing (RS) techniques and Geographic Information System (GIS). The obtained results showed that there was not found highly suitable lands for all the irrigation methods. The results demonstrated that by applying sprinkler irrigation instead of surface and drip irrigation methods, the land suitability of 5429 ha (35.74%) of the North Andimeshk Plain's land could be improved substantially. However, by applying drip irrigation instead of surface and sprinkler irrigation methods, the suitability of 9764 ha (64.27%) of this plain's land could be improved. By applying sprinkler irrigation instead of surface and drip irrigation methods, the arability of 21,250 ha (72.53%) in the Abbas Plain will improve. In addition by applying drip irrigation instead of surface and sprinkler irrigation methods, the land suitability of 6275 ha (21.42%) of this plain will improve. The comparison of the different types of irrigation techniques revealed that the drip and sprinkler irrigation methods were more effective and efficient than the surface irrigation methods for improving land productivity. Moreover, the main limiting factor in using surface and sprinkler irrigation methods in this area were soil texture, soil depth and slope. Also, the main limiting factors in using drip irrigation methods were soil calcium carbonate content, texture and depth.