Drip irrigation is the most water-efficient way to irrigate many different plantings. It is an ideal way to water in clay soils because the water is applied slowly, allowing the soil to absorb the water and avoid runoff. Drip devices use a fraction of the water that overhead spray devices use.
Furrow or flood irrigation is widely used in many parts of the world, including the US, but is the least efficient, losing about 50 percent of water applied. This loss can be reduced by leveling fields, practicing surge flooding and capturing and reusing runoff.
Drip irrigation is one of the most efficient irrigation methods as it reduces water wastage in agriculture.
Drip irrigation achieves 95-100% water use efficiency. As a comparison, sprinkler systems have 80-85% water use efficiency and flood and furrow are 60-70% efficient. Efficiency is defined as the effectiveness of the system on crop performance and eventually on yield.
Drip irrigation tends to have greater application efficiency than surface or sprinkler irrigation. Application efficiency can be greater than 95% with buried drip irrigation because all of the water is applied in the root zone.
There are several irrigation methods on the market, with sprinklers being the most evaporation-prone. Why? These cover a vast amount of ground, projecting water through the air. The evaporation loss is contingent on three factors: time, the climate demand, and the exact surface area of the spray.
An efficient irrigation system is one that has been designed and installed to minimise the water output capacity. Achieving efficient irrigation requires knowledge of how much water should be applied at any given time to replenish the water consumed by the plants and grass and how much water can be held by the soil.
A low-cost irrigation system can be as simple as a series of troughs or gutters moving water by gravity, or it can involve a pump and pipelines to move water to sprinklers or a drip system. Give you the ability to provide water and soluble fertilizer when your crops need it.
The best sustainable irrigation technique by far is drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is a system of pumps and tubes. The tubes are either suspended above the soil or planted alongside the roots of the plant.
Water slowly drips onto the crop roots and stems. Unlike spray irrigation, very little is lost to evaporation and the water can be directed only to the plants that need it, cutting back on water waste.
Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) is the most advanced method of irrigation.
Spray irrigation involves pumping groundwater into spray nozzles across an agricultural field. This system is more efficient than flood and furrow irrigation, with only ¼ or less of the water lost to evaporation or runoff.
Drip irrigation is the slow delivery of water through plastic tubes directly to the roots of plants. It can save water, money, and time. Drip irrigation saves water because it reduces evaporation and sends water directly to the plant roots. Drip irrigation can lower water costs if a farm uses municipal water.
Basin irrigation is the simplest of the surface irrigation methods. Especially if the basins are small, they can be constructed by hand or animal traction. Their operation and maintenance is simple (see Figure 66). Furrow irrigation - with the possible exception of short, level furrows -requires accurate field grading.
Drip irrigation is a more efficient and targeted system for watering plants, while sprinkler systems are better suited for larger areas and can be more cost-effective in certain situations.
Drip irrigation is known to be the most efficient irrigation methods with 95-100% water use efficiency. This is compared to sprinkler systems that have 80-85% water use efficiency or flood and furrow that are 60-70% efficient.
A drip irrigation system is the most efficient irrigation system and is used for row crops. Drip irrigation can be surface or subsurface, and polyethylene drip tapes are often used. In drip irrigation systems, water is directly applied to the plant root zone using emitters.
Flood irrigation is not the most efficient irrigation method, but it is cheap and low-tech. On the one hand, less water is lost to evaporation than in spray irrigation, but on the other hand, more water can be lost from runoff at the edges of the fields.
Gravity irrigation systems use on-field furrows or basins to advance water across the field surface through gravity-means only. Pressurized systems apply water under pressure through pipes or other tubing directly to crops. Pressurized irrigation includes acres irrigated by sprinkler and micro/drip irrigation systems.
Merits: Well is simplest, cheapest and independent source of irrigation and can be used as and when the necessity arises. Several chemicals such as nitrate, chloride, sulphate, etc. found in well water add to the fertility of soil.
If your sprinklers are clogged, leaking, or otherwise broken, it could end up costing you a lot of money due to wasted water. Detecting leaks in your water sprinklers early—and fixing them promptly—will help you avoid making a deluge of water bill payments.
Flood irrigation also causes temporary waterlogging, with adverse effects on crops like wheat, maize, and legumes. Waterlogging is more prolonged and more severe on heavy textured soils, and on soils used for rice culture because of the well-developed, shallow, hard pan (slowly permeable) as a result of puddling.
Modern Methods of Irrigation utilize cloud-automated and timed sprinkler systems, drip systems and subsurface water lines.
Disadvantages of Drip Irrigation System
Plastic tubes affect soils fertility. Sun degrades plastic sometimes and that affect soil and fertilizers too. Tubes get clogged sometimes. Water cannot pass through and roots get dehydrated.