8 QUESTIONS THAT ENGINEER SHOULD ASKED BY THE CLIENT WHILE DESIGN AND INSTALLING DRIP IRRIGATION

8 QUESTIONS THAT ENGINEER SHOULD ASKED BY THE CLIENT WHILE DESIGN AND INSTALLING DRIP IRRIGATION

Unknown   10:03   No comments:

 By OCTAVIAN JUSTINE LASWAY 

Bsc Irrigation and Water Resources Engineering ,3rd Yr

Sokoine University of Agriculture 

8 Questions when Installing a Subsurface Drip Irrigation System

Throughout the past few years, drip and subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) have emerged as new opportunities for a crop growers looking to conserve water and other resources.

The idea of greater water use efficiency (WUE) and resource use efficiency (RUE) is enticing growers who are on the fence about converting fields, while the expectation of achieving greater yields, a proven benefit of a drip and subsurface drip irrigation system, is pushing them over.

Once it has been decided to convert a field to drip or SDI, growers can expect many questions from the irrigation engineer designing the system. Everything from crop, water supply and filtration data to automation system and manifold feed preference should be thoroughly covered by an engineer to ensure an optimal outcome.

A good engineer will ask the proper questions to ensure the best system is recommended and installed for each unique operation, but it’s equally important growers ask questions about the system as it relates to the current field and future operation plans.

which one is a good company?

The first and perhaps biggest decision a grower needs to make is which irrigation company to partner with for the drip or subsurface drip irrigation system. These systems are meant to and will last several years with proper design, installation and maintenance. A company that can answer “yes” to all the below questions is the difference in overall satisfaction and full return on investment potential versus dissatisfaction and inability to achieve maximum return on investment.

• Does the company offer a thorough consult to ensure an ideal, customized system is recommended?
• Does the company install the system?
• Does the company provide service after the sale?

Professional install is especially valuable for no-till, minimum till and conservation tillage operations. SDI systems are compatible with these practices, and a professional designer will ensure the system is installed without disturbing the soil.

Existing field considerations

After the partner company has been chosen, the initial questions to ask the irrigation engineer should focus on the present situation. These are the things that have an impact on the system and would be difficult to modify once the system is in place.

Question: How will the system affect my crop rotation schedule?

Answer: A system can be built to accommodate future crop rotations. For example, say the proposed field is primarily a vegetable crop field but will be rotated to water melon in the future. A good designer will ensure the system’s infrastructure is designed to support greater water pressure and capacity demands in the future, as water melon requires more water than most other crops.

Question: Do I need to change block size?

Answer: It’s best to reduce block size when converting to a drip or SDI system. A typical vegetable block may be 2 to 4 acres. Drip and SDI systems, while accommodating to various sizes, work best in smaller blocks, typically sized at 1 to 2 acres. These systems also work well with various block shapes, which is great news for growers with irregularly shaped fields and corners that are challenging for traditional irrigation systems like pivots.

Question: How does my soil type affect the system?

Answer: Soil type affects the system’s emitters. One design parameter affected by soil type is the drip system’s emitter flow. Sandy soil needs a different flow emitter than loamy soil. Another parameter determined by soil type is emitter spacing. A soil that encourages the spread of water can have emitters spaced further apart versus a soil that holds water close.

Question: Speaking of spacing, how are lateral spacing and depth determined?

Answer: Because vegetables requires more water than most other crops, spacing must be closer, overall, than it would be with a crop like lettuce, maize or tomatoes. As mentioned in the previous answer, soil type and texture is the next step in determining approximate emitter spacing. Light and sandy loam soil requires close spacing; medium loam soil requires medium spacing; and heavy, silt or clay loam soil requires spacing that’s farther apart.

Line depth follows a similar rule. vegetable roots are shallow than most crops; meaning system drip lines are installed 4 inches or shallow.

When depth and lateral spacing are set, lateral flow rate, emitter flow rate and spacing, and lateral wall thickness and diameter can be set. Each step is dependent on the one prior and is also affected by general characteristics of the field.  For the most accurate scenario, some manufacturers offer scenario-based calculators or software such as IrriPRO, and other helpful info on their websites 

Operational information

Converting a field to drip or SDI greatly affects the day-in, day-out operations of a farm. To be prepared and set up for success, every grower should ask questions about the changes to expect.

Question: How do I control irrigation periods with the new system?

Answer: There are several options for controlling irrigation periods. A grower may choose daily intervals in which the system is run for a short period of time every day to put out the daily required amount of water. Another option is running the system every few days, for a longer time period, and putting out multiple days’ worth of water in a single day.

While the choice is ultimately up to the grower and what’s best for the operation, the stage of vegetable growth factors in as well. vegetable reaches a point where it needs water every day, during which daily intervals are imperative.

With that, automation systems offer assistance with setting irrigation periods. These systems, though costly, offer time- and labor-saving benefits, typically in larger operations. In the case of a smaller farm, one with five blocks or fewer, an automation system may not be needed or provide enough value to justify the cost. Every grower should analyze the cost-to-benefit ratio to decide if it makes sense for each unique operation.

Question: Do I need to change my fertilizer?

Answer: It may not be necessary to change fertilizer. Operations that use fertilizer with higher acidic levels require a system that uses PVC or steel pipe to ensure acid doesn’t corrode the system – something that a good engineer will ask about early on in the process and specify in the system. So there shouldn’t be any need to change the fertilizer once a system is in place.

Those who mix fertilizers should seek additional training on the topic to prevent unanticipated side effects. For example, some mixes, combined with rain, can lead to emitter plugging if not managed properly.

Question: Will this new method affect my cutting schedule?

Answer: Yes. One of the biggest benefits of drip and SDI systems for vegetable is the increase in yield achieved by more cuttings. Traditional flood-irrigated fields allow for six to seven cuttings per year, where up to 12 cuttings per year is common practice in drip and SDI fields.

Question: How do I properly maintain the system?

Answer: An integrated, planned approach is advised for all drip and SDI systems. A few best practices include: During the season, periodic flushing is advised every two to four weeks to rid the system of potentially clogging debris. With that, periodic filter maintenance is recommended. Also, regular inspection of the piping system for leaks is advised to avoid water hammers (pressure surges) or air pockets.

In regions that shut down systems for winter, it’s advised to either terminate crops or run the system once a week or even every other week to prevent root intrusion. If left to dry out, leftover roots will seek out water via the emitters and plug them.

Understand and achieve

While a good engineer will take into account each unique operation when specifying and installing a drip or SDI system, it’s important all growers are proactive and ask questions that ensure a full understanding of the system – how it works and how it affects current operations. The questions above are a solid starting point; every grower should feel comfortable asking additional questions as the need arises.

Armed with this knowledge, growers are in the best position to reap benefits of greater yields, WUE and RUE that have become synonymous with drip and SDI systems.

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POWEROLL ADVANCED SPRINKLER SYSTEM

POWEROLL ADVANCED SPRINKLER SYSTEM

Unknown   22:37   1 comment:

POWEROLL ADVANCED SPRINKLER SYSTEM

The Poweroll is a mechanized sprinkler irrigation system that takes the hard work out of 
moving sprinkler irrigation pipe, saving time, labor, and money.

SUITABLE CROPS 

• Pasture
•  
  Hay
•  
  Cereal Grains
•  
  Cotton
•  
  Potatoes
•  
  Alfalfa
•  
  Sugar Beets
•  
  Soy Beans
•  
  Carrots
•  
  Strawberries
•  
  Row Crops
•  
  Vegetables

Advantages:

• Labor saving device. Only takes 15 minutes to reset the system
• Proven concept- over 200,000 wheel line systems in use world wide
• Simple to operate and maintain
• Significantly lower cost per acre than tape or drip
• Semi-automatic system. One person can manage up to 15 lines
• Irrigates fields up to 20-50 acres (8-20 hectares) depending on crop, soil and water consumption, and frequency of moves
• Reduces crop damage from walking on crop
• Irrigates square and rectangular fields
• Irrigates in heavy soils where big guns and pivots fail

Disadvantages:

• Will not irrigate crops over 4 feet (1.22 meters) such as corn and sugar cane
• Requires light labor to move line
• Multiple systems required for very large fields
• Requires 40-50 PSI (2.75-3.5 bars) of water pressure
• High winds will distort irrigation pattern

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THE NEED FOR IRRIGATION

THE NEED FOR IRRIGATION

Unknown   22:35   No comments:

THE NEED FOR IRRIGATION

Irrigation is the artificial way of applying optimum amount of water to the crops for its growth and development and that water do not come directly from rainfall but from other sources such as rivers, streams, lakes or already harvested and stored rainwater. Irrigation needs water availability and without water irrigation cannot be practical for crop production.

The crop needs water during its growth and development and in less developed countries such as Tanzania it depends mainly on rainfall to supply water to the crops. Therefore people from different areas have got different rain seasons for cultivating their crops and during the dry seasons no more crop production can take place due to inadequate rainfall. From that introduction let’s go now to know why do we need irrigation for sustainable development of agriculture for production of food crops and crops for industrial use as raw materials.

1.       1. Irrigation ensures supply of water throughout the year therefore there will be no need to wait for the rainy season. Irrigation can be applied in dry areas i.e. arid and semi-arid areas and ensure water availability to the crops during the period with no rainfall.

    2.  Global climatic changes also push forward the need for irrigation as there is variation in the seasons of crop production. The season varies from one year to another and even the duration of rainfall varies. These give much confusion to the farmers and therefore they end up losing their crops due to these uncertainties. Irrigation is important here to supplement rainfall in those periods with no rainfall.

    3.  Irrigation increases crop productivity up to 50% as compared to rain fed agriculture. When irrigation skills are well applied to the farmland and the required amount of water is supplied to the crops productivity  increases and the farmer will benefit by getting excess food and money after selling!!!.

There are many reasons why we need irrigation for the crop production. The reasons mentioned above will just give a general overview and positive attitude to the people who involve or who want to involve in agriculture to invest much in irrigated agriculture rather than depending only on rainfall
types of irrigation that do effective in our locality are such as drip irrigation,and others also you can read more about irrigation skills

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SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION SEEDBED PREPARATION

SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION SEEDBED PREPARATION

Unknown   22:33   No comments:

SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION SEEDBED PREPARATION

click here to read previous article

SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION SEEDBED PREPARATION

•  Methods

The System of Rice Intensification is not a new method or technology. It is just altering the management practices to make more productive phenotype from the same genotype of rice plant. Artificial environment is created for growth and development of rice plant for exploitation of its full genetic potential, land and water resources. let have a brief on how to rise a nusery for puddy s

• Raising nursery

(a) Selection of site

In SRI method, utmost care should be taken in the preparation of nursery bed, as 8-12 days old seedlings  (2-3 leaf stage) are transplanted. The nursery bed should be preferably prepared in the centre / corner of the plot for quick / efficient transplanting to avoid root disturbance before planting 

(b) Size of bed

For one acre transplantation, the nursery bed can be raised in 40 sq meter plot. Depending upon the situation, two beds can be raised each measuring 20 sq meters per 1 kg seed.
A bed with a width of 125 cm or 4 feet is ideal. Length of the bed can be decided by the farmers depending on the ground situation. Accordingly to one’s convenience either a single bed or several small beds (4 beds measuring 4 X 28 feet or 1.25 X 8 m each,)
can be prepared. As the roots of 8-10 days old seedlings grow up to 3 inches (7.5 cm), it is necessary to prepare raised beds of 5-6 inches (12.5-15 cm). To drain excess water, appropriate channels should be provided on all sides by making drainage cum irrigation channels (0.5-1 feet width). To prevent soil erosion, the bed on all side should be made secure with wooden reapers / planks or paddy straw, etc.

( c ) Bed preparation

Nursery bed is prepared with application of farm yard manures (FYM) and soil in four alternating layers. 1st layer: 1 inch (2.54 cm) thick well decomposed FYM, 2nd layer: 1 .5 inch (3.75 cm) soil, 3rd layer :1 inch (2.54 cm) thick well decomposed FYM, 4th layer: 2.5 inch (6.3 cm) soil. All these layers should be mixed well as it will helps in easy penetration of roots. 

(d) Seed Treatment

Healthy and pure seeds are used. Soak the seeds for 12 hours in water. Drain the water and treat the seed with bavistin (2 gm / kg seed) or Trychoderma (3 gm / kg seed) or streptocyclin (1gm / kg of seeds). There after transfer the treated seeds to a water soaked gunny bag. Leave it for 24 hours. Sprouted seeds are taken to the nursery for sowing. To ensure uniform broadcasting, divide the seed into four part and broadcast thinly over the bed (each part at a time). It is better to broadcast seeds in the evening.

(e) Seed rate

2 kg of seeds (5 kg / ha) is required to transplant in one acre of land. Seed should be thinly spread to avoid crowding of seedlings. Care should be taken that no two seeds should touch each other for easy transplanting 

(f) Mulching

Cover the bed with paddy straw, to cover from direct exposure to the sun and also to ensure protection from birds. Depending upon requirement, apply water with rose cans twice daily(morning and evening). Care should be taken to see that the seeds do not come out while watering. Remove the straw once seeds germinate.

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AGRICULTURE DRONES

AGRICULTURE DRONES

Unknown   22:14   2 comments:

Turning Imagination into Reality

Imagine a day when you press a couple of keys on your tablet to gain real-time soil condition information, which in-turn triggers the performance of your smart irrigation system to save you time, money, increase crop production, and maximize water conservation. Imagine this same process tailoring the amount of fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides you use or to make other identified and necessary changes intelligently and automatically.

This day is here. The technology that turns this imagination into reality is a drone. Adding drone-collected crop intelligence to your agriculture system is proving to increase time efficiency, boost crop yields and profits, while improving resource management. 

Also referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones are flying robots controlled autonomously and remotely via software-enabled flight plans to collect a vast amount of farm data. This drone-collected data is downloaded to equipment-mounted sensors (among other applications) that control mechanical operations (e.g. instruct your variable rate irrigation system, acre-by-acre, to increase water, decrease nitrogen, or whatever application adjustment is required).

Part of the trend toward increasingly data-driven agriculture, drones are expected to help change how we cultivate and grow food. Some 80% of the commercial drone market is predicted for agricultural uses claims the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the trade group that represents producers and users of drones and other robotic equipment.

Drones are efficient in data collection. They collect information from a large area within a very small amount of time compared to the use of time consuming, labor intensive, hand-held sensors. And because drones fly under cloud level, the resolution and accuracy is far superior to satellite imagery.

Crop yields are boosted with drone-collected data. Patterns from irrigation problems to soil variation and even pest and fungal infestations that aren’t apparent at eye level can be revealed by this data. Differences between healthy and distressed crops that can’t be seen with the naked eye can be highlighted from drone-collected data.

Drones are cost effective. Weighing less than 50 pounds and often the size of a child’s toy plane, farmers can use simple drones that cost around $500. Other more complex drone systems can range anywhere from $2,000 to $30,000. What is important here is that the return on investment can be realized quickly, even within one year. Drone technology is proving to reduce inputs and increase yields. The savings can be remarkable. And more, the cost effectiveness may help smaller operations better compete.

Resource management is assisted with drone technology. This boost in agriculture intelligence can, among other things, ultimately increase water and fertilizer efficiency, and also help reduce excess fertilizer that runs off into nearby rivers and streams, not to mention lowers the chemical load in our food.

Helping farmers optimize returns while preserving resources at ever larger scales, the use of drones to collect sensor data is a cost effective, pivotal technology in today’s agriculture industry.

THIS ALL FROM USA BUT I HOPE IN TANZANIA WE MUST FOCUS ON THIS TOO

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