Source: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA submitted to NRP
SCALING MICROIRRIGATION TECHNOLOGIES TO ADDRESS THE GLOBAL WATER CHALLENGE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1004669
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
W-3128
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2014
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2019
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
888 N EUCLID AVE
TUCSON,AZ 85719-4824
Performing Department
Agri & Biosystems Engineering
Non Technical Summary
Water use through microirrigation can be approached through the concept of more crop per drop. Thus, advanced and refined management techniques will be the key in further efficiency gains in water conservation. In some cases, these advanced techniques will be economical but technologically impractical for some end-users. In those cases, it will be necessary for participants in this project to work cooperatively to develop robust science-based surrogate management strategies that are more suitable to the end-user. Fortunately, microirrigation has some advantages that can be combined to achieve this goal, such as reducing the waste of water to a negligible amount and reducing the transport of contaminants to surface water and groundwater. Irrigation events can be fine-tuned to spoon feed water and nutrients just in time to avoid plant stress.Traditionally, this multistate project has been very active in technology transfer with outreach activities averaging approximately 145 per year since 2009. Although individual participants engage in technology transfer to various levels (technical skill and economic status) of end-users, there has not been a committee-wide technology transfer effort in this regard. Scientists and engineers have a responsibility to conceptualize technologies to the greatest extent possible and also to help less technology savvy end-users reach an increased knowledge and comfort with a conceptual understanding rather than an easier but less universal general understanding. The new project proposes to step up efforts in technology transfer using a broad spectrum of paper and electronic technologies as well as to propose and sponsor technical sessions at national/international conferences during the last two years of the project. If funding can be secured, the project will propose a stand-alone conference or symposium. The goals of the technical sessions/conference will be to increase end-users comfort level with microirrigation technologies and to extend information resources to a greater audience through educators and technical service providers.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
50%
Developmental
25%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1020210202020%
1021510202010%
1020110202015%
1110110202020%
1110210202015%
1111510202010%
1111520202010%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water;

Subject Of Investigation
1510 - Corn; 0110 - Soil; 1520 - Grain sorghum; 0210 - Water resources;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;
Goals / Objectives
Develop microirrigation designs and management practices that can be appropriately scaled to site-specific characteristics and end-user capabilities. Develop technology transfer products for a diversity of stakeholders to promote adoption of microirrigation. Develop robust and appropriately-scaled methods of irrigation scheduling using one or more soil-, plant- or weather-based approaches.
Project Methods
Arizona in collaboration with other states will work to scale system designs and technologies for small to larger commercial sized operations. Initial efforts in this regard will be to develop flow-charts to assess microirrigation suitability and design requirements building upon efforts of Clark et al. (2007). The results of these efforts will be useful in enhancing microirrigation design tools that are under development at the USDA-NRCS and also be feeding into products that are a part of Objective 3 of this project. Further efforts will then be conducted to generalize microirrigation design procedures by developing spreadsheets and software that can be scaled for system size and crop economic potential, recognizing that sometimes irrigation design is a mixture of science and art (i.e., more than one suitable design may exist). These participants will also collaborate on development of simplified, yet reliable methods of evaluating microirrigation performance for various size systems.Higher level integration of information from multiple sources for use in decision support will be made possible through development of new platforms. These will be implemented as smart phone and web-based apps. Long term goals are to develop flowchart-driven decision tools to help potential end users or system providers decide if microirrigation is the right choice and to help lead them through the design process.Educational events remain key to technology transfer. Workshops, field days, technical sessions, webinars, and conferences will be achieved through venue-appropriate and audience-appropriate activities. Stakeholder targeted field days, workshops and conferences will be conducted. These activities may include events sponsored by industry, commodity groups and trade associations.

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Design and management engineers with government agencies and consulting firms, growers and extension specialist. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Provided dissertation and thesis projects for four Ph.D. students and one MS student. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through publication in refereed journal articles and conference presentations and proceedings. Provision of monthly water use data to all of the olive growers in the state of Arizona. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A combination of field experiments and modeling using Hydrus 2-D were undertaken to evaluate optimal depth and spacing of subsurface drip lines to avoid surface wetting. Classical soil mechanics were used to determine appropriate depth placement to avoid soil failure due to tractor or equipment loads on the surface during or immediately after irrigation of alfalfa. Rooting patterns alfalfa irrigated with subsurface drip were evaluated. Based on our results we recommend depth of placement for drip tubing in alfalfa of 50cm for both sandy clay loam and clay loam soils and an irrigation duration and frequency of 12 hours every three days with drip emitter discharge of 0.8 liters/hr and an emitter spacing of 36cm along the tubing. Spacing between drip lines was 1.0m. With this depth placement, spacing and management, adequate water was supplied to the crop and the soil remained dry to a depth of 20cm below the surface which provided adequate soil strength to support a tractor weighing 3,300kg. We collected daily weather data from seven local AZMET stations near established olive orchards in Arizona, namely Queen Creek, Maricopa, Coolidge, Yuma North Gila Roll, Yuma South and Yuma Valley stations (See https://cals.arizona.edu/azmet/) Using the data, and ET values developed in the San Joaquin Valley of California, Spain, Portugal and Israel, we estimated the inches of water needed to meet the olive tree needs. Then, we provided growers with the data in tabular and graphical form. Using the data, most growers needed between 1 and 5 inches of irrigation per month from October through December 2016. As of September 2018, we have 24 months of data and we find that most growers need about 50 inches of water per year to adequately irrigate olives. This compares with citrus, which is commonly irrigated with up about 100 inches of water annually.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Slack, D.C., R. Reyes Esteves, A. Espejel, B. Oyorsaval and Y. Ma. 2016. Subsurface Drip Irrigation: A Technology for Safer Irrigation of Vegetable Crops. Proceedings of the 6th KKU International Engineering Conference 2016. Khon Kaen, Thailand, August 3-5, 2016. 7p.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Reyes Esteves, R. and D.C. Slack. 2017. Modeling Approaches to Determination of Appropriate Depth of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing in Alfalfa. Proceedings of the XVIII Congresso Nacional de Especialistas en Irrigacion. Monticello, Mexico. May 21-25, 2017. 8p.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Reyes Esteves R, and D.C. Slack. 2017. Modeling of Soil Water to Insure a Suitable Depth and Spacing of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing for Alfalfa. Proceedings of the III Congresso Nacional de Riego y Drenaje, COMEII 2017. Puebla, Puebla, Mexico. November 28-30, 2017. 12p.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Reyes Esteves, Rocio and D.C. Slack. 2019 Modeling Approaches for Determining Appropriate Depth of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing in Alfalfa. Journal of the Irrigation,45(10). DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0001409.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Reyes Esteves, Rocio and D.C. Slack. 2019. Modeling of Soil Water to Ensure a Suitable Depth and Spacing of SDI for Alfalfa. Ingeneria Agricola y Biosistemas.11(1)69-79.DOI:10.5154/r.inagbi.2018.02.002 Enero-Junio, 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Reyes Esteves, R., C.P. Gerba and D.C. Slack. 2019. Application of Microbial Risk Assessment of Escherichia coli in Irrigation Water on a Lettuce Crop. COMEII-19014. Proceedings of the V Congresso Nacional de Riego y Drenaje, COMEII 2019. Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. September 18-20, 2019. 8p.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Yitayew, M. 2019 Bubbler Irrigation For Food Security. Ethiopian Water and Energy Week Proceedings, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Waller, P. and M. Yitayew. 2016. Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. Springer International Publishing Switzerland. 742p.


Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Provided a research topic for one MS student who completed her degree and is now enrolled in a Ph.d. program. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Two refereed journal articles have been accepted for publication. Monthly water use data has been e-mailed to five growers, comprising all the commercial olive growers in the state. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Use a combination of modeling and field experiments to development design and management schemes to reduce the risk of contamination of leafy green vegetables by irrigation water. We expect to prepare extension bulletins to reach the target audience.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Don Slack: A combination of field experiments and modeling using Hydrus 2-D were undertaken to evaluate optimal depth and spacing of subsurface drip lines to avoid surface wetting. Classical soil mechanics were used to determine appropriate depth placement to avoid soil failure due to tractor or equipment loads on the surface during or immediately after irrigation of alfalfa. Rooting patterns alfalfa irrigated with subsurface drip were evaluated. Based on our results we recommend depth of placement for drip tubing in alfalfa of 50cm for both sandy clay loam and clay loam soils and an irrigation duration and frequency of 12 hours every three days with drip emitter discharge of 0.8 liters/hr and an emitter spacing of 36cm along the tubing. Spacing between drip lines was 1.0m. With this depth placement, spacing and management, adequate water was supplied to the crop and the soil remained dry to a depth of 20cm below the surface which provided adequate soil strength to support a tractor weighing 3,300kg. Glenn Wright: We collected daily weather data from seven local AZMET stations near established olive orchards in Arizona, namely Queen Creek, Maricopa, Coolidge, Yuma North Gila Roll, Yuma South and Yuma Valley stations (See https://cals.arizona.edu/azmet/) Using the data, and ET values developed in the San Joaquin Valley of California, Spain, Portugal and Israel, we estimated the inches of water needed to meet the olive tree needs. Then, we provided growers with the data in tabular and graphical form. Using the data, most growers needed between 1 and 5 inches of irrigation per month from October through December 2016. As of September 2018, we have 24 months of data and we find that most growers need about 50 inches of water per year to adequately irrigate olives. This compares with citrus, which is commonly irrigated with up about 100 inches of water annually.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2019 Citation: Reyes Esteves, Rocio and D.C. Slack. 2019 Modeling Approaches for Determining Appropriate Depth of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing in Alfalfa. Journal of the Irrigation and Drainage Division of ASCE. (In-Press).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2019 Citation: Reyes Esteves, Rocio and D.C. Slack. 2019. Modeling of Soil Water to Ensure a Suitable Depth and Spacing of SDI for Alfalfa. Ingeneria Agricola y Biosistemas. (In Press).


Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Irrigated agriculture farmers and design engineers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One female graduate student got an MS thesis out of the research work. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The result was dessiminated by way of conference presentation and publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue both field research on olives water requirement and development of microirrigation design and management protocols for effective and sustainable water use.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Subsurface drip irrigation should offer some significant advantages for alfalfa. However, SDI poses both design and management problems since alfalfa is an "extensively grown crop" (i.e. it does not grow as a row crop but plants cover the entire field) and it is harvested periodically throughout the growing season. The modeling research which we undertook using the Hydrus 2-d model as well as classical soil mechanics, illustrated how we could design and manage a subsurface drip irrigation system for alfalfa which would allow harvesting equipment to be in the field during or immediately after irrigation. in addition, in collaboration with the university of California, we obtained some root density distributions for alfalfa with drip tubes at 50cm which showed maximum rooting density, not at the surface but near the depth of the tubing, similar to what has been determined for other SDI irrigated crops.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Slack, D.C., R. Reyes Esteves, A. Espejel, B. Oyorsaval and Y. Ma. 2017. Subsurface Drip Irrigation: A Technology for Safer Irrigation of Vegetable Crops. Engineering and Applied Science Research. April-June 2017. 44(2).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Reyes Esteves, R. and D.C. Slack. 2017. Modeling Approaches to Determination of Appropriate Depth of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing in Alfalfa. Proceedings of the XVIII Congresso Nacional de Especialistas en Irrigacion. Monticello, Mexico. May 21-25, 2017. 8
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Reyes Esteves R, and D.C. Slack. 2017. Modeling of Soil Water to Insure a Suitable Depth and Spacing of Subsurface Drip Irrigation Tubing for Alfalfa. Proceedings of the III Congresso Nacional de Riego y Drenaje, COMEII 2017. Puebla, Puebla, Mexico. November 28-30, 2017. 12p.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Yitayew, M. and K. Belyneh 2017. Analytical Solution of a Low Pressure Microirrigation Lateral. Submitted to ASCE Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Irrigated Agriculture Farmers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One MS student is working on this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Growers were provided with the monthly water needs of olive in tabular and graphical forms. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue collecting more data until 2018.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Daily weather data from four local AZMET stations near established olive orchards in Arizona, namely Queen Creek, Coolidge, Yuma North Gila and Yuma Valley stations (See https://cals.arizona.edu/azmet/) was collected in 2016. Using the data, and ET values developed in the San Joaquin Valley of California, Spain, Portugal and Israel, we estimated the inches of water needed to meet the olive tree needs. Then, we provided growers with the data in tabular and graphical form. Using the data, most growers needed between 1 and 5 inches of irrigation per month from October through December, 2016. We will continue this work through September, 2018.

Publications


    Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Design Engineers, students and farmers Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Used as a teaching tool in design of irrigation systems for both graduate and undergraduate students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The result was disseminated through the website http://cals.arizona.edu/research/bubbler/ What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Field data was collected on solute movement under different irrigation systems and salinity impact on corn production. The goal is to analyze this data and produce two manuscripts that will use the results of the two types of data and publish in a journal.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Low-head bubbler irrigation systems are microirrigation systems that are based on gravity flow which can operate at pressures as low as one meter and require no filtration and pumping system. Despite their simplicity and advantages, low-head bubbler systems are not used in many countries.This is mainly due to lack of a well-defined design procedure to facilitate design and installation. A computer program that was developed for designing bubbler irrigation system was rewritten in HTML format to be available on the World Wide Web.This was done to give farmers, engineers and consultants a tool to design bubbler irrigation from anywhere in the world as long as they have access to the internet.

    Publications

    • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Yitayew, M., and A. Barreto. 2015 http://cals.arizona.edu/research/bubbler/ BUBBLER Design of Low-Head Gravity-Flow Bubbler Irrigation Systems for Trees, Vines and Orchard Crops
    • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Waller, P. and M. Yitayew. 2015. Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. Springer Cham Heidelberg, New York, Dordecht, London. ISBN 978-3-319-05698-2.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Nouiri, I. , M. Yitayew, J. Ma�mann, J. Tarhouni. 2015. Multi-objective Optimization Tool for Integrated Groundwater Management. Journal of Water Resources Mangement, Volume 29, Issue 14, pp5353-5375