LEPA and Spray Irrigation for Grain Crops
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 125, Issue 4
Abstract
Two low energy precision application (LEPA) sprinkler methods (double-ended socks and bubblers) and two spray sprinkler methods (low-elevation spray application and overhead spray) were used to irrigate corn, grain sorghum, and winter wheat in the Southern High Plains. For full or 100% irrigation, sufficient 25-mm applications were applied to maintain soil water at non-yield-limiting levels determined in earlier research with the three crops. Deficit-irrigated treatments were irrigated on the same days as the control treatment in 25 or 33% increments of the fully irrigated amount. Irrigation water was applied to or above alternate furrows with a three-span lateral move irrigation system. Corn and sorghum were grown on beds and furrows with all furrows diked, and wheat was flat-planted without basin tillage. Grain yields increased significantly with irrigation amount (p ≤ 0.05) for all crops during all years. With full irrigation, grain yields varied little among the sprinkler methods, and yields averaged 13.5, 8.9, and 4.6 Mg/ha for corn, sorghum, and wheat, respectively. With the 25 and 50% deficit irrigation amounts, sorghum yields with LEPA irrigation were 1.1 Mg/ha larger than with the two spray methods. For 75% irrigation of sorghum and for deficit irrigation of the other two crops, there was little yield difference between the LEPA and spray sprinkler methods. Grain yields were significantly correlated with seasonal water use with regression coefficients of 2.89, 1.84, and 0.915 kg/m3 for corn, sorghum, and wheat, respectively.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Buchleiter, G. H. (1992). “Performance of LEPA equipment on center pivot machines.” Appl. Engrg. in Agric., 8(5), 631–637.
2.
Christiansen, J. E. ( 1942). “Irrigation by sprinkling.” California Agric. Expt. Sta. Bull. No. 670, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.
3.
Evett, S. R., and Steiner, J. L. (1995). “Precision of neutron scattering and capacitance type soil water content gages from field calibration.” Soil. Sci. Soc. Am. J., 59(40), 961–968.
4.
Fangmeier, D. D., Voltman, W. F., and Eftekharzadeh, S. (1990). “Uniformity of LEPA irrigation systems with furrow drops.” Trans. ASAE, 33(6), 1907–1912.
5.
Fipps, G., and New, L. L. (1990). “Six years of LEPA in Texas—less water, higher yields.” Proc., 3rd Nat. Irrig. Symp., American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Phoenix, 115–120.
6.
Frost, K. R., and Schwalen, H. C. (1955). “Sprinkler evaporation losses.” Agric. Engrg., 36(8), 526–528.
7.
Howell, T. A., Evett, S. R., Tolk, J. A., Schneider, A. D., and Steiner, J. L. (1996). “Evapotranspiration of corn—Southern High Plains.” Proc., Int. Conf., Evapotranspiration and Irrig. Scheduling, C. R. Camp, E. J. Sadler, and R. E. Yoder, eds., American Society of Agricultural Engineers, San Antonio, 158–166.
8.
Howell, T. A., and Phene, C. J. (1983). “Distribution of water from a low pressure lateral-moving irrigation system.” Trans. ASAE, 26(5), 1422–1429, 1434.
9.
Howell, T. A., Steiner, J. L., Schneider, A. D., Evett, S. R., and Tolk, J. A. (1997). “Seasonal and maximum daily evapotranspiration of irrigated winter wheat, sorghum and corn—Southern High Plains.” Trans. ASAE., 40(3), 623–634.
10.
Kincaid, D. C., and Longley, T. S. (1989). “A water droplet evaporation and temperature model.” Trans. ASAE, 32(2), 457–463.
11.
Kohl, K. D., Kohl, R. A., and DeBoer, D. W. (1987). “Measurement of low pressure sprinkler evaporation loss.” Trans. ASAE, 30(4), 1071–1074.
12.
Lyle, W. M., and Bordovsky, J. P. (1981). “Low energy precision application (LEPA) irrigation system.” Trans. ASAE, 24(5), 1241–1245.
13.
Lyle, W. M., and Bordovsky, J. P. (1983). “LEPA irrigation system evaluation.” Trans. ASAE, 26(3), 776–781.
14.
Musick, J. T., Pringle, F. B., Harman, W. L., and Stewart, B. A. (1990). “Long-term irrigation trends—Texas High Plains.” Appl. Engrg. in Agric., 6(6), 717–724.
15.
Musick, J. T., Pringle, F. B., and Walker, J. W. (1988). “Sprinkler and furrow irrigation trends—Texas High Plains.” Appl. Engrg. in Agric., 4(1), 46–52.
16.
Schneider, A. D., and Howell, T. A. (1990). “Sprinkler efficiency measurement with large weighing lysimeters.” Proc., 3rd Nat. Irrig. Symp., American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Phoenix, 69–76.
17.
Schneider, A. D., and Howell, T. A. (1995a). “Grain sorghum response to sprinkler application methods and system capacity.” Trans. ASAE, 38(6), 1693–1697.
18.
Schneider, A. D., and Howell, T. A. (1995b). “LEPA and spray irrigation in the Southern High Plains.” Water Resour. Engrg., Proc., 1st Int. Conf., Vol. 2, 1718–1722.
19.
Schneider, A. D., and Howell, T. A. (1997). “Methods, amounts, and timing of sprinkler irrigation for winter wheat.” Trans. ASAE, 40(1), 137–142.
20.
Schneider, A. D., and Howell, T. A. (1998). “LEPA and spray irrigation of corn—Southern High Plains.” Trans. ASAE, 41(5), 1391–1396.
21.
Solomon, K. H., Kincaid, D. C., and Bezdek, J. C. (1985). “Drop size distributions for irrigation spray nozzles.” Trans. ASAE, 28(6), 1966–1974.
22.
Spurgeon, W. E., Feyerherm, A. M., and Manges, H. L. (1995). “In-canopy application mode and soil surface modification for corn.” Appl. Engrg. in Agric., 11(4), 517–522.
23.
Thompson, A. L., Gilley, J. R., and Norman, J. M. (1993). “A sprinkler water droplet evaporation and plant canopy model: II. Model application.” Trans. ASAE, 36(3), 743–750.
24.
Thompson, A. L., Martin, D. L., Norman, J. M., Tolk, J. A., Howell, T. A., Gilley, J. R., and Schneider, A. D. (1997). “Testing of a water loss distribution model for moving sprinkler systems.” Trans. ASAE, 40(1), 81–88.
25.
Tolk, J. A., Howell, T. A., Steiner, J. L., Krieg, D. R., and Schneider, A. D. (1995). “Role of transpiration suppression by evaporation of intercepted water in improving irrigation efficiency.” Irrig. Sci., Berlin, 16, 89–95.
26.
Unger, P. W., and Pringle, F. B. ( 1981). “Pullman soils: Distribution, importance & management.” Texas Agric. Expt. Sta. Bull. No. 1372, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tex.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Received: Oct 2, 1998
Published online: Jul 1, 1999
Published in print: Jul 1999
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.