Advance and Runoff-Surge Flow Furrow Irrigation

Furrow advance and runoff evaluations were conducted on a field having a silt loam soil using pulsed water applications. The irrigation method, defined as surge flow, was applied in two experiments, each covering 100 m furrow sections. The first experiment consisted of 13 combinations of on- and off-times, replicated five times. The second experiment included 10 combinations of cycle period and cycle ratio with two replications. The results indicate that surge flow treatments significantly accelerated furrow advance per unit of applied water and reduced the temporal and spatial variability among furrows in the field. It is theorized that furrow drainage between surges accelerates the formation of thin surface seals, thereby reducing intake rates.