Contribution of Evapotranspiration Reduction during Sprinkler Irrigation to Application Efficiency
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Volume 134, Issue 6
Abstract
The effect of reduced corn evapotranspiration (ET) during solid-set sprinkler irrigation on application efficiency was analyzed on two subplots. During each irrigation event, one subplot was irrigated (moist treatment) while the other was not (dry treatment). ET (weighing lysimeter) and transpiration (heat balance method) rates were determined at each subplot before, during, and after the irrigations. During daytime irrigations, there was a significant decrease in ET (32–55%) and transpiration (58%) for the moist treatment. After the irrigations , ET significantly increased (34%) and transpiration decreased (20%). Gross wind drift and evaporation losses were found to be 19.3% of the applied water. Taking into account the ET changes during and after the irrigations, net sprinkler evaporation losses were 14.4–17.5% of the applied water. During nighttime irrigations, changes in ET and transpiration were almost negligible, and were slightly greater than (9.5 and 8.1%, respectively, of applied water). was mainly a function of wind speed. Reduced ET and transpiration during daytime irrigations moderately increased solid-set sprinkler application efficiency.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDAGL-2004-06675-CO3-02 (PN , Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of Spain). The writers express their gratitude to Miguel Izquierdo, Jesús Gaudó, Daniel Mayoral, José Manuel Acín, and Pilar Paniagua for field assistance and to Sai Gonuguntla (Dynamax Inc.) for technical assistance in sap flow measurement implementation.
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 6 • December 2008
Pages: 745 - 756
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 11, 2007
Accepted: Mar 7, 2008
Published online: Dec 1, 2008
Published in print: Dec 2008
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