Table Of ContentENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES, REGULATIONS AND SAFETY
D I
RIP RRIGATION
T , M
ECHNOLOGY ANAGEMENT
E
AND FFICIENCY
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E R
NVIRONMENTAL EMEDIATION
T , R
ECHNOLOGIES EGULATIONS
S
AND AFETY
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ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES, REGULATIONS AND SAFETY
D I
RIP RRIGATION
T , M
ECHNOLOGY ANAGEMENT
E
AND FFICIENCY
ALFRED H. STEELE
EDITOR
New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Drip irrigation : technology, management, and efficiency / editor, Alfred H. Steele.
pages cm. -- (Environmental remediation technologies, regulations and safety)
Includes index.
ISBN: (cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:23)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:16)(cid:26)(cid:26)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:27) (eBook)
1. Microirrigation. I. Steele, Alfred H.
S619.T74D776 2015
631.5'87--dc23
2014047189
Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Environmental Conditions and Irrigation Practices Affect Citrus
Water Use 1
Kelly T. Morgan and Davie M. Kadyampakeni
Chapter 2 Molecular Characterization of Biofilms Developing in Drip
Irrigation Systems Operating with Reclaimed Water in Gran
Canaria (Spain) 23
Olga Sánchez, Laura Garrido,
Luis Fernando Arencibia Aguilar,
Jordi Mas and María del Pino Palacios-Díaz
Chapter 3 Absorbent Polymers and Drip Irrigation:
A Way of Controlling Irrigation Water 43
Mohamed R. Berber and Inas H. Hafez
Chapter 4 Design of Clogging-free Uniform Emission Drip Irrigation System
Using Microtubes 75
Muhammed A. Bhuiyan and Amir Keshtgar
Chapter 5 Growth and Water Use Efficiency of a Multi-Varietal Drip Irrigated
Olive (Olea europaea L.) Trees Cultivated in Northern Tunisia 127
Masmoudi-Charfi Chiraz and Msallem Monji
Index 157
PREFACE
Although over two thirds of the Earth's surface is covered by water, more than 97% is
ocean water which is too salty for human use or even for irrigation. Consequently, the
freshwater is only 3% and almost 1% of the available freshwater is liquid surface water that
can be used directly by humans. The rest is groundwater and iced water. Yet still, freshwater
is considered to be one of the most abundant resources on earth. In the agriculture sector only,
more than two-thirds of the available freshwater is used for irrigation. This book focuses on
the technology, management and efficiency of drip irrigation.
Chapter 1 – Citrus water use is governed largely by canopy size, leaf area, root
architecture and distribution, water management practices and prevailing environmental
conditions such as soil characteristics and climate. Prior to 1970, citrus has been cultivated
using surface and microsprinkler irrigation systems. Microsprinkler irrigation still dominates
citrus production in some areas, but in the past 40 years, drip irrigation has emerged as one
top technology for promoting water and nutrient use efficiency in many cropping systems
including citrus. Drip irrigated area for all crops expanded 50-fold from the 1970 to 2001.
Yield gains and water savings of drip over conventional surface irrigation methods have been
reported to be in the order of 11 to 97% and 13 to 514%, respectively, for several horticultural
crops. Advantages of drip irrigation include the ability to apply small amounts of water
directly to the root zone, better nutrient management through fertigation, effective weed and
pest control, and lower long-term investment and operating costs. This paper elucidates the
global impact of drip irrigation and environmental conditions on citrus water use. Examples
of the associated tree and soil characteristics that affect citrus water use are discussed to
provide a framework for improving water management in citrus production.
Chapter 2 – The traditional scarcity of hydric resources in Spain linked with a growing
trend in water demand for applications such as landscaping, gardening or agricultural
irrigation is gradually shifting water management practices towards the use of reclaimed
water obtained from wastewater treatment plants. From a sustainable point of view, reclaimed
water irrigation must be not only sanitary safe, but also should avoid problems in irrigation
networks. Drip irrigation allow us to prevent sanitary risk, even when using cheaper and less
intensive water treatments. But, on the other hand, this irrigation system is more sensitive to
obstruction problems. Most of the problems are related to biofilm formation at the inner
surfaces as well as to the points of delivery, and a crucial step for any antifouling strategy is
to characterize the microbial communities involved in its development. In this chapter we
present the molecular characterization of the microbial assemblages in biofilms from drip
irrigation systems in Gran Canaria (Spain) using treated wastewater from two wastewater
viii Alfred H. Steele
treatment plants (WWTP), Bocabarranco and Cardones, presenting low and medium content
of suspended solids (22.8 and 30.6 mg·L-1) respectively. Different samples (new drippers and
older ones with more than 5 years of use) for irrigation of road green zones were examined
from clogged and unclogged drippers. They were analyzed by denaturing gradient gel
electrophoresis (DGGE) and subsequent sequencing of amplified 16S rRNA gene bands.
DGGE patterns showed the presence of a large number of bands, indicating that the microbial
community was rather complex. Most of the retrieved DGGE bands belonged to the
phylogenetic groups Alpha and Gamma-proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria,
Chlorobi, Nitrospirae and Firmicutes, but sequences from Beta and Delta-proteobacteria,
Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, Gemmatimonadetes, Deinococcus-Thermus and
Cyanobacteria were also found. Our results demonstrated that biofilms diversity was related
with clogging phenomena, as higher diversity was found in the case of higher obstruction
problems. Besides, there was an influence of dripper design on emitter obstruction (integral
drippers were less prone to be clogged), a fact favoured by the presence of certain genera of
bacteria. Besides, the results showed that the clogging process was able to occur in a short
period of time in sensitive drippers. In general, the biofilms formed in these irrigation systems
using treated wastewater were more complex than we initially expected, with representation
of groups usually found in aquatic environments. They showed a high diversity of unknown
and uncultured microorganisms, suggesting that well structured biofilms resistant to pressure
flushing could develop.
Chapter 3 – With no doubt, polymers applications have a great influence on the way of
our life because of their ease of processing that meet the specific needs. In agriculture,
polymers are widely used to protect the environment using new techniques of applications. In
particular, the polymeric materials are used into agricultural soils to improve aeration,
conserve moisture, provide mulch, and to promote the fertility and the health of the soil.
Consequently, polymers are receiving a great deal of attention as soil conditioners. Here, we
focus on soil-polymer applications under surface- and subsurface-drip irrigation systems to
manage the irrigation water and to improve the soil properties such as stability and water
holding capacity. In this chapter, we highlight the main advantages and the drawbacks of
surface- and subsurface-drip irrigation systems that use polymer conditioners in view of
system construction, quality of irrigation water, evaporation and percolation, crop production,
environmental regulation and safety. We also discuss in details the effects of polymer type
(synthetic and natural), polymer concentration and polymer formulation process on soil
properties, in view of water-holding capacity, water use efficiency, soil permeability and
infiltration rates, and plant performance especially in structureless soils. In addition, we
illustrate the effects of soils and water properties on polymer absorbency of water. Moreover,
we show the synthesis and the characterization of the different absorbent polymeric materials
and how parameters such as initiator type, initiator concentration, and polymerization type
affect the polymer capacity of water absorptivity. Subsequently, we throw some light on the
future impacts of the polymeric materials in the agricultuel area.
Chapter 4 – Drip irrigation is a system in which water is supplied with a given flow rate
directly to plant roots to meet its water requirement. Due to water scarcity worldwide drip
irrigation practice is gaining momentum because of its better control on water volume and
management strategy with time and space. The system is compatible for a wide range of crop
variety, soil type, climate and landscape despite of few inherent constrains. Since long-back
clogging and emission non-uniformity have been the major obstacles in the development of
