rasoul asadi; farzad hasanpour; mitra mehrabani; Amin Baghizadeh; Fateme karandish
Abstract
Introduction: In arid and semi-arid areas, water can be a limiting factor for plant growth and agricultural yields. Considering limited water resources in arid and semi-arid climate of Iran, deficit irrigation is one of the strategies for efficient use of water and increasing water use efficiency ...
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Introduction: In arid and semi-arid areas, water can be a limiting factor for plant growth and agricultural yields. Considering limited water resources in arid and semi-arid climate of Iran, deficit irrigation is one of the strategies for efficient use of water and increasing water use efficiency in agricultural lands. Deficit irrigation (DI) is a suitable solution to gain acceptable and economic performance by using minimum amount of water. The Partial Root- zone Drying (PRD) irrigation is a new improvement in deficit irrigation in which the half of the root zone is irrigated alternatively in scheduled irrigation events. The plants with PRD irrigation method can, therefore, have different root system in comparison with other irrigation methods. At this method the plant’s condition would be OK by withdrawing water from wet side, and the roots at the dry side can release abscisic acid hormone which decrease the stomatal conductance and consequently the water use efficiency would increase. Also, by using proper irrigation management in farm, we are able to utilize water, soil and fertilizer to produce high yield and quality products. Drip irrigation is considered one of the most efficient irrigation methods. One of the major advantages is its ability to apply water to the soil as often as desired and in smaller quantity than the other irrigation methods. Drip irrigation has been practiced for many years for its effectiveness in reducing soil surface evaporation and it has been widely used in horticultural crops in both greenhouse and open field.
Materials and Methods: In order to compare two deficit irrigation methods on plant growth characteristics of Rosmarinus officinalis L., a field experiment was carried out during 2016 growing season at an experimental farm in Kerman Municipality seedling production station. The experimental treatments were arranged as randomized complete block design with three replications. The irrigation regimes consisted of full irrigation (FI-100), regulated deficit (RDI75 and RDI55) and partial root zone drying irrigation (PRD75 and PRD55). In this study, drip lines were placed on the soil surface at a distance of 15 cm from the plant and plant rows were placed between drip lines. The irrigation interval was 4 days for all treatments. In the full irrigation and regulated deficit irrigation treatments, the plants were irrigated from two sides for every irrigation. In the PRD, one of two neighboring drip line was alternatively used for irrigation. The irrigation interval was 4 days for all treatments. Dry weight, leaf area index (LAI), number of shoots, plant height, water productivity, root fresh weight, root depth and root volume were measured. Since the highest essential oil of rosemary is at 50 percent of flowering time, the above-mentioned indices were measured at the middle of flowering (190 days after planting) by removing the side rows in each replicate and half a meter from the beginning and end of each row. As a marginal effect, 10 plants were randomly selected and sampled from two middle rows, each replicate of each treatment. The harvested bushes were dried at 25 °C for three weeks and then the dried weight of the vegetative organs was measured. Moreover, the number of 10 plants selected from each treatment was accurately counted to determine the number of shoots. Data were analyzed statistically using SAS Statistical software. Treatment means were compared using LSD test.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that highest herbage dry weight (145.3 g) and leaf area index in different stages of growth were under full irrigation treatment in which no significant difference between this treatment and 75 percent water replacement in partial root zone drying was observed. The highest number of shoots (128.7) and plant height (68.4 cm) were also obtained by full irrigation treatment and there was significant difference between this treatment and other treatments. However, the highest water productivity (2.06 kg/m3), root fresh weight (3.8 g), root depth (16.4 cm) and root volume (2.4 cm3) were found in 75 percent water replacement in partial root zone drying.
Conclusion: According to the results, 75 percent water replacement in partial root zone drying irrigation treatments, in addition to saving water consumption, provides better use of soil moisture and sunlight. Thus, this treatment can be considered as a suitable approach to cope with the water crisis and achieve a sustainable agriculture.
Keywords: Drip irrigation, Drought stress, Leaf area index, Medicinal plant, Rosmarinus officinalis, Water productivity
maryam mohammadi; farzad hassanpour; Majid azizpour pirsaraie
Abstract
Introduction: Poor performance of irrigation and drainage networks causes to reduce the transfer and distribution throughputs and in result comes useless water and makes too much consumption in forming. A significant portion of water losses in irrigation and drainage networksis related to transmission ...
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Introduction: Poor performance of irrigation and drainage networks causes to reduce the transfer and distribution throughputs and in result comes useless water and makes too much consumption in forming. A significant portion of water losses in irrigation and drainage networksis related to transmission and distribution. Therefor more consideration in thrirrigation network management, improve irrigation efficiency and also the exploitation of water resources, especially in the agricultural sector is necessary. Controlling and adjusting structures of water level in the direction of drainage and irrigation canals can influence on increasing of throughput and decrease the use of water. So, right choosing and recognition of the deficiencies of these structures helps carry up the throughput of the networks and prevents to waste water. It is hard to solve equations of water flow in canals and related institutions by using analytic methods. For this reason, this research was done with HEC-RAS hydraulical model in the main channelof irrigation and drainage network of Sistan plain.
Materials and Methods: Sistan plain is located in southeastern of Iran with good potential for agricultural production because of the alluvial sediments from Hirmand River. 23820 ha of the Sistan plain is covered by 5 blocksof the Shibab irrigation and drainage network. While Sistan’sShibab irrigation network efficiency is low, HEC-RAS Hydraulics model in unsteady condition was performed to control and adjust this network’s main canal in approximately 19 Km length. In this research, the evaluation model in the canal was performed for more suitable intakingwater in the quadruple order 2 canals . So, the existing structure’s operation was analyzed on controlling structures in management and lack of management situations.This research was assessed during a 15-day impounding period using hydraulic model of HEC-RAS with the aim of performance and operation evaluation of existing structures on the Shibab main canal. HEC-RAS model was prepared by United States army corps of engineers which is developed by the hydrologicengineering center.HEC-RAS analyzes river system and runs under the Windows operating system. This software package is of hydraulic analysis program series, where the user communicates with the system via a graphical user interface (GUI). The system is capable of performing steady and unsteady flow water surfaceprofile calculations. HEC-RAS software is designed to perform one dimensional hydraulic calculation for a full network of natural and synthetic channels. Visits were made before and after the beginning of irrigation, and during the Operation, in order to record the data of the flow and observe the way of utilization of canal, and existing structures. Then, the model was calibrated on the basis of depth and discharge measurement and simulation data in real condition of operation for 10 days impoundment during 21 to 30 April, and the Statistical parameter values:RMSE, EF, MBEand R2 were calculated. Then the objective functionwas evaluatedusingoperational performance indexes of adequacy, efficiency, equity and reliability of Molden and Gates regarding to HEC-RAS simulation results in unsteady condition.
Results and Discussion: According to the simulation results in existing condition,theerror of delivery dischargeis equal to 0.54 while applying the management onthe adjustment structure of irrigation networkdeclined theerror to 0.42. By the canal routstructuremanagement in HEC-RAS model, on the basis of proposed operation option, according to existing operation condition, delivery discharge loss in comparison to the total discharge of the network 0.12 value decreases.Based on the simulation results, the mean percentage of improvementin performance indexes of adequacy,efficiency, equity and reliability, as well as objective functionofdelivery discharge are equal to 19.7, 20.90, 66.07, 65.24and54.81. Therefore based on simulation results of different scenarios and investigation of the effective factors onto the flow, onthe forms of charts and tables show that without management on controlling structures, it isn`t possible to appropriate of flow rate onto second class canals and traditional streams branched out main canal and also streams branched out second class canals, properly.
Conclusion: The results show that the model of HEC-RAS is proper for hydraulic simulation of main canal in the irrigation and drainage network of Sistan plain. Based on the simulation results of different scenarios of this research, the mostimprovements intheobjective functionare allocated toequity and reliability indexes in the Shibab main canal with the proposed management method.
