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Effects of microorganisms on clogging process and clogging substances accumulation of drip irrigation emitters using the high-sediment water sources

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Abstract

The microorganisms in the water sources are closely related to drip irrigation emitter clogging and clogging substances accumulation. However, few studies quantitatively considered the role of microorganisms in the emitter clogging process, especially in the high-sediment water source. The coupling process and mechanism between solid particles and microorganisms are not clear yet. Based on these, the Yellow River water (CK), general high sediment water (GHS) and artificial simulated Yellow River water (SYR) was applied in an indoor controllable experiment to study the long-term dynamic drip irrigation emitter clogging process, microorganism growth and its secretions as well as clogging substances accumulation. The results showed that the presence of microorganisms could accelerate the clogging process, with smaller discharge ratio variation (Dra) and Christiansen coefficient of uniformity (CU), and higher accumulation of clogging substances. Among them, the Dra and CU of the SYR treatment were the smallest at the end of the experiment (14.7% and 30.5%, respectively) and those of the GHS treatment were the largest (21.2% and 33.9%, respectively). Meanwhile, the total amounts of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), extracellular polymer substances (EPS) and dry weight (DW) in SYR treatment were the highest, which were 110.2%, 23.8% and 16.7% higher than those in GHS treatment, respectively. The clogging parameters and clogging substances accumulated from the CK treatment were in a state of in-betweenness. However, the differences between CK and SYR treatments did not reach a significant level, while they were both significantly different from GHS treatment (p < 0.05). This mainly resulted from the interactions between solid particles and microorganisms in the drip irrigation emitter clogging process. Ignoring the existence of microorganisms may overestimate the Dra and CU by 6.5% and 3.4%, respectively. This offered theoretical references to the application of high-sediment water in the drip irrigation system.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52079139, 51709261) and Key Research and Development Program of Hainan (ZDYF2021XDNT138).

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, 52079139, Bo Zhou, 51709261, Key Research and Development Program of Hainan, ZDYF2021XDNT138.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jiading Zhang, Yang Sean Xiao, Yanhong Wu, Shuqin Li, Bo Zhou & Yunkai Li

  2. Engineering Research Center for Agricultural Water-Saving and Water Resources, Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100083, China

    Shuqin Li, Bo Zhou & Yunkai Li

  3. College of Water Resource and Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Xinjiang, 832000, China

    Feifei Jia & Bo Zhou

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  1. Jiading Zhang
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  2. Yang Sean Xiao
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  3. Yanhong Wu
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Zhang, J., Xiao, Y.S., Wu, Y. et al. Effects of microorganisms on clogging process and clogging substances accumulation of drip irrigation emitters using the high-sediment water sources. Irrig Sci 40, 845–856 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-022-00828-5

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