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Analysis of soil wetting and solute transport in subsurface trickle irrigation

  • Micro-irrigation: Advances in System Design and Management
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Abstract

The increased use of trickle or drip irrigation is seen as one way of helping to improve the sustainability of irrigation systems around the world. However, soil water and solute transport properties and soil profile characteristics are often not adequately incorporated in the design and management of trickle systems. In this paper, we describe results of a simulation study designed to highlight the impacts of soil properties on water and solute transport from buried trickle emitters. The analysis addresses the influence of soil hydraulic properties, soil layering, trickle discharge rate, irrigation frequency, and timing of nutrient application on wetting patterns and solute distribution. We show that (1) trickle irrigation can improve plant water availability in medium and low permeability fine-textured soils, providing that design and management are adapted to account for their soil hydraulic properties, (2) in highly permeable coarse-textured soils, water and nutrients move quickly downwards from the emitter, making it difficult to wet the near surface zone if emitters are buried too deep, and (3) changing the fertigation strategy for highly permeable coarse-textured soils to apply nutrients at the beginning of an irrigation cycle can maintain larger amounts of nutrient near to and above the emitter, thereby making them less susceptible to leaching losses. The results demonstrate the need to account for differences in soil hydraulic properties and solute transport when designing irrigation and fertigation management strategies. Failure to do this will result in inefficient systems and lost opportunities for reducing the negative environmental impacts of irrigation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by CSIRO, Land and Water Australia through its National Program on Irrigation Research and Development (NPIRD), and the CRC for Sustainable Sugar Production.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Land and Water, PMB Aitkenvale, Townsville, Qld 4814, Australia

    Claire M. Cote

  2. CSIRO Land and Water and CRC for Sustainable Sugar Production, PMB Aitkenvale, Townsville, Qld 4814, Australia

    Keith L. Bristow & Philip B. Charlesworth

  3. CSIRO Land and Water and CRC for Sustainable Sugar Production, 12 Meiers Rd, Indooroopilly, Qld 4068, Australia

    Freeman J. Cook

  4. CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and CRC for Sustainable Sugar Production, 306 Carmody Rd, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia

    Peter J. Thorburn

Authors
  1. Claire M. Cote
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  2. Keith L. Bristow
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  3. Philip B. Charlesworth
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  4. Freeman J. Cook
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  5. Peter J. Thorburn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keith L. Bristow.

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Communicated by J. Annandale

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Cote, C.M., Bristow, K.L., Charlesworth, P.B. et al. Analysis of soil wetting and solute transport in subsurface trickle irrigation. Irrig Sci 22, 143–156 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-003-0080-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-003-0080-8

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