 Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the land or soil.

It
is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops,
maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils
in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall.
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 As an Irrigation Engineer, you create watering systems for
challenging projects. A common task for an Irrigation
Engineer is irrigating agricultural crops, but you also work on
other major projects, such as dams, canals, or drainage
systems. Projects vary in terms of duration and construction
requirements.

 wha

t is importance of irrigation

 1. Irrigation maintains moisture in the soil. Moisture is necessary for the

germination of seeds. Seeds do not grow in dry soil. That is why irrigation
is done before tilling.

 2. Irrigation is essential for the growth of the roots of the crop plants. Roots
of the plants do not grow well in dry soil.

 3. Irrigation is necessary for the absorption of mineral nutrients by the

plants from the soil. Thus, irrigation is essential for the general growth of
the plants.

 4. Water supplies two essential elements hydrogen and oxygen to the crop.
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Importance of Irrigation Engineering

 In the next 35-45- years, world food production will need to double
to meet the demands of increased population.
 90% of this increased food production will have to come from
existing lands. 
 70% of this increased food production will have to come from
irrigated land

Purposes of Irrigation
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 Providing insurance against short duration droughts
 Reducing the hazard of frost (increase the temperature of the plant)
 Reducing the temperature during hot spells
 Washing or diluting salts in the soil Softening tillage pans and
clods
 Delaying bud formation by evaporative cooling
 Promoting the function of some micro organisms

Objectives of irrigation
 To Supply Water Partially or Totally for
Crop Need
 To Cool both the Soil and the Plant
 To Leach Excess Salts
 To improve Groundwater storage
 To Facilitate continuous cropping
 To Enhance Fertilizer Application-
Fertigation

Benefits of Irrigation
1. Increase in Crop Yield
2. Protection from femine
3. Cultivation of superior crops
4. Elimination of mixed cropping:
5. Economic development
6. Hydro power generation
7. Domestic and industrial water supply:
 Methods & Techniques of Irrigation

Merits & Demerits of Irrigation | Irrigation Types with Neat Sketches | Irrigation

Questions/Answers
There are three broad classes of irrigation systems:

1. Pressurized distribution
2. Gravity flow distribution
3. Drainage flow distribution

Advertisements 1. Pressurized Distribution

The pressurized systems include sprinkler, trickle, and the

array of similar systems in which water is conveyed to and
distributed over the farmland through pressurized pipe
networks. There are many individual system configurations
identified by unique features (centre-pivot sprinkler systems).
2. Gravity Flow Irrigation System

Gravity flow systems convey and distribute water at the field level by a free
surface, overland flow regime. These surface irrigation methods are also
subdivided according to configuration and operational characteristics.

3. Control of drainage flow irrigation System

Irrigation by control of the drainage system, subirrigation, is not common but is
interesting conceptually. Relatively large volumes of applied irrigation water
percolate through the root zone and become a drainage or groundwater flow. By
controlling the flow at critical points, it is possible to raise the level of the
groundwater to within reach of the crop roots. These individual irrigation systems
have a variety of advantages and particular applications.

Irrigation systems are often designed to maximize efficiencies and minimize

labour and capital requirements. The most effective management practices
are dependent on the type of irrigation system and its design. For example,
management can be influenced by the use of automation, the control of or the
capture and reuse of runoff, field soil and topographical variations and the
existence and location of flow measurement and water control structures.

Questions that are common to all irrigation systems are when to irrigate, how
much to apply, and can the efficiency be improved. A large number of
considerations must be taken into account in the selection of an irrigation
system. These will vary from location to location, crop to crop, year to year,
and farmer to farmer.

Compatibility of the irrigation systems:

The irrigation system for a field or a farm must be compatible with the other
existing farm operations, such as land preparation, cultivation, and harvest.

 Level of Mechanization
 Size of Fields
 Cultivation
 Pest Control
 Topographic Limitations.

Restrictions on irrigation system selection due to topography include:

1. groundwater levels
2. the location and relative elevation of the water source,
3. field boundaries,
 4. acreage in each field,
5. the location of roads
6. power and water lines and other obstructions,
7. the shape and slope of the field

Methods of Irrigation

Merits & Demerits of Irrigation | Irrigation Types with Neat Sketches | Irrigation

Questions/Answers

Under gravity irrigation, water is distributed by means of open canals and

conducts with out pressure. Gravity irrigation methods are less expensive, but
requires more skill and experience to achieve rescannable efficiency. This
method also requires that the land to be irrigated should have a flatter slope,
other wise the cost of land leveling and preparation at times be come very high.
Gravity irrigation method. Includes furrow, boarder, basin, wild- flooding and
corrugation.

Surface irrigation is defined as the group of application techniques

where water is applied and distributed over the soil surface by
gravity.
1. Furrow irrigation
2.
In this method of surface irrigation, water is applied to the field by furrow which
are small canales having a continuous our nearly uniform slope in the direction of
irrigation. Water flowing in the furrow into the soil spreads laterally to irrigate the
area between furrows.

The rate of lateral spread of water in the soil depends on soil type.i.e. For a given
time, water will infiltrate more vertically and less laterally in relatively sandy soils
than in clay soil.

Where the land grade is less than 1% in the direction of furrow, striate graded
furrows may be adapted. The grade can be as much as 2 to 3% depending on
the soil type and the rainfall intensity, which affects erosion. When field sloped is
too steep to align the furrows down the slope, control furrows which run along
curved routed may be used. Spacing of furrows depends on the crop type and
the type of machinery used for cultivation and planting.

Length of furrows depends largely on permeability of the soil, the available labor
and skill, and experiences of the irrigation.

Flow rates are related to the infiltration to the rate of the soil.

Longitudinal slope of furrow depends up on the soil type, especially its

errodiability and the velocity of flow. slope may be related to discharge as
follows.

slope % 0.25 0.5 0.75 1.0 1.5 2.0

Qmax ( m3/hr) 9.0 4.5 3.0 2.2 1.5 1.1

2. Boarder - strip Irrigation

The farms are divided into number of strips of 5 to 20 meters wide and 100 to
400 meters long. Parallel earth bunds or levees are provided in order to guide
the advancing sheet of water.

Recommended safe limits of longitudinal slope also depends on the soil texture:
 Sandy loam to sandy soils 0.25 - 0.6%

Medium loam soils 0.2 - 0.4%

Clay to clay loam soils 0.05 - 0.2%

3. Basin irrigation

Large stream of water is applied to almost level and smaller unit of fields which
are surrounded by levees or bunds. The applied water is retained in the basin
until it filtrates.

Soil type, stream size and irrigation depth are the important factors indeterming

the basin area.

 Method of irrigation Type of Crop suited
Border strip method Wheat, Leafy vegetables, Fodders
Furrow method Cotton, Sugarcane, Potatoes
Basin method Orchard trees
4. Wild flooding

Water is applied all over the field especially, before plowing for soil that can't be
plowed when dry.

Under closed conduit- there are two types of irrigation

1. Sprinkler
2. Drip irrigation

1. Sprinkler irrigation:

It is mostly used for young growth, to humid the atmosphere, for soil compaction(
specially for sandy loam soils before planting, for land having up and down slope
and used to wash out plant leaves especially in dusty area.

Sprinkler irrigation offers a means of irrigating areas which are so irregular that
they prevent use of any surface irrigation methods. By using a low supply rate,
deep percolation or surface runoff and erosion can be minimized. Offsetting
these advantages is the relatively high cost of the sprinkling equipment and the
permanent installations necessary to supply water to the sprinkler lines.

Very low delivery rates may also result in fairly high evaporation from the spray
and the wetted vegetation. It is impossible to get completely uniform distribution
of water around a sprinkler head and spacing of the heads must be planned to
overlap spray areas so that distribution is essentially uniform

Advantages

 Economical to labour & uniform distribution.

2. Drip irrigation

This is used especially where there is shortage of water and salt problem. The
drip method of irrigation, also called trickle irrigation. The method is one of the
most recent developments in irrigation. It involves slow and frequent application
of water to the plant root zone and enables the application of water and fertilizer
at optimum rates to the root system.

It minimizes the loss of water by deep percolation below the root zone or by
evaporation from the soil surface. Drip irrigation is not only economical in water
use but also gives higher yields with poor quality water.

Advantages

 No loss. of water because all water drops at root zone.

 No water logging and rise of water table at result salinity problems
caused by this irrigation type is almost nil.
 Uniform distribution of water.
 Good water management.
 Economical use of lobour.
Central pivote
machine