SIGNIFICANCE

OF IRRIGATION
SHEDULING AND
TECHNIQUES

Rajat Mishra
Asst. Professor
Civil Engineering Department
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ABSTRACT
 Scheduling of irrigation to crops is essential for
efficient utilization of available water, saving of input
and enhancing yield.

 It is prime process decides two important questions in

irrigation, ‘when to irrigate?’, ‘how much to irrigate?’.

 Soil indicators such as gravimetric method, feel and

appearance method, tensiometer method, electrical
resistance method and water budget technique; plant
indicators like appearance and growth, leaf water
potential and stomatal resistance techniques;
meteorological indicators viz., evapotranspiration of
the crop and IW/CPE approach, besides combination
approach decides when to irrigate?.

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ABSTRACT
 The quantity of irrigation water to be applied (how
much to irrigate?) at each irrigation depends upon the
amount of available moisture in the soil (at effective
root depth).

 This means Predicting when to Irrigate and how much

to Irrigate For efficient water use on the farm, the
farmer needs to be able to predict when his crops
need irrigation. This can be done by:

• Observing the plants;

• Keeping a Water Balance Sheet

• By Measuring the Soil Moisture Content or

• Computer Software 
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INTRODUCTION

 Scheduling of irrigation is a process to decide ‘when to

irrigate’ and ‘how much to irrigate’ to the crops.

 Proper scheduling is essential for efficient use of

irrigation water, inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, labour
etc.

 Appropriate scheduling of irrigation not only saves

water, but also, saves energy besides, higher crop
yield.

 Farmers are generally irrigating their crops on either

time interval basis (say weekly interval, ten days
interval) or based on the appearance of the crops
(based on wilting symptoms).
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INTRODUCTION
 There are several soil, plant and atmospheric
(meteorological) indicators in addition to combination
approach, critical stage approach etc. to decide when
to irrigate? the crop.

 Similarly, based on the moisture content in the effective

root zone quantity of irrigation water (how much to
irrigate?) to crops is decided.

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There are two situations farmers are frequently faced:

 Where adequate water is available, farmer aims is to produce

maximum yield per unit of land and unit of water.

 Here, he has to provide optimum irrigation schedules, with

time-sequence for number of irrigations and quantity of each
irrigation, for ensuring optimum crop yield with high water-
use efficiency.

 Where a limited quantity of water is available, he aims to

produce maximum yield per unit of water.

 In this case, information is to be provided for rationalizing the

limited water distribution over the available land, applying
water at moisture sensitive stage of crop growth and
withholding irrigation at other stages.

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I. WHEN TO IRRIGATE
 Crops vary with their soil moisture requirement for
maximum yields and quality of produce.

 Most plants are efficient in absorbing water from soil,

if the soil moisture level is nearing at field capacity (-
0.33 bar).

 As the soil moisture level drops from field capacity due

to evapotranspiration and other losses, soil moisture
tension naturally increase and eventually crops can’t
extract needed moisture from soil for their optimum
growth.

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I. WHEN TO IRRIGATE
 Crops start to wilt and growth is first retarded and then
completely stops.

 When the moisture level is restored again by addition

of irrigation water or rain, some crops regain their
growth and show little or no permanent damage.

 Other crops, however, are permanently damaged.

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II. HOW MUCH TO IRRIGATE

 The quantity of irrigation water to be applied to the soil

at each irrigation depends upon the amount of
available moisture in the soil (specifically at effective
root depth i.e. moisture extraction depth of the roots),
at the time of starting irrigation (or the level of available
moisture depletion from filed capacity) at which
irrigation is proposed.

 The effective rainfall expected in the period between

this irrigation and the next one and the additional
quantity of irrigation water required if salts are to be
leached beyond root zone and the application losses.

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II. HOW MUCH TO IRRIGATE

 The basic principle is mainly to give irrigation to bring

the soil (at effective root zone depth of crops) to field
capacity.

 More often, allowance is given for expected effective

precipitation to be stored in the soil.

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IRRIGATION EFFICIENCIES
These irrigation efficiencies are brought
about by the desire not to waste irrigation
water, no matter how cheap or abundant it
is.

The objective of irrigation efficiency concept

is to determine whether improvements can
be made in both the irrigation system and
the management of the operation
programmes, which will lead to an efficient
irrigation water use.
 Application Efficiency
Ea is inadequate in describing the overall quantity of water
since it does not indicate the actual uniformity of irrigation,
the amount of deep percolation or the magnitude of
under-irrigation. See diagrams in text.
 
Water in root zone after irrigation
Ea 
Total volume of water applied

Total vol.of water applied  (Vol .of Tailwater  Vol .of deep percolatio n)
Total water applied
 Water Conveyance Efficiency
Water delivered to the Farm (Wd )
Ec 
Water of water diverted from a stream, reservoir or well (Ws )

Farm

Wd
Water lost by evap
And seepage Ws
Stream
Water Storage Efficiency (Es)
Volume of water in the root zone after irrigation
Es 
Volume of water needed in root zone to avoid total water moisture depletion

Irrigation Efficiency

ET  Wl  Re  Ws Net Irrigation

Ei ( Steady state)  
Wi Water diverted

ET is Evapotranspiration;
Wl is Leaching Requirement;
Re is Effective Precipitation;
Ws is change in storage;
Wi is water diverted, stored or pumped for irrigation.
Thank You