Investigating the Effects of Fertigation on the Clogging and Uniformity Distribution of Emitters

Abstract

Emitter clogging is one of the drip irrigation systems’ main challenges, which the water quality plays a crucial role in this regard. So, in the current study, a suitable physical model for implementing fertigation in drip irrigation system was established. The hydraulic performances of three types of emitters (labeled type 1 to 3) having discharge rates of 4 L/hr were evaluated. For this purpose, the amounts of manufacturing variation coefficient, pressure-discharge relation, application uniformity and Christiansen's Uniformity Coefficient (UC) were determined. Additionally, some experiments were conducted for evaluating the emitter clogging in fertigation with different urea concentrations of 0, 50, 150 and 250 g/m3, during 480 hrs. It was revealed that the emitter type 3 had superior performances in comparison with two other emitters in most cases. Moreover, according to the obtained results, the percentage of emitter clogging was increased by increasing the time duration of the experiment and the concentration of urea. As a conclusion, the emitter type 3 was recommended for implementing fertigation in drip irrigation systems due to its high distribution uniformity and more resistance against clogging in comparison to others.

Keywords

• Drip irrigation,Emitter clogging,Fertigation,Hydraulic performance

References

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