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A span of a center pivot retrofitted with mobile drip irrigation at the Kansas State University Southwest Research and Extension Center near Garden City Kansas
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Precision mobile drip irrigation (MDI) describes the application of water through surface drip irrigation lines that are dragged by center pivot or linear move. MDI has the potential to greatly reduce water losses due to wind drift, soil water evaporation, and canopy evaporation. Two studies were conducted with the following objectives: (1) compare...
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Citations
... Evaporation is minimized with drip irrigation. For example, soil evaporation in a Kansas cornfield was 35% lower with MDI than LESA (Kisekka et al. 2017). ...
In the Scott and Shasta rivers of Northern California, agricultural irrigation consumes the majority of river water flow during the summer. To protect culturally and economically important salmon populations during a severe drought, California’s State Water Board issued emergency regulations intended to reduce agricultural surface water diversions and groundwater pumping in 2021 and 2022. I used remote sensing data and streamflow gage data to assess the hydrologic effects of these curtailments. Conditions in agricultural fields in 2021–2022 were compared with previous years, evaluating the magnitude and seasonal timing of: 1) evapotranspiration (ET)(i.e., consumptive use) from OpenET, and 2) spectral indices of vegetation greenness including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. Fields were grouped according to irrigation sources (groundwater vs. surface water). In Shasta Valley, where most irrigation is obtained from surface water diversions that are regulated by a Watermaster, curtailments effectively reduced ET and river flows increased. In Scott Valley, where most irrigation is obtained from groundwater wells, curtailments did not reduce ET and river flows were not affected. A likely major reason for the lack of Scott River flow increases was that groundwater use was allowed to continue under Local Cooperative Solutions (LCS) agreements in which water users agreed to reduce pumping by 30% from a prior year baseline. Despite abundant worldwide evidence that reducing ET is key to increasing environmental water, all LCS cropping and irrigation practices were given equal weight toward the 30% reduction, regardless of the effects on ET. More importantly, groundwater pumping was not measured and compliance was primarily self-reported with limited independent verification, facilitating the potential for widespread non-compliance. These results illustrate opportunities for using remote sensing to evaluate the effectiveness of water management policies. Since these methods were based primarily on easy-to-use online tools (OpenET, Climate Engine, and Sentinel-Hub EO Browser), regulators and stakeholders can use these tools in future years to enhance compliance and inform development of improved policies.
... The MLs were manufactured from stainless steel rings with a height of 0.1 m and a diameter of 0.082 m (cross-sectional area of 0.00528 m 2 ). A layer of PVC insulation was used to minimize lateral heat flux between the soil inside and outside the MLs [41]. Sixteen MLs were installed at site S1, including four each in wetted and non-wetted areas between the rows and below the canopy, and twelve MLs were installed at site S2, including six between rows (non-wetted area) and six below the canopy (wetted areas). ...
A multi-layer surface energy balance model was previously developed to estimate crop transpiration (T) and soil evaporation (E) in orchards partially wet by micro-irrigation systems. The model, referred to as SEB-PW, estimates latent (λE), sensible (H), and soil heat fluxes (G) and separates actual evapotranspiration (ETa) into dry and wet soil E and crop T. The main goal of this work was to evaluate the ability of the SEB-PW model to estimate ETa and analyze the diurnal and seasonal dynamics of E and T in two hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) orchards irrigated by drip or micro-sprinkler systems. The assessment showed that simulated hourly ET was highly correlated with estimates from nearby weather stations and with measurements from micro-lysimeters (MLs). Hourly ET estimates were evaluated by root-mean-square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient (NSE), and the index of agreement (da), which equaled 58.6 W m−2, 35.6 W m−2, 0.85, and 0.94, respectively. Daily E estimates were also evaluated and equaled 0.27 mm day−1, 0.21 mm day−1, 0.87, and 0.94, respectively, and obtained a coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.85 when compared to the measurements from the MLs. Within a day of irrigation, E accounted for 28 and 46% of ET. In accordance with the obtained results, the proposed SEB-PW model improves estimates of soil E by allowing the wetted and non-wetted areas to be estimated separately, which could be useful for optimizing irrigation methods and practices in hazelnut orchards.
... A more recent innovation, mobile drip irrigation (MDI) is a gaining popularity by combining the efficiency of sub-surface drip irrigation (SDI) [29] with the versatility of center pivot systems together in a unit [30]. Compared to in-canopy spray nozzles, MDI systems have 35% lower soil evaporation [31] due to a smaller wetted perimeter associated with MDI. In the Texas High Plains, SDI compared to mid-canopy spray systems reduced corn water use by 17-18% while increasing yield by 0-20%, primarily by reducing early season evaporation [32]. ...
The Ogallala Aquifer underlies 45 million ha, providing water for approximately 1.9 million people and supporting the robust agriculture economy of the US Great Plains region. The Ogallala Aquifer has experienced severe depletion, particularly in the Southern Plains states. This paper presents policy innovations that promote adoption of irrigation technology, and management innovations. Innovation in Kansas water policy has had the dual effects of increasing the authority of the state to regulate water while also providing more flexibility and increasing local input to water management and regulation. Technology innovations have focused on improved timing and placement of water. Management innovations include soil water monitoring, irrigation scheduling, soil health management and drought-tolerant varieties, crops, and cropping systems. The most noted success has been in the collective action which implemented a Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA), which demonstrated that reduced water pumping resulted in low to no groundwater depletion while maintaining net income. Even more encouraging is the fact that irrigators who have participated in the LEMA or other conservation programs have conserved even more water than their goals. Innovative policy along with creative local–state–federal and private–public partnerships are advancing irrigation technology and management. Flexibility through multi-year allocations, banking of water not used in a given year, and shifting water across multiple water rights or uses on a farm are promising avenues to engage irrigators toward more sustainable irrigation in the Ogallala region.
... Micro-irrigation has proved to be a useful water-saving approach for over 30 years, 1-3 which can be applied in a greenhouse or at a field scale. 4,5 Micro-irrigation has been shown to increase plant yield and water use efficiency (WUE) in crown daisy, 4 cabbage 6 and tomato. 7 Further greenhouse water conservation gains can be enhanced by focusing on crop traits that promote WUE. ...
BACKGROUND
Water is critical to the production of crops, especially when faced with seasonal drought or freshwater scarcity. We compared the effect of negative pressure irrigation (NPI) on water use efficiency (WUE), nutrient uptake, yield and quality of Brassica chinensis L. using a greenhouse plot experiment. Three different water supply pressures (−5, −10 and −15 kPa), and a conventional irrigation (CK) treatment, were arranged in a randomized design with three replications.
RESULTS
Our results suggest that plant height, leaf area, number of leaves and ratio of root to shoot were significantly correlated with water supply pressure. Specifically, our results show that B. chinensis L. yield was increased 50% with NPI versus CK. Water supply pressure had a significant effect on N and P nutrient uptake and no significant effect on K. The average concentration of vitamin C was greatest with −5 kPa treatment and consecutively declined. According to our results, NPI can save up to 36.8% of water used and improve WUE by 61.3% during growth of B. chinensis L. Our results suggest that the optimum irrigation management strategy is −5 kPa treatment.
CONCLUSION
NPI versus CK can provide more stable irrigation water and retain soil moisture during plant growth, resulting in an increased WUE and yield with suitable water supply pressure. While our results suggest that NPI can enhance B. chinensis L. yield and perhaps also quality, future research should explore the mechanism of NPI in relation to yield and water use efficiency. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.
... Specifically, the need to fuse GIS, remote sensing, and other temporal information with the DSS, allowing management zones to change over the growing season (Fontanet et al., 2020). Recent evaluations on impacts of using VRI on crop yield, water productivity were presented by Barker et al. (2019) and Kisekka et al. (2017), showing potential improvements when using VRI or MDI (mobile drip irrigation), but that additional research is strongly advocated especially because of the significant increased investments required. Another limitation to date of adoption of PI is that large-scale VRI systems require many sensors which can be cost-prohibitive, whereas determining their placement and number of sensors needed is not straightforward. ...
Approximately 1 billion ha of the global land surface is currently salt-affected, representing about 7% of the earth’s land surface. Whereas most of it results from natural geochemical processes, an estimated 30% of irrigated lands globally are salt-affected through secondary human-induced salinization. Application of lower quality, alternative irrigation water is further threatening expansion of the areal extent of soil salinity, in addition to climate change causing increases of salt-water intrusion in coastal areas and increasing crop water requirements. The reduced availability of freshwater resources for irrigation, the continued reduction of the world’s cultivated agricultural area by land degradation and urbanization, in conjunction with a growing world population further complicates the problem seeking sustainable solutions. This scoping review prioritizes critical knowledge gaps and makes recommendations for 10 priorities in soil salinity research toward a sustainable and productive agricultural system for a food-secure future world. Soil salinity knowledge gaps globally.
We also include basin-specific case studies that illustrate progress of the world’s major irrigated areas in addressing impacts of soil salinization. By identifying research priorities, we seek to accelerate enhanced research funding to bring new knowledge and innovative solutions toward mitigation of soil salinity impacts. We further want to inspire the science community to develop new directions in salinity research.
... Groundwater level decline of the High Plains Aquifer (HPA) underlying western Kansas has been extensively analyzed with most efforts focused on irrigation related to one of four domains: (1) physical (e.g., climatic and atmospheric factors and underlying geology; Edwards, 2016;MardanDoost et al., 2019;Whittemore et al., 2016), (2) agricultural (e.g., crop type, irrigation limits and management, cover crops, and irrigation efficiency; Butler et al., 2016;Kisekka et al., 2017;Pfeiffer & Lin, 2014), (3) socioeconomic (e.g., environmental policies, energy costs, irrigation efficiency, global markets, and crop prices; Hrozencik et al., 2017;Sanderson et al., 2017;Sukcharoen et al., 2020), or (4) an integrated approach among the first three categories (e.g., Haacker et al., 2019;Majumdar et al., 2020;Smidt et al., 2016). While these studies provide a comprehensive overview of the complexity of factors that drive irrigation use, little is known about the relationship between these factors across both space and time relative to irrigation pumping. ...
Groundwater levels across parts of western Kansas have been declining at unsustainable rates due to pumping for agricultural irrigation despite water‐saving efforts. Accelerating this decline is the complex agricultural landscape, consisting of both categorical (e.g., management boundaries) and numerical (e.g., crop prices) factors that drive irrigation decisions, making integrated water budget management a challenge. Furthermore, these factors frequently change through time, rendering management strategies outdated within relatively short time scales. This study uses boosted regression trees to simultaneously analyze categorical and numerical data against annual irrigation pumping to determine the relative influence of each factor on groundwater pumping across both space and time. In all, 45 key water use variables covering approximately 19,000 groundwater wells were tested against irrigation pumping from 2006 to 2016 across five categories: (1) management/policy, (2) hydrology, (3) weather, (4) land/agriculture, and (5) economics. Study results showed that variables from all five categories were included among the top 10 drivers to irrigation, and the greatest influence came from variables such as irrigated area per well, saturated thickness, soil permeability, summer precipitation, and pumping costs (depth to water table). Variables that had little influence included regional management boundaries and irrigation technology. The results of this study are further used to target the factors that statistically lead to the greatest volumes of groundwater pumping to help develop robust management strategy suggestions and achieve water management goals of the region.
... A relatively recent addition to center-pivot technology is mobile drip irrigation (MDI) (Kisekka et al. 2017;O'Shaughnessy and Colaizzi 2017;Oker et al. 2018Oker et al. , 2020Molaei et al. 2019). Compared to LESA, LEPA, and MESA, MDI can be categorized as a relatively new irrigation technology, and it is still not widely used by farmers despite its perceived potential as a means of increasing irrigation efficiency in center-pivot systems. ...
... Recent efforts to explore the concept have been bolstered by technological improvements such as the availability of pressure-compensating emitters. The hypothesis is that MDI is more efficient than conventional center-pivot irrigation technologies such as LESA, LEPA, LPIC and MESA, because it eliminates or reduces some water losses encountered with these technologies such as canopy interception and evaporation, runoff, and evaporation of ponded water (Kisekka et al. 2017;O'Shaughnessy and Colaizzi 2017). An MDI setup is shown in Fig. 1(a). ...
... The results of the study indicated that MDI is an effective irrigation method. This conclusion supports the results by Kisekka et al. (2017). Although variability in water content in the horizontal plane under MDI was several magnitudes higher than under LESA, the soil profile was still sufficiently wetted. ...
A study to assess soil water redistribution under mobile drip irrigation (MDI), low-energy precision application (LEPA), and low-elevation spray application (LESA) was conducted under a center-pivot irrigation system. Water application devices included MDI (MDI1 and
MDI2 flow rates of 3.7 and 7.6 L=h, respectively), LEPA bubbler, and LESA spray. Measured soil water content was used to calibrate HYDRUS (2D/3D) version 2.05.0270, which was then used to simulate water redistribution within the soil profile after irrigation by MDI, LESA, and LEPA. Results showed that for all the devices, the effect of irrigation was mostly limited to the top 60 cm of the soil profile 72 h after irrigation. MDI driplines and LEPA showed the highest lateral soil water redistribution. The mean soil water contents for MDI1, MDI2, LEPA, and LESA at a depth of 30 cm were 0.31, 0.31, 0.31, and 0.33 cm · cm−3 respectively; at a depth of 60 cm the corresponding values were 0.28, 0.28, 0.26, and 0.28 cm · cm−3, respectively. The interquartile range of soil water content at 30 cm for MDI1 and MDI2 was 0.04 cm · cm−3; the value for LEPA was 0.02 cm · cm−3. The results indicated greater nonuniformity under MDI than under LESA. The results also showed that the MDI water redistribution pattern was similar to that of LEPA, but horizontal uniformity was less than with LESA. MDI had 48% and 19% less runoff potential compared with LEPA and LESA, respectively. Although soil water redistribution uniformity under MDI was less than under LESA and LEPA, it enabled better infiltration and lessened runoff potential.
... To reduce evaporative losses and improve application uniformity, sprinkler systems, especially center pivots, have largely transitioned from sprinklers at high elevations (including on top of pivot) to mid-(~1.5 m [4.9 ft]) and low-elevation (0.5 m [1.6 ft]) systems. Most center pivots in the last two decades have utilized some form of mid-elevation spray application (MESA), but adoption of three more efficient pivot sprinkler technologies (low-elevation spray application [LESA], low-energy precision application [LEPA], and precision mobile drip irrigation [PMDI or MDI] systems; figure 2) is increasing as the industry, irrigators, and scientists have documented their benefits (Schneider et al. 2000;Peters et al. 2016;Kisekka et al. 2017). These advanced irrigation systems have been appealing because they can be installed on existing pivots at much lower investment costs than subsurface drip irrigation. ...
... A scientific and peer reviewed research study comparing center-pivot sprinkler irrigation to MDI in Germany found a 10-20% (Derbala, 2003), and 25% (Hezarjaribi, 2008) water saving by using MDI. Another study in Kansas comparing LESA with MDI showed that the soil evaporation component of evapotranspiration from MDI was 35% lower than the in-canopy LESA nozzles (Kisekka et al., 2016(Kisekka et al., , 2017. This is because MDI does not completely wet the entire surface of the soil. ...
... This greatly reduces frustrating problems with pivots becoming stuck in deep wheel tracks. In all research studies, MDI has resulted in significantly shallower and drier wheel track compared to the MESA, LESA and LEPA (Kisekka et al., 2016(Kisekka et al., , 2017Matt Yost, 2019;Oker et al., 2018;Swanson et al., 2016; USA., 2020). Figure 64. ...
Irrigation is essential for economical agriculture production in western semi-arid regions such as Utah. The effects of droughts and competition for water due to population growth will mean more effective use of agricultural water supplies will be needed in the future. This document examines the historic, current and upcoming irrigation technologies and practices applicable to the State of Utah. Irrigators in the State continue to make steady improvements towards adopting technologies that enable them to both improve water use efficiency and improve overall crop productivity while protecting the environment. Recent trends show an increase in sprinkler adoption from 53 to 56% between 2013 and 2018 and a subsequent reduction in surface (furrow) irrigation. While Utah’s adoption rate is below several western states, given the significant upfront costs associated with center pivot sprinkler systems (USDA NRCS estimate $75-80k resulting in a total annual operating cost of $144/acre), this 3% increase represents a considerable investment by the irrigation community.
Twelve strategies for reducing agriculture water demand were examined. As shown in the figure below, deficit irrigation with water spreading and conservation tillage are the only two options where irrigators would actually make money (negative costs). Each of the other ten options resulted in some additional costs to irrigators. Several low-cost options, such as Low Energy Precision Application (LEPA), ET-based irrigation scheduling, and mobile drip irrigation, have the potential to be adopted in water short areas. Financial incentives for implementing these strategies could be modest.
Knowledge is power and helping growers understand how to get the most out of their limited irrigation water can help them save water, save energy, and make more money for their families and communities. Continued support for irrigation management education and demonstration projects is essential to promote adoption of best management practices.
Finally, many irrigation systems have been designed by the growers or by someone who was not very knowledgeable or was inexperienced. These systems create uniformity and efficiency problems that can persist for 30-40 years. Over designed systems require growers to be better irrigation schedulers to avoid over irrigating. Under-designed irrigation systems are not able to meet crop water demands and result in yield losses. Growers should be encouraged to use certified irrigation designers (CID) who are certified through the irrigation association as someone who knows what they are doing and have education, experience, and continuing education requirements. Commissioning a study to find appropriate irrigation design capacities (gpm/acre) for different crops in different areas of the state will greatly aid these irrigation system designers to create appropriate irrigation systems to the crop and area.
... In this study, an application efficiency rate of 88 percent was used for analysis. As the application rate may exceed that of the rate of soil infiltration, low soil-water uniformity has been observed with the redistribution of applied water (Kisekka et al. 2017). MDI technology combines the high irrigation efficiency of SDI with more conventional center pivot technology. ...
... In theory, this process should reduce evaporation losses and possibly increase crop yields. Overall, this system has the potential to reduce water losses significantly due to reduced wind drift, soil water evaporation, and canopy evaporation due to the more direct application of water with the goal of capturing the efficiency of drip irrigation at a lower cost than some other micro-irrigation methods, particularly in lower-value crops (Kisekka et al. 2017). ...
... The MDI system contains weights on the lower end of the draglines which serve to provide consistent placement of the hoses as they move around the center pivot (Thom 2001). However, Olson and Rogers (2008), Kisekka et al. (2017), and O'Shaughnessy and Colaizzi (2017) all noted the potential problem of MDI hoses traveling into the crop; although in field trials, this damaged corn leaves but did not harm the ears. Reversing the pivot system can also be an issue with MDI, particularly on the outer regions of the pivot where hose length is longer. ...
As groundwater levels continue to decline in the Ogallala Aquifer, stakeholders, policymakers, and producers encourage the adoption of new irrigation technology in an effort to conserve groundwater, extend the economic life of the aquifer, and enhance profitability. One such technology currently receiving attention in the Central Ogallala region is the mobile drip irrigation (MDI) application system. This study compares MDI to low elevation spray application irrigation by evaluating the changes in variable cost per hectare to calculate the payback period for a MDI system under three levels of investment cost for grain and fiber crops representing three levels of water use while holding yield constant. Using a 3% discount rate, under the medium level of investment cost ($371 per hectare), a discounted payback period of 4.9, 9.0, and 6.3 years is required for corn, cotton, and sorghum/wheat, respectively. As the cost per hectare to convert an existing center pivot drops to $185 per hectare, the payback period also drops to 2.3, 4.2, and 3.0 years, respectively. Thus, producers growing higher water use crops are able to recover the costs of the conversion to MDI through increased water use efficiency quicker than producers growing medium and lower water use crops.
