Irrigation of fields is one of the most important conditions for fertility. Providing plants with liquid affects the chemical processes that take place in them, air and temperature conditions, and soil functioning at the level of microbiology.
An event that addresses the delivery and uniform distribution of fluids on farmland exposed to drought under natural conditions is called agricultural irrigation. This definition allows us to understand the meaning and purpose of the described process in agricultural science.
Agricultural land irrigation methods
To deliver fluid to agricultural land use methods:
- sprinkling;
- surface irrigation;
- drip irrigation;
- subsoil irrigation.
Sprinkling
Sprinkling is a method of irrigation of land with the presence of plants in which the root system is shallow, provided by an automated method of distributing the liquid. It is accomplished by the method of artificial rain with established volumes of water. This method usually uses fertilizers that can dissolve in water, as well as disinfectants (substances suitable for killing pests). Sprinkling is classified, in turn, into:
- pulsed irrigation is the irrigation of land in small volumes,
- gentle irrigation;
- ensuring the moisture regime of the ground atmospheric layer.
This method is mainly used in areas with an unstable humid climate, in the presence of difficulties in the relief, as well as in high standing groundwater.
Drip irrigation
The next way is drip irrigation. This is watering, which allows the liquid to penetrate deep enough into the soil, and fertilizer to the root system of plants. Provides the set frequency of watering. The positive side of the described process is the nutrition of the rhizosphere. The flow of fluid, energy and fertilizer is about two to five times less than with a commonly used irrigation process. In this case, the water supply of any culture is carried out by an environmentally friendly and harmless method. It is used in the presence of complex terrain, where insufficient aquabalance is determined, where there is an extremely high permeability.
This method is popular in the production of irrigation processes in vineyards, berries, vegetables and orchards with fruit trees.
Subsoil irrigation
Intrasoil irrigation is a method of flooding the root system of plants. Water supply of plants is carried out by special subsoil moisturizers, this creates favorable conditions for the constant supply of roots with liquid, or nutrients necessary for plants. The advantages of this technique are:
- This is a fully mechanized method;
- creation and subsequent maintenance of soil friability;
- effective water supply;
- supplying the root system with all the nutrients required for normal growth.
Such irrigation is used in the area where the soil has a large capillary conductivity, there is no close standing of mineral groundwater. Thus, subsoil irrigation of fields is a wonderful way out for farmland, but it requires some investment.
Surface irrigation
Surface irrigation is a process in which fluid is concentrated above the surface of the earth. This watering method is classified into the following subspecies:
- with a large volume of water (flooding);
- by grooves;
- using a special bubbler nozzle;
- using a small volume of water (or micro-irrigation). This watering is the most economical one available.
When planning an irrigation system, it should be foreseen that infrequent and small irrigation volumes of water are ineffective and do not provide sufficient soil moisture. The lack of fluid in the soil creates an imbalance in the molecular tension of water, leading to insufficient hydrobalance, and this, in turn, will lead to the death of the flora. The best hydration can be achieved with a competent approach to planning the irrigation system. To achieve the correct water supply regime, it is necessary to take into account the structure of the soil, its permeable index, chemical composition, thermal index and aeration.
Farmland Irrigation: Regime
To create favorable moistening of the earth during the growing season, that is, at the end of hibernation, a special irrigation regime is determined, that is, a combination of indicators: the amount, timing and volume of liquid. It should create in the soil the hydrobalance necessary for the corresponding culture in specific climatic conditions and for economic purposes. This process requires strict compliance with the requirements of agricultural activities.
The irrigation regime of any culture in certain agroclimatic conditions must comply with the following requirements:
- The water demand of plants at a certain period of their development, and in relation to fruit crops, is also to obtain high productivity with a certain agricultural technique with the addition of fertilizers in certain periods.
- The implementation of precise regulation of water, nutrient, salt and temperature conditions of the soil.
- Increased soil fertility, the inadmissibility of erosion, excessive flooding, that is, waterlogging and salinization of land.
- The correct organization of labor, which creates an increase in its productivity through the use of modern automated methods.
- Consideration of changes in climatic, economic and agrotechnical conditions to exclude significant fluctuations over the years and individual seasons in them.
Therefore, to determine the irrigation regime of a particular crop, it is necessary to know the total amount of irrigation water that plants need during the growing season under the proposed (or used) agricultural technique and environmental conditions. This volume of water can be determined by analyzing climatic, soil, and some other conditions.
The impact of irrigation on subsoil processes
The transition from non-irrigated to irrigated field cultivation creates a profound effect on soil formation in the form of transformations of the soil physical state, its salt composition, temperature characteristics and aeration, chemical and bacterial intra-soil processes, the rate of accumulation and decay of soil organic matter.
Irrigation of the soil is a mechanism that has a positive effect on the physical composition of the soil, leads to a decrease in its resistance during plowing, and provides it with physical ripeness. In the process of processing such soil lends itself more quickly to the process of crumbling and loosening.
Irrigation water brings a certain volume of silt particles in an agitated state, which settle on the surface of the fields as fertile sediments. After a sufficiently long period, this irrigation layer reaches a solid level. Thus, a new soil is formed.
Irrigation provides the best conditions for subsoil microorganisms. Under the conditions of the necessary soil moisture regime, microbiological processes (nitrification) are activated. Irrigation has a huge impact on nodule bacteria, which do not form in dry areas on the surface of legumes.