INFLUENCE OF LAND LEVELING PRECISION ON LEVEL-BASIN ADVANCE AND PERFORMANCE

Authors: FANGMEIER, D - UNIVERSITY OF AZ, TUCSON; Clemmens, Albert; EL-ANSARY, M - ZAGAZIG UNIVERSITY, EGYPT; OSMAN, H - AG ENG RES INST, EGYPT

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASAE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Surface irrigation systems are often criticized for being inefficient in their use of water. Flood irrigation, where an area of land is simply flooded with water, has been used since the beginning of recorded history. Modern level-basin irrigation where the land is graded with laser- controlled equipment is a more advanced method of flood irrigation. These level-basin surface irrigation systems can be highly efficient often rivaling pressurized irrigation methods such as sprinkler and micro or drip irrigation. However, the performance of these level basins is very dependent upon the precision of the field surface, that is, how level it is. In this paper, a study was conducted to determine the relationship between the degree of land-grading precision and the irrigation performance (efficiency and uniformity). These results can also be used to determine how often to regrade fields, since the field levelness deteriorates from farming operations. These relationships will be useful to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, agricultural consultants, farmers, and land-grading contractors.

Technical Abstract: The effect of land leveling precision on irrigation advance, application efficiency, and distribution uniformity in level basins was studied using statistical and computer models. For a typical Egyptian field, efficiency and uniformity decreased substantially when the standard deviations of the soil surface elevations were greater than 20 mm.