Irrigation Practices 2

Soil furnishes the following for the plant life:

1. To supply water partially or totally for crop need
2. To cool both the soil and the plant
3. Provides water for its transpiration.
4. Dissolves minerals for its nutrition.
5. Provides Oxygen for its metabolism.
6. Serves as anchor for its roots.
7. To enhance fertilizer application- fertigation
8. To Leach Excess Salts
9. To improve Groundwater storage
10. To Facilitate continuous cropping

Preparation of Land for Irrigation

1. The uncultivated land should be properly prepared, before irrigation water is applied
upon it.
2. Removal of thick jungle, bushes etc., from the raw land. The roots of the trees should be
extracted and burnt. The land should thereafter be properly cleaned.
3. The land should be made level. High patches should be scraped and depression ()
filled. Unless this is done, water will fill the depression and duty may be too high.
4. The land should be provided with regular slope in the direction of falling gradient.
5. The land should be divided into suitable plots by small levees () according to the
method of irrigation to be practiced.
6. Permanent supply ditches ( ) and water courses should be excavated at
regular spacing which facilitate proper distribution of the water to the entire field.
7. A drain ditch which carries the waste water should also be excavated. .
8. Proper drainage measures should be adopted where the danger of water logging may
become eminent after the introduction of canal irrigation

Crop Period or Base Period

The time period that elapses from the instant of its sowing to the instant of its harvesting is
called the crop-period.
The time between the first watering of a crop at the time of its sowing to its last watering
before harvesting is called the Base period.
Crop period is slightly more than the base period, but for all practical purposes, they are taken
as one and the same thing, and generally expressed in B days.

Kor depth and kor period

The distribution of water during the base period is not uniform, since crops require maximum
water during first watering after the crops have grown a few centimeters.
During the subsequent watering the quantity of water needed by crops gradually decreases and
is least when crop gains maturity.
The first watering is known as kor watering, and the depth applied is known as kor depth.
The portion of the base period in which kor watering is needed is known as kor period.
While designing the capacity of a channel, kor water must be taken into account since discharge
in the canal has to be maximum during this time.

Evapotranspiration (ET)
Evapotranspiration denotes the quantity of water transpired by plants during their growth, or
retained in the plant tissue, plus the moisture evaporated from the surface of the soil and the
vegetation.

Factors Affecting Evapotranspiration

Weather

Solar radiation

Air temperature

Relative humidity

Wind speed

Crop characteristics

Crop type and variety

Height, roughness, ground cover, rooting characteristics

Stage of development

Management

Irrigation method

Irrigation management

Cultivation practices

Fertility management

Disease and pest control

Environmental conditions

Soil type, texture, water-holding capacity

Soil salinity

Soil depth and layering

Poor soil fertility

Exposure/sheltering

DETERMINATION OF IRRIGATION REQUIREMENTS OF CROP

In order to determine the irrigation requirements of a certain crop, during its base period, one
should be acquainted with the following terms.
1. Effective Rainfall (Re): is part of the precipitation falling during the precipitation period
of the crop, that is available to meet the evapotranspiration needs of the crop.
2. Consumptive Irrigation Requirements (CIR): is the amount of irrigation water that is
required to meet the evapotranspiration needs of the crop (Cu) during its full growth.
CIR = Cu - Re
3. Net Irrigation Requirement (NIR): is the amount of irrigation water required at the plot
to meet the evapotranspiration needs of water as well as other needs such as leaching
etc. Thus
NIR = Cu Re + water lost in deep percolation for the purposes of leaching

4. Field Irrigation Requirement (FIR): is the amount of irrigation water required to meet
the net irrigation requirements plus the water lost at the field (i.e in percolation in the
field water courses, field channels and field application of water). If a is water
application efficiency:
i. FIR = NIR / a
5. Gross Irrigation Requirement (GIR): is the sum of water required to satisfy the field
irrigation requirement and the water lost as conveyance losses in distrbutaries up to the
field. If c is the water conveyance efficiency, then
GIR = FIR / c

Exercise
Effective rainfall is 0.8 cm. Consumptive use of water for rice is 4.7 in November. Assume 0.08
leaching losses in the field. Assuming water application efficiency and conveyance efficiency is
to be 0.8 and 0.85 for the particular month, calculate the CIR, NIR, FIR and GIR.
Consumptive Irrigation Requirements (CIR)
Net Irrigation Requirement (NIR)
Field Irrigation Requirement (FIR)
Gross Irrigation Requirement (GIR)