13-10-2014, 01:40 PM
Abstracts: The present study is aimed investigating the soil moisture movement and irrigation water distribution pattern, i.e. lateral and vertical under sprinkler irrigation system in clay loam soil. The design of sprinkler irrigation system, discharge measurement, relationship between pressure head and discharge, soil type, specific gravity of soil and evaluation of sprinkler irrigation system are also carried out. The relationship between pressure and discharge is determined, which comes out to be non-linear. Minimum and maximum discharges are 2890 lph and 5162 lph observed at pressures 0.50 and 0.92 kg/cm2 respectively. Soil type is clay loam and specific gravity is determined as 2.60. Christensen’s uniformity co-efficient and distribution uniformity are 57.81 % and 46.60 %, which is less than the desirable 85%, hence this type of system can be used for low value crops. Under the sprinkler irrigation, the accumulation of maximum moisture content in the soil profile are found 13.72 % for pre 10 min duration at depth of 60 cm, 12.94 % for 10 min duration at depth of 60 cm, 26.30 % for 20 min duration at depth of 40 cm, 25.70 % for 30 min duration at depth of 15 cm, 21.43 % for 1 hr duration at depth of 15 cm, 24.02 % for 1 hr 30 min duration at depth of 15 cm and 27.42 % for 2 hr duration at depth of 40 cm. Maximum soil moisture concentration is found at the upper most layer of the soil i.e. 15 cm and 40 cm.