Performance of Basin and Bubbler Irrigation Systems under River Nile State Conditions

Abstract

This study was conducted in the Jordanian Bashair project,
River Nile State, during two seasons (2007 and 2008) to evaluate the
performance of irrigation systems applying different amounts of irrigation
water. The treatments were surface irrigation method (basin irrigation
system) and localized irrigation system with two types of distributors:
locally made bubblers and imported bubblers. The irrigation water
amounts were given as percentages (50%, 75% and 100%) of date palm
watering requirement (ETc). ETc was obtained from the means of the
previous thirty years, using CROPWAT4 WINDOWS. The performance
of the irrigation system was evaluated with reference to the application
and storage efficiencies and distribution uniformity. The experiment was
organized in a split plot design with three replicates. The irrigation
systems showed negative effect on distribution uniformity and positive
effect on application and storage efficiencies. The locally made and
imported bubblers revealed highly significant (P ≤0.01) differences with
application and storage efficiencies, while there was no significant
difference between them. The 50% ETc recorded high significant values
of application efficiency, but less values of storage efficiency and
distribution uniformity. Interaction of the irrigation systems and amounts
of water showed positive effect, whereas locally made bubblers showed
higher values of application and storage efficiencies with 50% and 100%
ETc, respectively. On the other hand, the basin irrigation system gave
highest values of distribution uniformity with 75% and 100% ETc .Hence,
it was concluded that using bubbler irrigation system would give high
irrigation efficiency, thus saving water for other agricultural activities.