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International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 165
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System By
Using Irripro Software
1Imran Arshad ; 2Muhammed Muneer Babar ; 3Muhammed Irfan ; 4Paolo Savona; 5Wajiha Ali &
6Omair Farooqui
1Agriculture Engineer, Abu Dhabi Farmers’ Services Centre (ADFSC), Abu Dhabi – Western Region,
UAE.
2Professor, Institute of Water Resources Engineering and Management (IWREM), Mehran University
of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Sindh – Pakistan.
3Agriculture Engineer, Barari Forest Management, Abu Dhabi – Western Region (Ghayathi),
UAE.
4Managing Director, Irriworks LTD. Incubatore d’imprese Arca. Viale delle Scienze Edificio
16, 90128 Palermo, Italy. (www.irriworks.com)
5Horticulturist, Agriculture Department, SGS Pakistan Pvt. Ltd, Karachi, Sindh – Pakistan.
6Horticulturist, Agriculture Department, SGS Pakistan Pvt. Ltd, Karachi, Sindh – Pakistan.
1Corresponding author’s e-mail: engr_imran1985@yahoo.com
Abstract
The Indus plain soils are seriously affected
by high watertable and salinity. In addition
to this shortage of canal water is one of the
major limitations. As the supplies of good
water quality are declining day by day it is
therefore, necessary to find the methods to
improve water use efficiency in agriculture.
These problems can be minimized with
judicious use of water. The drip irrigation is
one of the most efficient irrigation methods
that are used in agriculture. With drip
irrigation field application losses can be
checked and rise in watertable can be
controlled properly. The present research
work has been conducted in an arid region
of Gharo, Sindh Pakistan for Chickoo
(Sapodilla) orchard. By using the existing
conditions of the farm a proposed trickle /
drip irrigation system was manually
designed and counter checked by IrriPro
software to analyze the reliability, efficiency,
dependability and harmony of the proposed
drip irrigation system and the software
accordingly.
The comparative study revealed that the
proposed drip irrigation achieved high
uniformity coefficients (WU) and (Keller e
Karmeli) i.e. 99.971% and 99.835%
respectively. The average simulated emitter
flowrate and pressure for the proposed
irrigation system was found to be 5.283 gph
and 14.174 psi respectively. The simulated
results describes that the proposed irrigation
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 166
system was designed on the basis of proper
scaling and dimensions. Thus, the design of
the proposed drip irrigation network was
found to be acceptable. The uncertainty in
results was found less than 10% which
indicates its accuracy. The values of
irrigation uniformities and flowrate are
within range and by keeping very low the
computational time. Hence, it can be
concluded that IrriPro is a very helpful tool
for water resource engineers to use it in
testing and analyzing any alternative design
hydraulically and economically.
Keywords:
Design parameters; Gharo Model Farm;
emitters; drip irrigation; uniformity
coefficient; IRRIPRO Software
INTRODUCTION
The problems of waterlogging and salinity
are wide spread in arid and semi-arid areas
of the Pakistan. The Indus Plain soils are
seriously affected by high watertables and
salinity. Pakistan is no exception to these
problems. The major cause to the occurrence
of these problems is attributed to the seepage
of water from earthen leaky canals and
watercourses in addition to field application
losses. Moreover, the arid and semi-arid
climatic conditions provide ideal conditions
to development of salinity problem (PWP,
1999). Vast areas of fertile lands are falling
victim to the problems of waterlogging and
salinity at alarming rates. These problems
can be minimized with judicious use of
water. In flood and furrow irrigation
methods percolation losses cause addition to
groundwater and rise in watertable.
Therefore, water management practices
through innovative irrigation techniques can
prevent the problems of waterlogging and
salinity in the root zone. With drip / trickle
irrigation field application losses can be
checked and rise in watertable can be
controlled properly.
It is imperative to make use of available
water resources efficiently by controlling
conveyance and field losses. One of the
alternate methods to control field losses and
increase water productivity at the farm is to
replace the traditional flood irrigation with
the high efficiency irrigation (HEI) method.
The HEI method includes the use of
sprinkler and drip irrigation methods.
Although, these systems are expensive, but
their adoption has become imperative to
meet the increasing demand of irrigation
water. Drip / trickle irrigation is an irrigation
method that applies water slowly to the roots
of plants, by depositing the water either on
the soil surface or directly to the root zone,
through a network of valves, pipes, tubing,
and emitters. The goal is to minimize water
usage. Drip irrigation may also use devices
called micro-spray heads, which spray water
in a small area, instead of emitters. These are
generally used on tree and vine crops (Rareş,
2009). The main line conveys water to the
sub-mains and they carry water into the
laterals. Irrigation is accomplished by
emitters or drippers made up of small
diameter polyethylene tubes installed in the
lateral lines at selected spacing near the
plants (Bhatnagar and Srivastava, 2003). It is
becoming more widely used for row crop
irrigation especially in areas where water
supplies are limited. This allows favorable
conditions for soil moisture in the root zone
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 167
and optimal development of plant (Rareş,
2009).
A well designed drip irrigation system can
increase the crop yield accordingly to the
farmers desired needs. Although trickle
irrigation systems have reached a level that
farmers are adopting them yet their
performances under field condition has to be
tested and standardized. By keeping in view
these facts the present study in the agro-
ecological conditions of Gharo Sindh,
Pakistan was thus designed to check the
effectivity of the proposed trickle irrigation
system for Chickoo (Sapodilla) orchards by
using a sophisticated Irrigation System
Planning and Designing Software i.e. IrriPro
Software.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this research work is to
evaluate the performance of the proposed
trickle irrigation system for Chickoo
(Sapodilla) orchards by using IrriPro
Simulations.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Location and Size of the Study Area
The study was undertaken in the month of
October, 2012 at a private farmhouse located
at south-east of Gharo, Sindh – Pakistan.
This farm is located 65 KM away from
Karachi on National Highway (Karachi -
Hyderabad). The model farm was in
developing stage therefore the subject study
was only conducted for Chickoo patch which
comprises of 3.12 acres and the remaining
portion of the farm is fallow.
Background and Topographic Conditions
of the Study Area
The subject farm was facing a serious
problem of water scarcity as there was no
canal water available the only source for
irrigation was groundwater. During initial
survey it had been observed that the
topographic condition of the farmhouse is
varying due to uneven slopes. The soil
condition is somehow acceptable and good
for Chickoo plants but due to less water
retention in the soil, uneven slopes, and poor
land leveling some plants are suffering very
much. A lot of extra grass and weeds were
grown throughout the land. And due to
nutrients deficiency in the soil and plants
Chickoo fruits are either dropping or giving
small size fruits. Fig: 1(a) and Fig: 1(b)
describes the topographic conditions of the
farm.
Fig 1 (a) Front View of Chickoo Patch
Fig 1 (b) Extra Grass and weeds grown on land
The visual look of water is up to the mark
but the taste of water is slightly saline. The
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 168
water samples had been collected for the
conductance of different water tests. It had
also been observed that the region where the
outlet of the bore pump is given (head of
main irrigation channel) is having some salts
on the top soil which indicates that the water
is slightly saline. The samples of the soil
were collected from three different zones at 6
inch and 12 inch depth for different
laboratory tests purposes on composite basis.
On the discussion with farmhouse staff it had
been noticed that there is no proper pest
control and fertilizing schedule followed by
the staff. All the farm operational work in the
land is going on manually. As the soil is
sandy the organic matter in the soil is very
much less due to excessive leaching. The
results of the soil and water samples are
given in table 1 and table 2 respectively.
Table – 1: Analysis Results of Soil (at 6 and 12 inch depth on composite basis)
S No.
Parameters
Test Results
Sample 01
(Normal Zone)
Sample 02
(Saline Zone)
1
pH at 25o C
9.84
8.07
2
EC
0.192 ds/m
1.8175 ds/m
3
Nitrogen
83.3 kg/ha
107.76 kg/ha
4
Phosphorus
30.75 kg/ha
54.234 kg/ha
5
Potassium
355.5 kg/ha
983.25 kg/ha
6
SAR
0.422
1.41
Table – 2: Analysis Results of Water
S No.
Parameters
Test Results
1
pH at 25o C
7.55
2
EC
3.85 ds/m
3
SAR
7.97
4
CaCO3 Hardness
852.90 mg/l
5
HCO3
300.17 mg/l
6
TDS
2636.00 mg/lit
On the basis of results obtained it had been
decided by the experts and owner that by
using the available resources in the model
farm the rehabilitation of the model farm
should to be done accordingly. The
operations including irrigation, pest and
fertilizer applications should be properly
followed; delaying and inappropriate doses
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 169
will be useless. Therefore, execution for
rehabilitation of the orchard was started in
the month of December 2012 in order to save
water and get maximum yield.
Cultural Practices during Execution of
Agricultural Work
Initially weed and extra grass removal
operation on Chickoo Patch had been started.
Tractor with cultivator implement had been
used for the weed and extra grass removal
operation. The average depth of cultivator
was about 1 – 1.5 ft and the weeds and extra
grass removal work had been completed in
total 4 operations on each patches. After the
completion of operation the grass and weeds
left on the land for natural sun drying. Fig:
1(c) – 1(j) describes the overall farming
operations during rehabilitation of the model
farm for Chickoo orchard.
Fig 1 (c) Weeds Removal
Fig 1 (d) Extra Grass Removal
Two days later the weeds and extra grass were
fully sun dried and had been cleaned (hand-
picked) manually by labor. After the cleaning
operation land was leveled by a tractor with rear
blade throughout the Chickoo patches. After the
completion of land leveling, water channeling
operation had been done by the help of tractor
with channel maker implement and basins of
plants has been made manually by local labor
accordingly. At this point the land preparation
work has been completed.
Fig 1 (e) Rough Leveling with Rear Blade
Fig 1 (f) Rough Leveling with Rear Blade
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 170
Fig 1 (g) Water Channeling Operation
Fig 1 (h) Water Channeling Operation
After the completion of all farming
operations it had been observed that due to
cultural practices and land leveling operation
a uniform look among plantation had been
developed. It had also been observed as there
is no canal water available and soil is slightly
saline therefore, care should always be taken
keep pH in control limits. On focusing the
current scenario it has been fixed that water
application to the plants must be quick and
uniform that is why water channel in these
patches was designed accordingly.
Fig 1 (g) Before Rehabilitation
Fig 1 (h) After Rehabilitation
Due to proper water channeling development
time to fill the irrigation water in to the
basins also decreased up to some extent. As
the extra grass grown on the Chickoo
patches belongs to self growing grass family
therefore we cannot completely remove it
and cultural practices must be continued to
overcome the grass growth.
Need of Modern Technology (Drip /
Trickle Irrigation Method)
After a huge investment and delay still the
results are varying especially in yield, fruit
size, irrigation and fertigation issues. The
orchard design needs some improvement in
order to give a good profit to the farmer and
for this advance technology say drip / trickle
irrigation system is required. The owner of
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 171
the farm had spend a lot of expanses on land
leveling and water channeling in order to
provide the Chickoo trees a good amount of
water but still due to high infiltration rate this
problem is still the same. It is, therefore,
necessary to find the method to improve
water use efficiency in the subject farm.
Drip irrigation method is capable to save
handsome amount of water over the current
irrigation method for growing Chickoo. As in
drip irrigation, water application is restricted
to the plant root zone and surrounding area
remains dry, accordingly. Moreover, in drip
irrigation, salts did not accumulate at
dripping point or within wetted zone. On the
basis of above discussed facts the proposed
trickle irrigation system for Chickoo
(Sapodilla) orchard was designed and it had
been counter checked by IrriPro software in
order to idealize the authenticity and
harmony of the proposed drip irrigation
design and planning.
Proposed Orchard Size and Layout
Design of Trickle Irrigation System
The proposed trickle irrigation System was
designed on a 3.12 acres for Chickoo farm as
shown in Fig: 1(i). The system consists of 1
mainline having length 203ft and 1 submain
line having length 660ft. 34 laterals (68
branches) having 6 emitters per branch is
used. The diameter of the mainline, submain
line and laterals are 4 inch, 15/8 inch and ¾
inch respectively. 408 pressure compensating
emitters i.e. single emitter per plant with a
discharge capacity of 20 lph is used in this
proposed design. The row to row and plant
to plant distance of the orchards was 20 x 20
ft each. There are 408 Chickoo trees, and on
each trees a single pressure compensating 20
lph emitter is required. The source discharge
and pressure of the system were 36 gpm and
14.18 psi, respectively. An electric motor of
2hp had been used as a prime mover. The
details of the design of trickle system are
presented in table-3.
Fig 1 (g) Layout of the Proposed Drip / Trickle
Irrigation System
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 172
Table-3 Details of proposed design parameters of trickle irrigation system
General information
Area (acres)
3.12
Plant spacing(ft*ft)
20x20
Number of plants
408
Design Peak water requirements (liters/day/plant)
75
Discharge of emitter(lph)
20
Number of emitter per plant
1
Peak Operating Time(Hour)
3.75
Design
Length of main line (ft)
203
Length of submain line (ft)
660
Number of Plants
408
Discharge of Mainline (lps)
2.27
Mainline Diameter (inch)
4
Friction Head Loss (ft)
32.8
Lateral Length (ft)
240
Discharge of Lateral (lps)
0.067
Number of Plants per Lateral
12
Diameter of Lateral (inch)
3/4
Frictional Head loss (ft)
4.92
Design of Pumping System
Suction Head (ft)
7.216
Frictional Head loss (ft)
Manifold
Lateral
Connections/Bends
32.8
4.92
16.4
Total Frictional Head Loss (ft)
65.6
Total Head Loss (ft)
72.82
Working Head (ft)
39.36
Total Head Required (ft)
112.176
Efficiency of the Prime mover (%)
30
Power Requirement (hp)
2
IrriPro Software
IrriPro irrigation system planning software is
designed to help the user to define
the parameters of an irrigation system. The
user will be able to run the program with any
suitable parameters, review the output, and
change input data in order to match it to the
appropriate irrigation system setup. Some
parameters may be selected from a system
list;
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 173
whereas other is entered by the user
according to their own needs so they do not
conflict with the program’s limitations.
Governing Equations
In this research work, step by step (SBS)
procedure is used to design a proposed drip
irrigation network in order to determine the
behavior of the proposed drip irrigation
network and for this purpose the IrriPro
software is used. IrriPro is a powerful
product in the international context and it is
based on an innovative algorithm allowing
designing, managing and analyzing even
complex irrigation systems; the proposed
algorithm assures the correct and fast design
of the irrigation systems, maintaining the
necessary scientific accuracy with a sensible
reduction of the computation time. The
resolution algorithm, by means of an iterative
calculation procedure, solves the continuity
and motion equations managing the
movement of water in pressure pipes
(Savona et al, 2008).
The drip irrigation systems should be
designed to attain relatively high values of
the field emission uniformity coefficients
(EU), which are affected by the variation of
pressure head due to the elevation changes
and to the head losses along the lines, as well
as by manufacturer’s variation, grouping of
emitters, clogging, variability in soil
hydraulic characteristic and emitter spacing
(Wu, 1997). For a certain emitter model for
which is known the manufacturer's
coefficient of variation, CV, once established
the number of emitters per plant and the
emitter spacing, limitation of the pressure
head along the laterals in a pre-fixed range of
variability, can contribute to obtain high EU
values, that can be expressed as
Christiansen’s uniformity coefficient (CU) or
lower quarter distribution uniformity
coefficient (DU) calculated as:
N
iavi
av
qq
Nq
CU 1
1
1
(2a)
4/
1
4N
ii
low
av
q
Nq
DU
(2b)
Where; qi, qav, qlow, are the generic, the
average and the lowest flow rate of the
emitters installed in a submain and N is the
number of emitters. DU measures the
consistency of water application across a
field during irrigation, expressed as a
percentage. DU of less than 70% is
considered poor, between 70 - 90% is good,
whereas DU greater than 90% is excellent. In
short, poor DU means that either too much
water is applied, costing unnecessary
expense, or too little water is applied,
causing stress to crops.
Steps for Developing Proposed Drip
Irrigation Network by Using IrriPro
Software
In order to achieve the objective of this study
a numerical model was developed. To
generate a proposed drip irrigation system by
using IrriPro software, in first attempt the
manual design parameters of the proposed
drip irrigation system were given to the
software i.e. all the parameters related to
source data, mainline, submain line and
laterals, diameter of pipes, row to row and
plant to plant distance, and emitters were
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 174
entered accordingly. After entering all the
required values for the development of
complete model, it is then verified by the
IrriPro software and computation for
different scenarios can be launched by the
“Calculate” application. The parameters
which are going to be calculated are: Total
Emitters, Total Length, Total Pressure Loss,
Pressure Loss, Head Pressure, Average
Emitter Flow Rate, Inlet Lateral Flow Rate,
Flow Rate and Velocity per segment etc. The
simulation results are given on the left side
of the main window and the additional
results report can be reviewed by pressing
the “Results Window” button. This report
contains the following results: Uniformity
coefficient (WU) and (Keller e Karmeli) and
Pressure range of the proposed irrigation
system. Finally simulated results obtained
from the IrriPro software are compared with
the manual design parameters and results for
the acceptance of proposed irrigation design.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The present research study was carried out to
evaluate the performance of the proposed
trickle irrigation system for Chickoo
(Sapodilla) orchards by using IrriPro
Simulations. In this research work, step by
step (SBS) procedure is used to design a drip
irrigation network in order to determine the
behavior of the proposed drip irrigation
network. Data pertaining to design
parameters and drip irrigation geometry are
provided to the software to compute the
unknown parameters. As it follows the SBS
procedure so it will first verified the length
of mainline, submain line, laterals, inside
diameter KD and emitters provided to the
software as an input parameters. Then the
software itself computes the flowrate and
pressure range of the system accordingly.
IrriPro Simulations
IrriPro compute the hydraulic calculations of
each parameter in concordance with the data
provided to the software. On the basis of
data provided to the software initially the
“Emitter Line Length” was verified and
calculated for the entire designated length.
The computation result also verified the
maximum lateral length under the designated
conditions. Then a “Pressure range”, was
then verified and calculated which will be
executed in a way that makes sure the
maximal pressure variation between
maximum emitter’s pressure to minimum
emitter’s pressure does not exceed the
pressure range which was introduced by
the user. Then “Flow Rate Variation” was
computed which can be executed to achieve
the requested flow variation and will
generate the maximum lateral length under
these conditions. The last computation was
“Emission Uniformity” which is similar to
“flow rate variation”, and will be executed
to achieve the maximum lateral length.
Emission uniformity units are given in
percentage and its value was above 90%
during computation. The following problems
are to be considered for analysis and
computation:
Verification of the design of
proposed drip irrigation network by
determining the legend colors i.e.
Green (acceptable), Yellow (limit of
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 175
acceptability) and Red (not
acceptable),
Computation of emitter flowrate and
pressure by using IrriPro software,
and
Acceptability of the input data and
results according to software
analysis.
Simulation Results
The detail analysis and simulation results
obtained by the software are depicted as
under:
Input Parameters
Emitter type: Online
Network type: Symmetric
Working source discharge = 36.0 [gpm]
User source discharge = 35.9274 [gpm]
Working source pressure = 14.37 [PSI]
User source pressure = 14.18 [PSI]
Water temperature = 68.0 [F]
Secondary pipe
Secondary pipe length = 203.0 [ft]
Secondary pipe diameter = 4 [in]
Model: Generic
Submain
Submain Length = 660.0 [ft]
Submain diameter = 1 5/8 [in]
Model: Generic
Submain nodes number = 33
Lateral
Lateral diameter = 3/4 [in]
Laterals average slope = 0.0 [%]
Model: Generic
Laterals number = 34 (Lateral Branches =
68)
Emitter/Supply point
Total no. of emitters = 408
No of maximum of emitters per lateral = 12
(6 per branch)
No of maximum of emitters per lateral = 12
(6 per branch)
Model: Generic
C.V. (Pressure head variation coeff.) = 0.0
Crop arrangement
Emitters spacing = 20.0 [ft]
Row spacing = 20.0 [ft]
SIMULATED RESULTS
Uniformity coefficient (WU) = 99.971 [%]
Uniformity coefficient (Keller e Karmeli) =
99.835 [%]
Emitter Flowrate and Pressure
Maximum flow rate = 5.283 [gph] (20.000
[lph])
Minimum flow rate = 5.283 [gph] (20.000
[lph])
Average flow rate = 5.283 [gph] (20.000
[lph])
Maximum pressure head = 32.753 [ft]
(14.185 [PSI])
Minimum pressure head = 32.719 [ft] (14.17
[PSI])
Average pressure head = 32.728 [ft] (14.174
[PSI])
Sector surface = 3.12 [acre] (136000.0 [ft²])
The screen page of the software in which the
design parameters are inserted is shown in
Fig 2 (a). The program displayed the output
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 176
regarding the verification of the design of
proposed drip irrigation network. The
software analyzed the data by using
hydraulic principles and reported that the
design is acceptable. In Fig 2 (b) the
software simulated the picture with Green
Legendary color which describes that the
input data and designing of a proposed drip
irrigation network is acceptable. And the Fig
2 (c) describes the uniformity coefficients
(WU) and (Keller e Karmeli) results given
by software. In addition to this Fig 2 (d) and
Fig 2 (e) describes the comparison of emitter
flowrate and pressure range among different
branches.
Fig 2 (a) Main screen showing the design of a
proposed drip irrigation network
Fig 2 (b) Simulation screen showing that the
design parameters are within range
Fig 2 (c) Results screen showing that hydraulic
data (input) is acceptable
Fig 2 (d): Comparison of emitter flowrate for
laterals (branch 3 vs branch 20)
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 177
Fig 2 (e): Comparison of emitter pressure for
laterals (branch 2 vs branch 5)
Conclusions
An irrigation system with uniform water
application means each tree will receives
nearly the same amount of water during
irrigation. Drip irrigation is an efficient
method of water application in agriculture to
enhance good crop growth. As the drip
irrigation can irrigate directly to the crop root
zone, it is a popular irrigation method in arid
and semi-arid area. The drip irrigation
system allows a constant application of water
by drippers at specific locations on the
lateral lines it allows favorable conditions for
soil moisture in the root zone and optimal
development of plant. A well designed drip
irrigation system can increase the crop yield
due to: efficient use of water, improved
microclimate around the root zone, pest
control, and weed control, agronomic and
economic benefits.
Results of the study revealed that the
proposed drip irrigation achieved high
uniformity coefficients (WU) and (Keller e
Karmeli) i.e. 99.971% and 99.835%
respectively. The average simulated emitter
flowrate and pressure for the proposed
irrigation system was found to be 5.283 gph
and 14.174 psi respectively. Hence the
simulated results describes that the proposed
irrigation system was designed on the basis
of proper scaling and dimensions. The
design of the proposed drip irrigation
network was checked by the interactive
computer software i.e. IrriPro which was
found acceptable. The uncertainty in results
was found less than 10% which indicates its
accuracy. The values of irrigation
uniformities and flowrate are within range
and very close to each other by keeping very
low the computational time.
Hence, from this research work it can be
concluded that in order to avoid any huge
investment and delay in orchard planning
especially in arid regions of the world, where
the shortage of water is one of the
limitations, drip irrigation is an efficient
method of water application in agriculture.
IrriPro, by its characteristics, represents a
reliable tool in designing a drip irrigation
system for water resources engineers. It can
help the user to use it in testing and
analyzing any alternative design
hydraulically and economically. As IrriPro is
providing the ideal results for the existing
drip irrigation system it will be more as
compared to the field results.
Suggestions
This research study suggests that water
resource engineer should to be proficient and
well cognizant with drip irrigation design
technology and IrriPro Software. In micro-
irrigation system for orchards, the emitter
spacing and discharge rate needed depend
primarily on the tree spacing and the water
needs of the trees. Therefore, an irrigation
system with uniform water application
means each tree will receive nearly the same
amount of water during irrigation. The
emission devices must be capable of
supplying each tree with enough water
during the peak water use periods to satisfy
the evapotranspiration (ET) requirement. The
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-11 December 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Designing A Drip / Trickle Irrigation System by Using Irripro Software Imran Arshad ; Muhammed Muneer Babar ; Muhammed Irfan ; Paolo
Savona; Wajiha Ali & Omair Farooqui
P a g e | 178
infiltration rate of the soil is not easy to
determine; it changes during an irrigation
and may change across the season.
Therefore, it is suggested that while
designing a drip irrigation system, it is
preferable to choose the correct application
rate at the design stage. Due to multiple
advantages of IrriPro software, it must be
introduced in universities and research
centres for a better understanding by students
of the problems regarding drip irrigation.
For the case of Gharo Model Farm since, no
canal water is available therefore it is
recommended that a reservoir must be
constructed near the command area. Due to
high EC, TDS, HCO3 and CaCO3
groundwater application for the irrigation
purpose is not suitable. If any fresh water
source is available the ground water in ratio
2:1 with fresh water may be used for better
and quick results. In order to save water the
irrigation operation must be done through
drip irrigation. Due to high soil pH and soil
salinity activity of DAP fertigation should to
be immediately stopped and fertilizer with
low pH values should to be used.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to express their gratitude to
Mr. Farukh Mazhar the owner of the Gharo
model farm for allowing this research to be
carried out on his farm, to the staff of the
farm especially to Mr. Allah Bakhsh the
farm supervisor, Mr. Mazhar Iqbal Sheikh
for his kind assistance throughout the study,
and all other individuals who have been
source of help throughout the research
period.
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