| Princples of Irrigation and Draiange | Third Year | The overall aim of the course is to present the principles and concepts of irrigation scheduling and systems, used worldwide, with emphasis on crop consumptive use and scientific irrigation practices. The specific objectives of the course are: <br>1. To provide the student with the main soil water properties governing irrigation scheduling. <br>2. To introduce the student to the main methods for estimating crop consumptive use. <br>3. To enable the student to formulate a thorough understanding of the main irrigation systems and their advantages and disadvantages. <br>Course Contents: <br>1. Introduction: Water for irrigation. Definition and importance of irrigation. The characteristics of various surface and ground water sources and storage of irrigation water. <br>2. Basic soil-water relationships: soil water content on weight and volume basis, soil bulk density, field capacity, permanent wilting point, available water, management allowable depletion and usable soil water. <br>3. Irrigation Requirements and Scheduling: when to irrigate-how much water to apply? <br> Consumptive use of water and evapotranspiration: <br>o ETo, Kc, ETc and LR <br>o Estimation of ETc: Pan evaporation, Blaney-Criddle, Hargreaves, Jensen -Haise . <br> Methods of irrigation scheduling: Variable amounts and intervals, fixed amounts and intervals. <br> Smart Irrigation Controllers <br> Water Quality: salinity of irrigation water, irrigation water guidelines, soil salinity tolerated by the crop, Leaching requirements. <br>4. Irrigation efficiency: Application efficiency, conveyance efficiency, storage efficiency and distribution uniformity, modification of irrigation depth. <br>5. Irrigation methods: Selection of irrigation method <br> Surface: Basins, borders and furrows, surface irrigation hydraulics. <br> Sprinkler: Portable systems, Semi-Portable systems, Semi-Permanent systems, Permanent systems, Set-Move systems, solid-set systems, Continuous move systems. Application rate and nozzle discharge, design principles of sprinkle irrigation systems. <br> Trickle and drip: Benefits of trickle irrigation, emission devices, micro-irrigation. <br> Design principles of irrigation systems: emission devices, laterals, mainline and pump selection. <br>6. Drainage of irrigated land <br>7. Water and flow measurements. <br> <br> <br> |
| Soil-Plant-Water Relations | Fourth Year | Course aim and objectives <br>The aim of this course is to provide an understanding of: the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum; the factors affecting, and the methods for measuring, the entry, retention and movement of water into and through soils; the availability and importance of water and oxygen to plants; atmospheric water demand and the transport of water through plants. The course is relevant to coursers in water management and irrigation. <br>Course Content <br>• Introduction <br>o Why study plant-water relations - perspectives on water and water stresses? <br>o Structure and properties of water <br>• Plant-water relations <br>o Root absorption of water: Passive absorption by transpiration plants, <br>o Root pressure and osmotic absorption. <br>o Conducting systems in stem, <br>o Cohesion theory <br>o Leaf, Stomatal resistance <br>o Water potential gradients in the continuum <br>o Transpiration, <br>o Quantitative Plant Water Stress: <br>o Water potential <br>o Pressure chamber, thermocouple psychrometer, osmometer, <br>o Pressure-volume curves <br>o Stomatal and hydraulic conductance <br>o Potential evapotranspiration: lysimeter, ET models <br>o Water use efficiency <br>• Drought stress physiology and drought tolerance mechanisms <br>Whole plant response to drought: Effect of drought on growth; drought and photosynthate partitioning; Root signals <br>Drought resistance mechanisms <br>- Drought avoidance: Xerophyte, stomatal control, CAM and water stress, Rooting characteristics, <br>- Drought tolerance: protection of cytoplasm, Osmotic adjustment, Proline and betaine accumulation as a metabolic response <br>• Salinity stress physiology and salt tolerance mechanisms. <br>o Measurements of salinity for soil and water <br>o Selection for salt tolerance <br>o Salt tolerance mechanism <br>o Managing salinity problems <br>• Concept of soil quality and sustainable land management: soil quality basics, dynamic soil properties, value of soil, sustainable agriculture, indicators introduction, aggregate stability, available water capacity, bulk density, earthworms, infiltration, respiration, slaking, soil crusts, soil structure and macro pores, and total organic carbon. <br>• Describe soil physical environment and its manipulation and/or degradation in ecosystem management. <br>• Precision agriculture and spatial variability:: mapping, implementation of global positioning systems, data formats, geographic information systems, grid sampling, soil fertility and physical properties, yield monitoring, variable-rate application, crop modeling and economics <br> <br> |
| Practical course in Irrigation and Drainage principles | Fourth Year | The aim of practical course in Irrigation and Drainage principles is to provide an understanding to explain the significance of soil in irrigation, explain how to determine when to irrigate in agricultural situations, manage irrigation in agricultural situations, explain the significance of different aspects of moving water including: drainage, pumps, filters, storage, recirculation, and re-use, select an appropriate irrigation system for a given agricultural situation, explain the principles of design for a simple irrigation system, design a simple irrigation system, to reuse water as much as possible, to collect and store as much water as possible, and to ensure that what water you do use is used in an efficient manner. <br>Aims <br>• Devise ways to optimize water efficiency (ie. minimize wastage), during irrigation of plants. <br>• Schedule irrigation for a large scale situation such as a large nursery, crop, turf, garden or pasture. <br>• Analyze the design of different drainage systems <br>• Formulate procedures to operate irrigation controllers, for appropriate tasks. <br>• Manage the maintenance of irrigation systems, both small and large scale. <br>• Manage the fertigation of plants through an irrigation system. <br>• Evaluate the design of large scale irrigation systems. <br>• Design an irrigation system, including its drainage. <br>Lesson Structure <br>There are 8 lessons in this course: <br>1. Water Resources: Introduction, precipitation, weather maps, measurement of precipitation, vegetated waterway, design, channel capacity, terracing, design and alignment of terraces, earth embankments, reservoirs, conservation structures. <br>2. Water management: Full irrigation, supplemental irrigation, deficit irrigation (sustainable and regulated deficit irrigation), pitcher irrigation, deep pipe irrigation and wastewater reuse. This experiment will be conducted by planting plants under different irrigation regimes to increase the water use efficiency and reduce water losses. <br>3. Irrigation scheduling: Soil sensors based, ETo based, and water balance based methods. <br>• Explain different factors which cause water to be wasted including: <br>• Evaporation <br>• Run off <br>• Over spray <br>• Scheduling <br>• Determine where water is wasted, in both the operation and management of a specified irrigation system <br>• Determine changes to achieve more efficient water usage, in a specified system. <br>• Develop guidelines for determining when to irrigate in a particular situation. <br>• Determine through an analysis, when to irrigate on a studied site, by evaluating soil moisture and other characteristics of a site, periodically over two months, and referencing annual rainfall statistics over a period of years. <br>• Record in a log book, plant growth and soil moisture for an existing irrigation system operated using two different watering patterns, each for one month, and over two consecutive months. <br>• Compare differences in varying the scheduling of a watering system over two months <br>• Prepare an irrigation schedule for a specific garden or crop. <br>4. Design of irrigation systems: Irrigation systems layout, Components of irrigation systems (Drip, Sprinkler), Selecting of irrigation systems, Evaluation of irrigation systems, Practices of irrigation systems, Theoretical and practical applications of irrigation systems. <br>5. Irrigation Management: Devices and instruments to evaluate irrigation systems, Pumps, Irrigation water strategies to increase water use efficiency, Selecting of irrigation systems, Using traditional and untraditional water for irrigation purposes, Treated wastewater, Soil salinity and irrigation water, Management of irrigation system in the field, Operating and maintaining irrigation systems, Estimating irrigation costs. <br>6. Agricultural Drainage: Concepts of agricultural drainage, importance of drainage, drainage systems and construction methods, subsurface drainage, surface drainage <br>7. Water harvesting techniques: gravel agriculture (vertical, horizontal). <br>8. Field trips: Jordan valley. <br>Extract from the course: <br>"Water is a major component of all plant growth. In succulent, leafy plant material the water content may be as high as 85 - 95%. Of all materials taken in by a plant water is absorbed in the largest quantities. Generally less than 5% of the water taken in by the plant is used within the plant. In some cases the amount used is as little as 1%. The water remaining in the plant is used mainly in the cell tissue which are 75 - 90% water, as a carrier of foods and growth regulants from the leaves via the transport system (vascular system), and in very small quantities as part of the photosynthetic process. <br>The remaining 95% or more acts as a carrier of nutrients. Once it has carried these nutrients up through the plant, it becomes surplus and is disposed of to the atmosphere through the leaf stomata (leaf pores). This loss of water also helps to keep the leaf canopy cool reducing the likelihood of leaf burning or desiccation. This upward movement of water from the roots through the stems via the vascular system to the leaves is sometimes known as the transpiration stream. <br>Transpiration is the principal method of water movement into and through the plant. This is a physical process powered by the evaporation of water as a vapor into the atmosphere from the plant leaf. This water is lost from the outer surface of the leaf mesophyll cells (the spongy interior of the leaf). As the water is lost the cells become dehydrated. This creates a potential difference between the dry mesophyll cells and adjacent moist ones. Because of waters strong cohesive property (strong resistance of water molecules to be pulled apart) water from the adjacent moist cells diffuses through the cell walls into the dehydrated cells thereby relieving the pressure differential. The continued loss of water molecules from the leaves by evaporation creates a continual flow of water throughout the plant. This results in the pulling of replacement water from the soil via the roots and up the plant stem into the leaf. <br>Evaporation from the crown of the plant is roughly proportional to the size of the crown. Wind is the major cause of evaporation as it removes the moisture laden air around the leaves creating a strong gradient between the moisture laden leaf and the drier atmosphere surrounding the leaf. Increasing temperature will also increase the rate of evaporation. During winter transpiration is generally small, however in spring and early summer the amount of water transpired can be very large. If the availability of soil moisture is high and other conditions (e.g. light) are favorable the transpiration will be high. If either water supply is limited or other conditions are not favorable then transpiration will be greatly reduced. On a sunny spring day, mature trees can use 250 or more liters of water a day. One hectare of forest in a medium rainfall area may use the equivalent of 1000mm of rainfall per year. In high rainfall areas, such as tropical rainforests, over 2500mm per year may be transpired. In low rainfall areas the figure may be only 250mm per year (500mm of rain per hectare is equivalent to about 5 million liters). " <br> <br> |