Abstract
Vertical line source irrigation is a water-saving irrigation method for enhancing direct water and nutrient delivery to the root zone, reducing soil evaporation and improving water and nutrient use efficiency. To identify its influencing factors, we performed computer simulations using the HYDRUS-2D software. The results indicate that for a given soil, the line source seepage area, but not the initial soil water content and buried depth, has a significant effect on the cumulative infiltration. We thus proposed a simplified method, taking into account the seepage area for predicting the cumulative infiltration based on the Philip model. Finally, we evaluated the accuracy of the simplified method using experimental data and found the cumulative infiltrations predicted by the simplified method were in very good agreement with the observed values, showing a low mean average error of 0.028–0.480 L, a root mean square error of 0.043–0.908 L, a percentage bias of 0.321–0.900 and a large Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient close to 1.0 (NSE ≥ 0.995). The results indicate that this simplified infiltration model, for which the only emitter parameter required is the seepage area, could provide a valuable and practical tool for irrigation design.
Highlights
The arid regions of China have rich land resources, as well as abundant sunshine, and a large temperature difference between day and night, which are suitable for the development of the fruit industry
It is clear that the initial soil water contents (SWC) had little effect on the cumulative infiltration dynamics of vertical line source irrigation
Numerical simulations carried out in this study show that the initial SWC and buried depth have little effect on cumulative infiltration during vertical line source irrigation, whereas the line source seepage area (Sa ) significantly affect the cumulative infiltration and increase with Sa
Summary
Yanwei Fan 1,2 , Ning Huang 1, *, Jiaguo Gong 3 , Xiaoxia Shao 2 , Jie Zhang 1 and Tong Zhao 2. Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China, the Ministry of Education of. State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycles in River Basins, China Institute of Water. Received: 24 November 2017; Accepted: 16 January 2018; Published: 20 January 2018
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