Determination of the main parameters of the mole irrigation network in the Lower Volga region

Abstract

The article presents the results of studies to determine the main parameters of the irrigation network for the mole irrigation system on light chestnut soils of the Volgograd region, a typical region of the Lower Volga region. This method of irrigating crops will be used for the first time in this region. For this, 3 variants of the depth (0.3; 0.4 and 0.5 m) of the location of mole sprinklers - soil pipes with a diameter of 58 ... 63 mm for supplying water to plants were studied. Based on the study of moisture contours, it was found that the most effective was the location of molehills at a depth of 0.3 ... 0.4 m, since 99.3 ... 95.1% of the moisture in the zone of normal moistening (90…110% SMC the next day after watering) was within the active soil layer of 0.0-0.8 m in the absence of deep filtration into the underlying layers. Further study of the moisture contours showed that at a mole irrigation depth of 0.3…0.5 m, the zone of normal moisture (90…110% SMC) extended 40…51 cm to the left and 42…45 cm to the right, and the zone of low moisture (75 ...90% SMC) - 69...91 cm to the left and 63...68 cm to the right of the molehill axis, which allows soil sprinklers to be located at a distance of 1.0...1.5 m from each other if it is necessary to uniformly moisten the active soil layer throughout the irrigation area. The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation and the Administration of the Volgograd Region under project No. 22-26-20070, https://rscf.ru/project/22-26-20070.