Improving mole drainage channel stability in irrigated areas

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Mole drains in flood irrigated agriculture can rapidly fail due to high flows of irrigation water entering the mole channel through the soil cracks formed during the moling process. Currently mole drains are formed using a straight leg mole plough that results in rapid irrigation water flow to the mole drain. The use of an angled leg mole plough to reduce the direct inflow of irrigation water and produce more stable mole channels was investigated. The leg of the angled leg mole plough comprised an upper vertical section to which an angled section carrying the mole foot was attached at a 30° angle. The trials were carried out on two contrasting clay soils in a flood irrigated area. One of the soil types was structurally stable on wetting, the other unstable. The quality of the mole channels formed at installation using the straight leg plough was good, but using the angled leg plough were only moderate due to some instability problems with the equipment. This was caused by the mole foot pitching and thus forming an oval channel. After installation, irrigation was applied to the mole channels to ascertain their stability on wetting. The angled leg moles proved more stable than the straight leg moles in the unstable soil. This was due to reduced water flow rates into the channel causing less erosion and to the prevention of the leg slot opening up directly into the mole channel, through shrinkage, during dry periods. The latter prevented significant soil wash and ingress into the channel during the following irrigation. This improved stability is of significant importance in that it may allow the adoption of mole drainage on sodic and swell/shrink soils where previously mole drainage would have been ineffective. In the structurally stable soil, the stability of the angled leg moles was found to be slightly worse than those installed with the straight leg plough. This was probably due to inadequate soil packing in the channel roof during installation. The trial results indicate that mole channels installed with angled leg plough have the potential for much greater stability on sodic and swell/shrink soils than moles installed with current straight leg mole ploughs. Before this potential can be fully achieved further development of the mole ploughing technique is required to ensure that high quality moles are consistently formed at installation. Suggestions are made for future improvements to the mole plough and the moling technique.