Simple Method for Determining the Emitter Discharge Rate in the Reclamation of Coastal Saline Soil Using Drip Irrigation

Abstract

AbstractA laboratory experiment was carried out to study the relationships of emitter discharge rate (EDR) and distribution of water and salt for two typical coastal saline soils. The objective was to find a simple method to determine a suitable EDR for reclamation of coastal saline soil using drip irrigation. The experiment included five EDR treatments in a coastal saline sandy-loam soil (SAS): 0.23, 0.55, 0.8, 1.5, and 2.9 L·h−1; another five EDR treatments were conducted in a coastal saline silt soil (SIS): 0.23, 0.55, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 L·h−1. The water distribution and the low-salinity zone (with electrical conductivity of the saturated soil extract ≤1, ≤2, and ≤4 dS·m−1) were clearly affected by EDR. The relationships of EDR and wetted front, wetted zone volume, and low-salinity zone were difficult to obtain because of the requirements of determining and calculating the vertical wetted front and the volume of wetted, saturated, and low-salinity zones in the field. For this reason, these relationsh...