Clogging dynamics for dripping irrigation systems using dairy effluent

Abstract

The waterwater reuse in agriculture offers several social, economic and mainly environmental benefits. The fertigation process helps to minimize problems related to waste and environmental degradation when linked to the use of drip irrigation systems. However, it is a system that offers a high risk of obstruction due to the formation of colonies generated by the combination of physical, chemical and biological agents. The present work aimed to evaluate the alteration of indicators such as the Distribution Uniformity Coefficient (DUC) and Statistical Uniformity Coefficient (Su) of dripper units operating with diluted dairy effluent, detecting those most susceptible to the obstruction process. At the Soil Pollution and Degradation Laboratory, located in the Soil Sector of the Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid-UFERSA, campus Mossoro/RN, the experiment was conducted by setting up an experimental bench with five drip units, whose performance was evaluated every 40h, until 200h of operation were completed. For this evaluation, characteristics such as ph, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Suspended Solids (SS), Dissolved Solids (DS), Calcium (Ca 2+), Magnesium (Mg 2 +), Total Iron (Fe), Total Magnesium (Mg 2+) and Total Coliforms (TC). Drippers D1 and D5 were more resistant to clogging, while emitters D2, D3 and D4 were more susceptible to this process. The coefficients studied showed classifications from good to excellent regarding the uniformity of distribution of the diluted dairy effluent.