Fertigation guidelines for furrow irrigation

Abstract

A mathematical model was developed to simulate the application efficiency and uniformity of water-soluble fertilizers through furrow irrigation. The model simulates solute mass balance and transport for one-dimensional unsteady flow during the advance and post-advance phases of a furrow irrigation event. The model was programmed to determine the best timing and duration of fertilizer injection using two performance indices: solute application efficiency and solute application uniformity. The results from the model were compared with two sets of field data and were found to be in close agreement in terms of advance trajectories and surface water solute concentrations. Nearly 50,000 simulations were performed with the model and the results were analyzed in terms of best injection start and end times for fertilizer application efficiency and uniformity. It was found that the best injection duration time was from 5 to 15% of the time of cutoff for a complete irrigation. Most of the cases showed that the injection should take place in a relatively short time span, and at a relatively high injection rate.

The effect of different fertigation strategies and furrow surface treatments on plant water and nitrogen use

“…Playán and Faci (1997), however, concluded that applying fertilizer at a constant rate during the entire irrigation event is usually the best solution, since an instantaneous release of fertilizer into the irrigation stream often produces low fertilizer uniformities in the field. Sabillón and Merkley (2004) reported that timing of fertigation is significantly affected by soil infiltration characteristics, furrow length and slope. Adamsen et al (2005) carried out field experiments to compare different strategies for timing injection of bromide, as a surrogate for nitrate, into the irrigation water during border irrigation.…”

“…Fertigation can be defined as the injection of various watersoluble chemicals, such as fertilizers or soil amendments, into agricultural irrigation systems, including drip, sprinkler and surface irrigated systems (Sabillón and Merkley 2004). Fertigation is most commonly used with drip and sprinkler systems (e.g., Cote et al 2003;Hanson et al 2006), while its use with surface irrigation methods is much less common (Sabillón and Merkley 2004;Soroush et al 2012;Ebrahimian et al 2014).…”

“…Fertigation is most commonly used with drip and sprinkler systems (e.g., Cote et al 2003;Hanson et al 2006), while its use with surface irrigation methods is much less common (Sabillón and Merkley 2004;Soroush et al 2012;Ebrahimian et al 2014). Since furrow irrigation is the most frequently used irrigation method internationally, furrow fertigation has great potential to become a cost-effective method of applying fertilizers to agricultural fields (Soroush et al 2012).…”

“…There are many studies that evaluated fertigation timing in furrow irrigation (e.g., Bouwer et al 1990;Playán and Faci 1997;Sabillón and Merkley 2004;Adamsen et al 2005;Burguete et al 2009;Ebrahimian et al 2013b). For example, Bouwer et al (1990) and Soroush et al (2012) recommended that in order to avoid leaching of fertilizers to groundwater, fertigation should be applied toward the end of an irrigation event.…”

“…Since furrow irrigation is the most frequently used irrigation method internationally, furrow fertigation has great potential to become a cost-effective method of applying fertilizers to agricultural fields (Soroush et al 2012). To be successful, the furrow irrigation and fertigation systems should be designed and managed so that the application and distribution of water and fertilizer are efficient and uniform, with minimal surface runoff at the lower end of the field, and minimal deep drainage and leaching below the crop root zone (Sabillón and Merkley 2004).…”