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Indian Journal of Plant and Soil

Volume  9, Issue 2, July-December 2022, Pages 45-49
 

Original Article

Testing of Different Microsprinklers for Uniformity by WilcoxSwaile’s and Merrium and Keller Criteria

Ravindra D Bansod

Professor, Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Agriculture, Shivajinagar, Pune 413722, Maharashtra, India.

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DOI: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21088/ijps.2348.9677.9222.1

Abstract

Uniform crop growth and subsequent higher production are possible if moisture is equally distributed, and timely, in the vicinity of the root zone. Several companies manufacture different components of drip and micro sprinkler systems. Farmers purchase those and install the system through technical experts or sometimes themselves. If the system is designed properly and installed correctly, then, the water application losses can be minimized following the time of operation of the systems. However, the variation in water application depth should not be more, less than 10-15% for micro irrigation systems. As such it is essential to verify the hydraulics, especially uniformity, of emitting devices and whether each plant receives the desired discharge/ depth of water. In view of this, different micro sprinklers were evaluated for uniformity by Wilcox Swailes uniformity coefficient and distribution uniformity at different micro sprinkler spacing and different operating pressures. The experiment was conducted on five different types of micro sprinklers (coded for identification as MS-1, MS-11, MS-111, MS-IV, and MS-V) at three operating pressures (1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 kg/cm2) and for micro sprinkler spacings of 3m × 3m, 4m × 4m, 5m × 5m. 6m × 6m, 7m × 7m, 8m × 8m, 9m × 9m and 10m × 10m. The depth distribution data obtained from the experiment were analyzed for Wilcox-Swailes uniformity coefficient (UCC) and Merriam and Keller Distribution Uniformity (DU). The decreased values of Uniformity coefficient and distribution uniformity were observed with an increase in the spacing of micro-sprinklers. At the rated pressure (2kg/cm2), the maximum value of UCC (93.85%) was recorded for MS-V at 3m x 3m micro sprinkler spacing with Wilcox-Swailes uniformity coefficient. The value of Hart uniformity confidence was also the highest (94.29%) at these pressure and spacing. The distribution uniformity recorded at these pressure and spacing for MS-V was 96.75%. More than desired value (70%) of the Wilcox-Swailes uniformity coefficient was recorded only for MS-I, MS-III, and MS-V for the spacings of 3m x 3m to 6m x 6m. For wider spacing (7m x 7m to 10m x 10m), the uniformity coefficients were less than 70% i.e. less than desired values. Considering the uniformity of Wilcox-Swailes and Merriam and Keller Criteria, MS-V showed superiority over all other micro-sprinklers.


Keywords : Distribution uniformity; Merrium and Keller; Microsprinkler spacing; Operating pressure; Wilcox-Swailes.
Corresponding Author : Ravindra D Bansod, Professor, Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Agriculture, Shivajinagar, Pune 413722, Maharashtra, India.