Authors

M Lanjabi, SH Tabatabaei, RA FATAHI, MOHAMMAD REZA NOURI

Description

A problem that hinders the development of subsurface drip irrigation systems is the clogging of drippers as a result of sucking soil into drippers during pump turn-off. Using an envelope around the drippers may lessen the problem. However, the dripper envelope may also change the wetting pattern. The objective of this research was to investigate the effect of unwoven and woven geotextile dripper envelopes on the depth and width of wetting profile. Five 60-cm probes each containing 10-cm spaced moisture sensor were used for specifying the wetting profile. A factorial experiment with 9 treatment comprising the 3 levels of the dripper depth (0, 15 and 30 centimeters) and 3 levels of the envelope,(no envelope as control, unwoven envelope and woven envelope) in a complete randomized blocks structure with 3 replicates was carried out in the research greenhouse at University of Shahrekord. Results showed that the unwoven geotextile had more effect on the wetting pattern compared to woven geotextile. Unwoven geotextile increased the width of wetting profile from 27 to 37 centimeters after 30 minutes and from 37 to 45 centimeters after 60 minutes. Overall, using geotextile increased the width and decreased the depth of wetting significantly (P< 0.01). Meanwhile the influence of unwove geotextile was more pronounced than that of the woven geotextile.