The Effectiveness Of Pulse Irrigation

By Eliza Mendoza


As the world population grows so does the need for more food. This growth is coupled with a reduction in arable land as people settle and build homes where farming should be done. This forces mankind to come up with better farming methods that will take less space and produce more food. Systems like pulse irrigation has proven to be just one of the ways to make land more productive while using little water.

This is a type of irrigation that makes it possible to manage your water usage. It can be scaled to whatever flow one requires so as to greatly minimize water flow. It can be used with sprinkler or drip irrigation very effectively. The traditional low flow systems and even ultra low flow systems of irrigation can be used with this pulse system.

This is an irrigation system mostly used in areas where water is very scarce like in desert countries including Israel. It works by passively allowing water to flow at a controlled rate into a reservoir so as to build pressure in the reservoir at a steady rate. On reaching a predetermined pressure level, the valves from the reservoir open forcing a pulse of water out.

As the reservoir pressure reduces, the valves close giving the reservoir time to recharge. As long as the inlet is kept lower than outlet, the cycle of recharge and discharge will be kept going. A drip flow controller is used in this system to regulate the water flow rate into the reservoir.

As long as the system is properly installed, it will not need any monitoring. This system keeps the plants from overwatering. This constant, controlled and frequent water flow reduces the plant demand for water and lowers usage of water. The plants also do not experience water stress due to the intermittent supply.

The outlet valve has strong magnets holding it closed as the pressure builds. When the pressure in the reservoir is strong enough, it overcomes the strength of the magnets forcing the top set of the magnets to open. A reduction in pressure allows the magnet to drop down and the recharging phase begins again and the cycle goes on and on.

When used with sprinkler system, this water control is so effective. During seed germination, it can be set to sprinkle for 5 seconds ever minute till two weeks passes. This is then adjusted as the plants grow till it sprinkles for between 8 to 10 hours three times a week. The frequency is however subject to many factors like sunlight intensity, weather condition and plant age. Hot weather causes rapid evaporation hence the need for shorter sprinkling intervals.

Pulse irrigation system has been proven to have many advantages in farming. Even when used with a drip or sprinkler system, you get no run offs on heavy soil. Used on sandy soil that is known to have poor water retention, there is no leaching or water loss. On hilly areas and shallow soil, water does not run off despite the terrain. One can also achieve temperature control effectively through evaporative cooling using foggers and sprinklers working intermittently. This low discharge rate allows for use of little space in greenhouse and smaller containers. The system installation costs are also lowered greatly since it requires low capacity water pumps and smaller conduits.




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