Abstract:
Pressurized irrigation technologies of course have
the potential to raise the productivity
of land and water; but, these technologies could no
t popularize among the smallholders
who own millions of farms worldwide. In developing
pressurized irrigation technologies,
particularly for field crops irrigation, researcher
s and manufacturers have developed
more specialized and expensive technologies with so
phisticated and intricate hardware.
These new technologies have benefited only the larg
e and wealthier farmers leaving the
smallholders to remain confined with conventional m
ethods of irrigation. This paper
discusses the design, performance, and applicabilit
y of a low-pressure water sprinkling
nozzle, named LERN. This nozzle can be operated sat
isfactorily over the operating
pressure range of 79-117 kPa. The water application
rate of LERN is reasonably high, i.e.
20-23 mm h
-1
; therefore, field crops such as rice, wheat, oil s
eed etc. can be irrigated
quickly and efficiently even at small plots, where
available options such as impact
sprinklers are, in general, neither feasible nor ap
plicable due to high pressure
requirement (196 - 294 kPa), non-divisibility over
small plots, and relatively high cost of
pumping and system networking. Since the pressure r
equirement at the nozzle head
reflects overall cost of a pressurised irrigation s
ystem, LERN holds greater promise in
development of a cost effective pressurized irrigat
ion system for irrigating field crop even
at small plots.
Keywords:
Coriolis force, Developing world, Jet breaking, Op
erating pressure, Smallholders.
