Field evaluation of drip irrigation systems in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Drip irrigation has become a well-established method for irrigating high-value crops in regions, where water resources are scarce and/or expensive. In Saudi Arabia, the use of drip has increased fivefold since the 1990s, and now due to the rapid increase in the use for drip irrigation system in the fields and greenhouses in recent years in most agricultural regions in the Kingdom has caused the availability of many drip irrigation components and products in the local market made by different manufacturers. These devices differ in their qualities and standards. Hence, the field evaluation of drip irrigation systems in the fields and its components (i.e. emitters) is essentially required for standing the efficiency and performance of the system and these devices during irrigation. This study was mainly focusing on evaluating 10 drip irrigation systems under field operation located in different farms in Riydh region of Saudi Arabia. Also, the study included a survey study for 50 drip irrigation systems distributed on a number of farms in the most agricultural regions in Saudi Arabia using drip irrigation systems. Results of field evaluation show that the irrigation performances are mostly lower than the accepted values for most evaluated systems and that the ten systems were varied in their uniformities of the applied water.