Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T20:16:06.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Optimization of an automatic irrigation system for precision irrigation of blueberries grown in sandy soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2017

G. Egea ,
J. Muñiz  and
A. Diaz-Espejo
G. Egea*
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace Engineering & Fluids Mechanics. Universidad de Sevilla, ETSIA, Ctra. Utrera km 1, 41013 Seville, Spain
J. Muñiz
Affiliation:
Irrigation & Crop Ecophysiology Group, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes, n° 10, 41012 Seville, Spain
A. Diaz-Espejo
Affiliation:
Irrigation & Crop Ecophysiology Group, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes, n° 10, 41012 Seville, Spain
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to assess the performance of an automatic irrigation system based on remotely-sensed soil moisture measurements in blueberries grown in sandy soil under plastic tunnels. The system uses the information provided by soil moisture sensors installed at three soil depths (10, 20 and 30 cm) and user-defined irrigation set-points to trigger automatic irrigation events. An Optimized irrigation treatment in which irrigation set-points and duration of irrigation have been determined from soil hydraulic properties analysis and soil water modelling is compared to the irrigation scheduling criteria established by the grower (Control treatment). The results showed that the Optimized treatment applied 30% of the water applied by the Control treatment, led to mild to moderate crop water stress conditions and had no impact on berry yield and quality.

Keywords

automatic irrigationmodellingsoil moistureVaccinium corymbosumwireless
Type
Precision Irrigation
Information
Advances in Animal Biosciences , Volume 8 , Special Issue 2: Papers presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA 2017), John McIntyre Centre, Edinburgh, UK, July 16–20 2017 , July 2017 , pp. 551 - 556
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ameglio, T, Perrier, C, Le Roux, X and Mingeau, M 1999. Drought effect on water relations and fruit yield in highbush blueberries. Fruits 54, 423–430.Google Scholar
Bryla, DR and Strik, BC 2007. Effects of cultivar and plant spacing on the seasonal water requirements of highbush blueberry. Journal of the American Society of Horticultural Science 132, 270–277.Google Scholar
García Morillo, J, Martín, M, Camacho, E, Rodríguez Díaz, JA and Montesinos, P 2015. Toward precision irrigation for intensive strawberry cultivation. Agricultural Water Management 151, 43–51.Google Scholar
Gee, GW, Bauder, JW and Klute, A 1986. Particle-size analysis. Methods of soil analysis. Part 1. Physical and mineralogical methods 383–411.Google Scholar
Haman, D, Smajstrla, A and Pritchard, R 1997. Response of young blueberry plants to irrigation in Florida. HortScience 32, 1194–1196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keen, B and Slavich, P 2012. Comparison of irrigation scheduling strategies for achieving water use efficiency in highbush blueberry. New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science 40, 3–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lozano, D, Ruiz, N and Gavilán, P 2016. Consumptive water use and irrigation performance of strawberries. Agricultural Water Management 169, 44–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simunek, J, Jacques, D, van Genuchten, MTh and Mallants, D 2006. Multicomponent geochemical transport modeling using the HYDRUS computer software packages. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 42, 1537–1547.Google Scholar
van Genuchten, MTh 1980. A closed form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 44, 892–898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar