How A Drip Irrigation System Can Be The Perfect Solution To Agricultural Needs?

What Is A Drip Irrigation System?

Drip Irrigation System is a form of micro-irrigation system, which is also called trickle irrigation as it is involved in trickling down or dripping water onto the soil at a very slow rate from a system of small diameter plastic pipes fitted called emitters. An advanced drip irrigation system ensures minimum water loss, eliminates the extra hassle, prevents soil nutrients from getting washed away, saves money and facilitates plants to grow and flourish properly. 

With the modern Drip irrigation technology, which can be installed easily either just above the soil surface or beneath the soil surface, water is applied extremely close to the plants to ensure that only the area of the soil in which roots grow is moistened. This minimizes evaporation and prevents excess water utilization. Unlike a sprinkler or surface irrigation system, which irrigates the entire soil profile and has remarkably less water use efficiency (80-85%), a drip irrigation system has nearly 95-98% water use efficiency. 

The difference in water use efficiency between a drip irrigation method and other methods stands responsible for creating a difference in yield or crop production. A drip irrigation system ensures a high moisture level in the soil and aids plants to thrive in a healthy way. 

Significance of a Drip Irrigation System

With the advent of the drip irrigation system technology, irrigation procedure is becoming more controlled and precise and offering perfect solutions to agriculture irrigation requirements. Besides being multifaceted, a drip irrigation system takes less time to install and is comparatively inexpensive. Reliable drip irrigation system installation providers can easily install a drip irrigation system in your yard by analyzing the actual area where the plants are present, as it is also simple to design. This helps in increasing the moisture content and maximizes plant growth.

A drip irrigation system is remarkably effective than other forms of irrigation, as it has become easier more than ever to reduce the wastage of essential fertilizers due to water runoff by using drip irrigation technology, apart from conserving water and keeping plants in optimum health condition. 

How does a Drip irrigation function?

One end of the drip irrigation system has small emitters or drippers, that stays in close proximity to the plants' root system to ensure better-controlled irrigation procedure and improved water use efficiency. Water drips directly and very slowly onto the area of the root system beneath the soil through the emitters which are directly connected to the main source of water by feeder hose pipes.

An efficient drip irrigation system is proving to be the perfect and the most preferred agriculture irrigation solutions due to its multitudinous benefits. It's simple to design and easy to install, however, it consists of several components that combinedly function sand make the entire system an efficient and productive one. 

Valves - Valves primarily turn on and off the flow of the water into the pipes. There are two types of valves - Isolation and control valves. Isolated valve sits close to the water source in order to manually operate for systems that require an occasional shut-off of the water, while the control valve aids in turning the water flow on and off both manually and automatically to individual areas of a yard that are irrigated separately.

Water backflow preventer - This is an important part of a drip irrigation system, as it prevents contaminants from being sucked up into the actual water source. 

Pressure reducing valves - Pressure reducing valves reduces the pressure of water flowing through the operating system and ensure maintaining the water flow at a constant level.

Filters - As the name suggests, filters are used primarily for filtering the water and ensure dripping of contaminants-free water onto the root system of the crops or plants in the yard.

Emitters - An essential part of the drip irrigation system which sits in close proximity to the soil and controls the rate of water supply to the soil. 

Hose - Hose is the tube which carries water and lays on the ground in between the plant or crop rows and to which the emitters are attached to generally.

Air vent - This part prevents air from being sucked up into the emitters and is installed in systems that can be turned off as per requirement.

Flush valve - This safeguards water to run out of the end of the drip tube.

Potential benefits of the Drip irrigation system

• Drip irrigation technology surpasses other systems when it comes to the function of controlling water flow. 

• Being an efficient technology, the drip irrigation system conserves a considerable amount of water, while ensuring an optimal level of water supply to the plants’ root system.

• Favourable majorly for cultivating row crops due to the presence of multiple emitters to individual plant that drips water directly to the soil area where the roots are present.

• Suitable to install both for clay and sandy soils and functions in a top-notch way in helping plants to grow effectively.

• Reduces water loss through ground percolation.

• Prevents drift due to the direct application of water to the soil.

• Eliminates water wastage through the surface runoff.

• Suitable to install for every landscape and ensure optimum aesthetic. 

• Increases fertilizers use on crops and maximize yield.

• Ensures proper nourishment of the plants

• Controls fertilizer pollution massively in groundwaters or surface waters.

• Reduces weed growth significantly, which otherwise impact significantly on the crops.

• Remarkably improves seed germination

• Empowers and propagates micro-irrigation system for agriculture benefits. 

The Bottom Line:

To make sure the optimum growth of plants and high yields, it is crucial to leverage the most effective irrigation system in today's time. Being a much-advanced irrigation technology, drip irrigation system provides comprehensive solutions to meet agriculture irrigation requirements in a much cost-effective and productive way.