Variable Rate Sprinkler for Improved Irrigation and Chemigation Management

Site Specific Crop Management (SSCM) is one solution to management problems caused by spatial variability with a field. In irrigated agriculture, spatial variability contributes to suboptimum irrigation managment resulting in inefficient water and chemical use and contamination of surface and groundwter supplies. A variable rate low pressure sprinkler has been developed for center-pivot and linear-move irrigation systems which will facilitate SSCM suing irrigation and chemigation. We propose to investigate performance of the sprinkler under field conditions. A program of field testing using a linear-move irrigation system to apply variable amounts of water and chemical according to an arbitrary map is proposed. The amounts of water and chemical applied to individual cells established in a field will be measured and compared to target amounts. The end result will be determination of the sprinkler's ability to achieve variable discharge while providing good application uniformity.