What's new in drip irrigation

Ten years — thit is the age of the Ukrainian vegetable growing community's experience of using the drip irrigation systems. These ten years were realized in a brand new approach to the technologies of vegetable growing, in a newly appeared point of view to these tehnologies (although the product mix has not been singnificantly changed). How to develop? Where togo, or at least where to look? Thisquestion can be answered even by a bare look at the Western drip irrigation systems. Definitely not everything from there can be useful for us, but the options of choice out of the Europe technologies and machinery are numerous.

The world experience in drip irrigation numbers about 40 years. What were they doing during those years? How did the technologies develop and how did the machinery change? What was the engine of those changes? We shall try to answer these question in this very text.

Drip irrigation technology currently includes several narrower technologies, worth special mentioning:

Here, most developed are technologies most effecting the results (efficiency of growing of the crops). These are technologies of fertilizer application (which is also called fertigation) and irrigation technology. This is understandable. There is no sense in irrigation without its main advantages: transporting water and nutrients directly to the roots (scheduled and measured). Let us consider a list of the equipment used in these technologies nowadays.

There is nothing unusual that for water transport (from the basin to the filter station, from the filter station through the field) they use pipes of different diameter, made of different materials and often adapted for other irrigation system. But all of water transport systems are united by one common feature – they all are temporary water-supply networks, which can be easily mounted at the beginning of the season right in field and just easily removed after (and taken away to the storehouse). In connection with forced mobility of the networks, Lay Flat systems are wide spread and gradually supplants polyethylene and metallic pipes, which require long and accurate mounting.

What is abroad? Of course Lay Flat! But in the fields of large truck farms (where crop rotation is provided), there are mounted underground water supply networks made of PVC (solid and wide spread material). Such water supply networks need one-time capital investments, they are easy to assemble (by the glued joint), have zero corrodibility and can function virtually always.

Let us linger on the stop valve. Taps and hand operated valves are used abroad too, but often they are replaced by microprocessor operated hydraulic valves. The valve activation program (which depends on irrigation standarts of the crop for which the valve is used) is set once a season, and later no human operation is required.

In Ukraine, the types of fertilizing systems are limited to 2 variants:

Both abroad and in Ukrainian high tech fertigation, systems automatic fertilizing stations are used, they transport fertilizers into the irrigation water in programmed way. These stations are programmed considering fertilizing period corresponding to a definite stage of a plant's growing (such as: budding, flowering). Such stations usually have bunkers with prepared solutions, the central post with a control block, flow meters, injectors or injection pumps. But since our purpose is merely compare foreign and local technologies, we are not going to analyse work of each unit.

The second (and the main) stage of transport water and fertilizer supply to plants' roots is the dripline itself. This entire group is split in two parts, which have distinctive signs:

The main technological differences between "lines" and "tapes" are their designes. Dripline is produced by means of extrusion under high pressure, during which a hard drip (produced beforehand) is weld into dripline, which is produced beforehand. Thus the dripline is an entire product with a local water discharge, which ensures its mechanical stability and watering unifirmity. But the tape is produced by means of agglutination and its drip is a part of it. Therewith, in field conditions deformations or damages made to the tape will also hit the drip, breaking (or even stopping) irrigation process. This disadvantage is absent in driplines, the drips' work is stable not depending on the environmental condition.

There also is one more group of products which can be named "wannabe dripline" tapes (manufactured by Toro, Plastro). At least, this is how Ukrainian distribution companies would call them. In these products the drip is made separately from the pipe, but it also is mounted into the pipe, so they make one whole, that is they share damages and deformations. In either case, the classification given above have never influenced the user's choice of the drips. The final factor was always the balance of the price and the quality. With all the variety of advantages and disadvantages of each pipe type, they all are united by one common feature — it is an inexpensive thin walled drip irrigation pipe, intended for using for 1 vegetational season (abroad) but actually used for 2-4 seasond (in Ukraine). A drip will still function, but one thing is usually missed: the longer using of the pipe is, the larger difference of the drips will be, the less water and nutrients will go to the plants. As the result, the efficiency decreases, money and time are wasted.

It is the quality of the drip proof marks the AZUDLINE pipes out of all the systems mentioned above (these pipes are manufactured by the Spanish company SISTEMA AZUD). AZUDLINE is the thin walled drip irrigation pipe with an integrated drip, it provides best contitions for seasonal crops. Its life is long enough, it is clogging resistent, and also it provides more accurate and more stable irrigation. This is possible due to the special DRIPSAFER protection system, designed by AZUD. The DRIPSAFER technology ensures maximum reliability of the drip's work and prevents the drip from intrusion of participles, which can clog it:

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The AZUDLINE drip also has a labyrinth which makes turbulent flow preventing particles from sedimentation in the flow area. The novelty of its structure is the dentate shape of the channel whose toothing is directed downstream, which make the solid particles to be drawn through the flow area (preventing clogging).

When used, the AZUDLINE pipes show high irrigation density and reliability of the drip's work.

But abroad, you can easily see using of thin walled pipes with an integrated drip! In the fields, there are laid pipes whose walls are 1 mm wide and whose drip can serve during 20 years! For this, several main reasons can be found.

In this connection, the drip irrigation thin walled pipes with an integrated AZUDDRIP drip is the perfect choice for irrigation of vegetables, gardens and vineyards (in condition of flat terrain). The drip irrigation AZUDRIP pipe models (thank to well designed structure and used material) have the best properties when there are changes of water pressures, temperatures and also mechanical impacts. That is way the AZUDRIP pipe became a prototype of a quite a number of drip irrigation pipes used more targetedly. The AZUDRIP drip filter with the AZUD DRIPSAFER technology supplies the drip with maximum protection mechanism, and thus prevents intrusion of dirt and jamming of the drip. On the basis of AZUDRIP pipes (for their reduction in cost), there were designed AZUDRIP COMPACT pipes with shortened drips and thinner walls, AZUD PC-DIS pipes with drips compensating pressure and is intended for using in rugged topography and for long rows, AZUD PCR-DIS pipes with drips compensating pressure and having a self-blocking system. For Ukraine, a brand new item is the AZUD TRELLDRIP pipe.

AZUD TRELLDRIP is a unique irrigation system for the espalier grown crops, uniting three components: pipe + drip + wire. The advanatages of such a system are obvious:

The second component of the durability of the drip irrigation systems is the filtration systems. In our drip irrigation systems, such scheme of equipment layout has been formed:

First, the water goes through preliminary cleaning through the gravel filters. During the process, the water is cleaned of organic impurities. In agriculture, mostly "quick" gravel filters are used - they clean water of large organic participles and microweeds. Wide spread gravel filters are those manufactured by ROSTA company. The list of machinery with different efficiency meets demands of virtually all of the farmers. Our FS-6 filter station found a use in small hot-house farms, adjoining farms, landscape irrigation. The FS-12 filter station - MARS-1 - is very required for irrigation in areas of up to 3 he. FG60 and FG80 filters became a basis for filter station in fields having an area from 10 to 100 he. The quality of the filter stations is tested by time. ROSTA company is a main vendor of gravel filters in Ukraine and the CIS countries. Our filters were sold to Europe, Africa and the USA.

A «slow filter», which can provide complete cleaning of the water of microweeds, was not used in agriculture due to its large sizes and maintenance requirements.

After gravel filters, there usually are set disc ones whose purpose is complete cleaning of the water. The water is filtered when coming through the clearance between impacted grooved discs, and it leaves impurities on their surface, if the former are larger than the clearance.

At large, one can say that the technological process of water cleaning can be perfect, if the work mode was correctly chosen. But, besides the filtration itself, the filters are provided for cleaning (washing) and maintenance, and these procedures are not usually paid with sufficient attention during service, which significantly influences the futher work of the equipment, leads to decreasing quality of filtration and the equipment failures. AZUD HELIX AUTOMATIC filters do not have these disadvantages. Filter stations based on AZUD HELIX AUTOMATIC provide a full cycle of water preparation for drip irrigation and provide perfect cleaning of the filtering elements (thanks to uniquely organized filtration and washing process). The basis of filtration reliability of all AZUD HELIX filters is the special HELIX spiral element patented by AZUD, which twists water at the mouth of the filter and will not allow larger impurities to deposit on the filter's cartridge. In AZUD filters, the blades of the HELIX element are made so the twisting of water occurs in any position of the filter and large impurities are constantly suspended till the washing of the filter, not clogging the cartridge. The HELIX spiral element significantly increases durability of the filtration cycle. The self cleaning disc cartridge of the AZUD HELIX AUTOMATIC filter has a unique structure which allows to produce the back washing in short time (30 sec) with minimum water consumption (which is 3 liter/sec) and does not have evolving contacting parts which makes the structure simple and reliable. AZUD HELIX AUTOMATIC filter stations are supplied with reliable automatic valves operated remotely. The control console feeding voltage (12 V) allows to use filter station without stationary sources of power. One set of batteries is good enough for continuous work during a season. Perfect intgration of every single AZUD HELIX AUTOMATIC components ensures maximum reliability during assemblement, uniting operability with stability and filtration quality, accomplishing the main purpose in this filtration system.

Control of the washing system is made by means of different programmators. One AZUD HELIX AUTOMATIC filter station allows to irrigate tens of thousands hectares. For a Ukrainian farmer this may sound strange, but AZUD HELIX AUTOMATIC filter stations allows to filtrate water directly from open sources without preliminary filtration by gravel filters. This can be achieved due to the filter's structure, described above.

This allows to make the filter station completely unmanned and controlled without involvement qualified staff..

Every year, more Ukrainian farmers make choice in favor of AZUD drip irrigation. Conclusion is simple - if you want to ensure the drip irrigation system's durability, adhere to these basic rules: