Five Types of irrigation

  

Date Posted: 12/9/2012 1:39:36 PM

Posted By: vann  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 1015

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There are mainly five types of irrigation facilities that are used widely today. These comprises surface irrigation, localized irrigation, drip also known as trickle irrigation, sub-surface irrigation and manual irrigation using buckets and watering cans. Surface irrigation is a type whereby water is made to move the land surface by simple gravity in order to wet the soil and to infiltrate into the soil. Surface irrigation can further be subdivided into furrow, border strip and basin irrigation.

Localized irrigation is a system whereby water is distributed under low pressure through a piped network of pipes in a predetermined pattern and applied as a small discharge to each plant or adjacent to it. Other methods of irrigation that belong to localized irrigation include; drip irrigation, spray and bubbler irrigation.

Sprinkler irrigation, also known as overhead irrigation is a system where water is piped to one or more central locations within the field and distributed by overhead high pressure sprinkler or guns. Sub-surface is another type of irrigation that has been used for many years in field crops in areas with high water table. It involves artificially raising

the water table to allow the soils to be moistened from bellow the plant’s root zones. Often this types are located on permanent grasslands in lowlands or river valleys and combined with drainage infrastructure.

The last of the major types of irrigation commonly used is manual irrigation using buckets or watering cans. It is the simplest method of irrigation where a farmer simply draws water from a surface water body such as a river ,dam or a lake using a bucket or a watering can, and applies to the crops in order to add moisture to the crops. It is most applicable in small farms such as a seedling nursery beds or in greenhouses.

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