The interactive influence of furrow surface seal formation and surge irrigation (intermittent flow) on furrow infiltration into a Portneuf silt loam soil was measured with a recirculating infiltrometer. When the formation of a surface seal was prevented by a layer of cheesecloth laid on the furrow perimeter, flow interruption increased furrow bed bulk density by 100 kg/m 3 and decreased infiltr...

Influence of nonflooding controlled irrigation (NFI) on solubility and leaching risk of soil organic carbon (SOC) were investigated. Compared with flooding irrigation (FI) paddies, soil water extractable organic carbon (WEOC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in NFI paddies increased in surface soil but decreased in deep soil. The DOC leaching loss in NFI field was 63.3 kg C ha⁻¹, reduced by 4...

Polyacrylamide (PAM) is applied to 400000 irrigated hectares annually in the USA to control irrigation-induced erosion, yet the fate of dissolved PAM applied in irrigation water is not well documented. We determined the fate of PAM added to furrow streams under two treatments: Initial-10, 10 mg L(-1) PAM product applied only during the initial hours of the irrigation, and Cont-1, 1.0 mg L(-1) P...

Use of dairy manure to supply crop nutrients is gaining broader acceptance as the cost of fertilizer rises. However, there are concerns regarding manure's effect on water quality. In 2003 and 2004, we measured sediment, NO3-N, NH4-N, K, dissolved reactive P (DRP), and total P (TP) concentrations in runoff from furrow irrigated field plots (6-7 irrigations yr(-1)) cropped to corn (Zea mays L.) i...

This paper examines the impacts of off-farm employment on irrigation water efficiency (IWE) with a set of household level data collected in Hebei Province in North China. A major finding is that households with higher shares of laborers working off-farm locally seem to achieve higher IWEs. The effect of local off-farm employment is greater among those households that have made more efforts to u...

Assessment of soil erosion and sediment yield in furrow irrigation is limited in Samaru-Zaria. Data was collected in 2009 and 2010 and was used to develop a dimensionless model for predicting furrow irrigation-induced erosion (FIIE) using the dimensional analyses approach considering stream size, furrow length, furrow width, soil infiltration rate, hydraulic shear stress, soil erodibility, and ...

The water use efficiency under conventional flood method of irrigation, which is predominantly practised in Indian agriculture, is very low due to substantial conveyance and distribution losses. Recognizing the fast decline of irrigation water potential and increasing demand for water from different sectors, a number of demand management strategies and programmes have been introduced to save wa...

Water management and utilization is an ongoing problem in developing countries with semi-arid to arid climates such as Afghanistan. The lack of effective irrigation systems are oftentimes the most limiting factor for maximizing agricultural productivity in these countries. In Afghanistan, the most widely used irrigation methods are basin/border for cereal crops and furrow for vegetables and gra...