Advanced Micro Irrigation Techniques

Abstract

Problem statement: Indian agriculture’s food basket has grown like a giant elephant with the advent of the green revolution, and later on, the micro irrigation task force came into existence in India. With the growing population, food requirement has to shoot up. Hence, productivity should be increased. With the advent of micro irrigation techniques, the area under irrigation increased enormously, and the footprint of the crop yields reached a pinnacle, ranging from horticultural to field crops, etc. Objectives: Micro irrigation techniques are trekking towards doubling the farm income by increasing productivity, i.e., doubling the farmer’s income, and increasing water use efficiency in a bi-directional mode as resource enhancement and judicious use of resources on the other. Traditional micro irrigation methods cost more for farm installation, which is a big financial task that hinders adoption and leaves farmers looking for government policy support. There is a dire need to address this issue; alternate, best, and most effective systems must be facilitated for the farmer at an affordable price. In this context, rain port irrigation and laser irrigation viz., are innovative, highly efficient conveyance systems with higher water use efficiency and are available in an affordable price range for small and marginal farmers to bring more area under micro irrigation to achieve more harvest in a wide range of crops. Critical numerical findings: These systems have an edge-cutting advantage over the existing micro irrigation systems (sprinkler and drip) in terms of cost, ease of operation, water use efficiency, etc. Furthermore, they can be adopted for a wide range of crops, like both agriculture and horticulture, and other micro irrigation systems with single-man handling operations. This type of system has advantages over other micro irrigation systems in terms of increasing the harvestable basket, water use efficiency, and water conservation. Conclusion: The laser irrigation and rain port irrigations are alternate to drip and sprinkler irrigations, respectively. They could be used in a wide range of crops with precise water delivery system, easy to handle, one farmer can irrigate the entire field, unlike in sprinkler irrigation where carrying and installation require 2–3 man labourers. The droplet size and the pressure with which it exerts on ground are less compared to sprinkler irrigation leads creating lower bulk density and high porosity, causing better root growth and nodule formation in groundnut. The availability of nutrients is higher in laser spray irrigation followed by rain port mini sprinkler system and sprinkler irrigation.