Program Overview

Introduction to IRR401 Management of Irrigation Systems

This subject examines several approaches to irrigation scheduling, evaluation of irrigation methods, design, management, and evaluation of irrigation methods and conveyance systems, drainage, and soil salinity. It also covers computer simulation software for crop water requirement, irrigation scheduling, and irrigation system design and evaluation. Students are expected to have completed IRR200 or IRR400 before enrolling in this subject, as it builds on the objectives completed in those subjects. The subject is offered for one session, and the grading system is HD/FL. The School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences is responsible for this subject. No offerings have been identified for this subject in 2018. Where differences exist between the Handbook and the SAL, the SAL should be taken as containing the correct subject offering details. The information contained in the 2018 CSU Handbook was accurate at the date of publication: August 2018. The University reserves the right to vary the information at any time without notice. The subject information is accurate as of the date of publication, and any variations will be updated accordingly.

Subject Information

Grading System

The grading system for this subject is HD/FL.

Duration

The subject is offered for one session.

School

The School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences is responsible for this subject.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• appraise a range of methods available for soil water measurement and monitoring
• schedule irrigation systems using different soil-based and plant-based approaches
• apply basic hydraulic principles in the design of pressurized and open channel flow systems
• evaluate the appropriateness of an irrigation system to a particular soil-crop-climate combination
• design pressurized and surface irrigation systems and evaluate their performance

Syllabus

This subject will cover the following topics:

• Irrigation Scheduling and Crop Response, including:
  • Plant response to water
  • Root zone water balance
  • Climate-based methods
  • Soil-based methods
  • Plant-based methods
  • Deficit irrigation
  • Partial root zone drying
• Surface irrigation design, management, and evaluation, including:
  • Infiltration
  • Surface irrigation process
  • Basin irrigation
  • Border irrigation
  • Furrow irrigation
  • Irrigation performance measures
  • Surge irrigation
  • Land leveling
• Sprinkler irrigation implementation and design, including:
  • Types of sprinklers
  • Discharge-pressure relations
  • Distribution uniformity
  • Application rates
  • Hydraulic design
  • Head loss in the lateral
  • Sizing of lateral, submain, and main
  • Selection of sprinklers
• Microsprinklers, including:
  • Types of microsprinklers
  • Selection of microsprinklers
  • Discharge-pressure relationship
  • Hydraulic design
• Subsurface drip, including:
  • Fertigation
  • Filtration techniques
  • Drip irrigation maintenance
• Irrigation pumps, including:
  • Classification of pumps
  • Pump characteristic curves
  • Similarity (Affinity) Laws
  • Pump power
  • Pump selection
• Drainage and Salinity, including:
  • Excess irrigation and groundwater table
  • Methods of subsurface drainage
  • Basic salt balance
  • Methods of dealing with salt
  • Leaching requirements
  • Waste water and recycled water management for irrigation
• Irrigation Conveyance Systems, including:
  • Types of conveyance systems
  • Hydraulics of open channel flow
  • Design of open channel
  • Conveyance structures
  • Discharge measurement