Benefits of Automation in Drip Irrigation System

Micro-irrigation technology is now widely accepted by most of the farmers in the world. Drip irrigation was named in Israel in 1959. Drip irrigation also called as micro irrigation or trickle irrigation is a remarkable water saving technology developed decades ago. It is commonly used all over the world in nurseries, greenhouses, landscapes, kitchen gardens and variety of industrial applications. The major amount of fresh water is utilized by the agriculture for irrigation purpose. By using a drip irrigation the water will be maintained at a constant level that is the water will reach the roots drop by drop. Because of increasing demand for freshwater, optimal usage of water resources should be practiced with great extent of automation technology such as solar power, micro controller, sensors, remote control, embedded system etc. 

There are lots of benefits of automation in drip irrigation- the real time useful controlling system for monitoring and controlling all activities of drip irrigation more efficiently. Drip irrigation by automation helps the farmers to apply the right amount of water at right time, regardless of availability of labour. This reduces the wastage of water and improves the crop performance and help saving time in all aspects.

In a study conducted by M. Guerbaoui, Y. El Afou, A. Ed-Dahhak, A. Lachhab and B. Bouchikhi of Moulay Ismail University, Meknes, Morocco the efficacy of automated drip irrigation on water waste management in growing tomato crops were observed. Tomato crops are found to be sensitive to both water deficit and excess water. The average density of greenhouse tomato crops is 18000 plants/ha and the water requirements of tomato by drip irrigation attain 7000 m3/ha [El Attir (2005)]. It was found that computer based drip irrigation control could reduce water consumption by 20% to 30%.

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