4 Irrigation

BENEFITS OF IRRIGATION
………….. COMPARED TO COMPLETE DEPENDENCE ON RAINFALL
1. Increase in crop yield:

 by providing the right amount of water at the right time
2. Protection from famine:
 drought risk
3. Cultivation of superior crops:
 yield high return.
 in rain-fed areas is not possible because even with the slight
unavailability of timely water, these crops would die

4. Elimination of mixed cropping:
 in rain-fed areas, farmers have a tendency to cultivate
more than one type of crop in the same field such that even
if one dies without the required amount of water, at least he
would get the yield of the other. However, this reduces the
overall production of the field.
5. Economic development:
6. Hydro power generation:
 using bulb-turbines on canal drops ( like Ganga canal,
Sarada canal, Yamuna canal)
7. Domestic and industrial water supply:
8. Improved in the Ground Water storage
FOUR SUBSYSTEMS OF IRRIGATION
 (i) The water supply subsystem

 diversion from rivers or surface ponds or pumped flow of
ground water.
 (ii) The water delivery subsystem
 canals, branches, and hydraulic structures on these.
 (iii) The water use subsystems,
 (a) surface irrigation, (b) subsurface irrigation, (c) sprinkler
irrigation, and (d) trickle irrigation.
 (iv) The water removal system i.e., the drainage
system.
CLASSIFICATION OF IRRIGATION SCHEMES
…..BASED ON WATER CONVEYANCE SYSTEM
1. Flow irrigation system:

 where the irrigation water is conveyed under gravity
􀂃 Direct irrigation:
 irrigation water is obtained directly from the river, without any
intermediate storage.
 Constructing a weir or a barrage across a river to raise the level
of the river water and thus divert some portion of the river flow
through an adjacent canal,
 Practiced on perennial river in plains ( North India)
􀂃 Reservoir/tank/storage irrigation:
 where storage has been created by construction an obstruction
across the river, like a dam.
 Non Perennial river in Ghats/ platue
2. Lift irrigation system:
 irrigation water is available at a level lower than that of
the land to be irrigated
 and hence the water is lifted up by pumps or by other
mechanical devices for lifting water and conveyed to the
agricultural land through channels flowing under gravity
WATER REQUIREMENT OF CROPS AND
SOIL-WATER RELATIONSHIP
The irrigation engineer should be acquainted with :

• the type of soil,
• soil moisture,
• quality of irrigation water,
•frequency of irrigation
FACTORS AFFECTING THE WATER
REQUIREMENT
(a) Water Table
(b) Climate :
temperature, humidity, wind velocity etc.
(c) Ground Slope
for steeper slopes : water requirement will be
more.
(d) Intensity of Irrigation
( = particular crop area % in CCA)
(e) Type of Soil
(f) Method of Application of water
 surface method: more water
 Sprinkler , Drip Vs flood
(g) Method of Ploughing
 In deep ploughing (by tractor) less water is required(lesser
evaporation)
 Crop Period
period from the time of sowing a crop to the time or
harvesting in. (period in which the crop remains in the
field)
 Base (Base period) B days

period from the first to the last watering of the crop
just before its maturity.
 Delta cm
 Each crop requires certain amount of water per hectare for its
maturity.
 If the total amount of water supplied to the crop (from first to last
watering) is stored on the land without any loss, then there will be
a thick layer of water standing on that land.
 Duty (D) hectares/cumec.
 “number of hectares that can be irrigated by constant supply
of water at the rate of one cumec throughout the base
period”
 Represents irrigation capacity of unit water
 The duty of water is not constant, but it varies with various factors
like soil condition, method of ploughing, method of application of
water, etc.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DUTY & DELTA
Example
Find the delta for a crop if the duty for a base period of 110
days is 1400 hectares/cumec
FACTORS AFFECTING DUTY
Which value to take for
design?
 Problem
Find out the capacity of a reservoir from the following
data. The culturable command area is 8000O hectares.
Assume the canal and reservoir losses as 5% and 10%

respectively.
Calculate the delta values & CCA for each crop
SOILS COMMONLY FOUND IN INDIA
(i) Alluvial Soils:

 include the deltaic alluvium, calcareous alluvial
soils, coastal alluvium, and coastal sands.
 largest and most important soil group of India.
 By rivers of the Indus, the Ganges, and the

Brahmaputra systems.
 These soils vary from drift sand to loams and
from fine silts to stiff clays.
 Very fertile and, hence, large irrigation schemes
 Strong foundation problem.

(ii) Black Soils:
 Vary in depth from a thin layer to a thick
stratum.
 Deccan trap black cotton soil. It is common in
Maharashtra, western parts of MP, parts of AP,
parts of Gujarat, and some parts of TN
 vary from clay to loam and are also called heavy
soils.
 Many black soil areas have a high degree of
fertility but some, especially in the uplands, are
rather poor.
 rice and sugarcane, cotton, banana etc.
 Drainage is poor
(iii) Red Soils:
 These are crystalline soils formed due to meteoric
weathering of the ancient crystalline rocks.
 TN, Karnataka, Goa, south-eastern Maharashtra, eastern
Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, and some
districts of WB and UP.
 Many of the so-called red soils of south India are not red.
(iv) Lateritic Soils:

 Laterite rock is composed of a mixture of the hydrated oxides
of aluminium and iron with small amounts of manganese
oxides.
(v) Desert Soils:
From agricultural considerations, the following soil

characteristics are of particular significance.
 (i) Physical properties of soil,
 (ii) Chemical properties of soil
FIELD CAPACITY
 ―The water remaining in the soil after the removal of
gravitational water‖
 “The moisture content of a deep, permeable, and well-drained soil
several days after a thorough wetting.‖
Wfc = (Ww/Ws).
FIELD IRRIGATION REQUIREMENT(FIR)
 Plants growth stages:

 Vegetative, flowering( max consumptive use), and
fruiting.
 Note: harvested during different stages of crop
growth.
 For example, leafy vegetables are harvested during
the vegetative stage and flowers are harvested during
the flowering stage. Most crops (such as potatoes,
rice, corn, beans, bananas, etc.) are harvested during
the fruiting stage.
 Irrigation efficiency is the ratio of irrigation
water consumed by crops of an irrigated field to
the water diverted from the source of supply.
POTENTIAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION(D ) ET
1) Method1: correlating with pan evaporation
K is the crop factor for that period
Assumption:
climatic conditions affecting crop water loss (Det) and evaporation from a
free surface of water (Ep) are the same.,
2) Method 2 : estimations based on various

climatic parameters.
FREQUENCY OF IRRIGATION
primarily depends on:

(i) the water needs of the crop,
(ii) the availability of water, and
(iii) the capacity of the root-zone soil to store water.
 Shallow-rooted crops generally require more

frequent irrigation than deep-rooted crops.
 A moderate quantity of soil moisture is beneficial.
Both excessive and deficient amount of soil
moisture retard the crop growth
.
DETERMINING FREQUENCY OF IRRIGATION
 the average moisture content is close to the

optimum and at each irrigation the soil moisture
content is brought to the field capacity.
 Alternatively, satisfy the daily consumptive use
requirement which varies with stage of growth.
 Thus, frequency of irrigation is calculated by
dividing the amount of soil moisture which may
be depleted (i.e., allowable depletion below field
capacity and well above permanent wilting point)
within the root-zone soil by the rate of
consumptive use. Thus,
 The depth of watering at each irrigation to bring
the moisture content w to the field capacity wfc in
a soil of depth d can be determined from the
following relation
Intensity of Irrigation(ICA)
• Because of the limits on the supply of irrigation water as well as
other factors, it is generally not possible to irrigate all culturable
command area.
• The ratio of the resultant irrigated area to the culturable
command area is termed intensity of irrigation.
• Its value is 62 per cent for the Bhakra project.
• The intensity of irrigation is an index of the actual performance of
the irrigation system.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CROP WATER
REQUIREMENT AND IRRIGATION
REQUIREMENT

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BENEFITS OF IRRIGATION

………….. COMPARED TO COMPLETE DEPENDENCE ON RAINFALL

1. Increase in crop yield:

unavailability of timely water, these crops would die

 (i) The water supply subsystem

1. Flow irrigation system:

The irrigation engineer should be acquainted with :

 Base (Base period) B days

Assume the canal and reservoir losses as 5% and 10%

(i) Alluvial Soils:

 By rivers of the Indus, the Ganges, and the

 Strong foundation problem.

(iv) Lateritic Soils:

(v) Desert Soils:

From agricultural considerations, the following soil

 Plants growth stages:

1) Method1: correlating with pan evaporation

K is the crop factor for that period

2) Method 2 : estimations based on various

primarily depends on:

(ii) the availability of water, and

(iii) the capacity of the root-zone soil to store water.

 Shallow-rooted crops generally require more

 the average moisture content is close to the

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