MECAG 4203

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MECAG 4203 IRRIGATION PRINCIPLES SPRING 2005
INSTRUCTOR Dr. Michael A. Kizer 228 Ag
Hall 744-8421 (office) 744-5653 (secretary
Pat in 218 Ag Hall) mkizer_at_okstate.edu
OFFICE HOURS Normally available in office
daily Call before
making a special trip to be sure that I am in.
GRADER TBA PREREQUISITE Math 1513
(College Algebra) COURSE MATERIALS Class
notes by Eisenhauer, Martin, and Hoffman
(University of Nebraska) Purchase notes
(Cost ?25) at OSU Bookstore Various class
handouts FINAL EXAM Tuesday, May 1, at
1000-1150 AM in Room 225 AGH
GRADING Homework (35) Hour Exams (40)
Final (25) 100
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Exams are open book and open notes. Homework
will be collected at the beginning of class on
the date due. Late homework may be turned in
(for half credit) up to the beginning of the next
class. For homework turned in after that time,
no credit will be given. Homework is to be done
neatly and in pencil, with the answers clearly
identified. Show all work if you wish to receive
any partial credit for an incorrect answer.
Staple all pages together and be sure your name
is on each page. Attendance is not explicitly a
part of the grading criteria. However experience
has shown that class attendance has a high
correlation with performance on homework and
exams. Its very difficult to learn the material
if you arent in class on a regular basis. In
assigning letter grades at the end of the
semester, the numerical scores will be curved.
In other words, your grade will depend on how
well you perform relative to the rest of the
class, and how well the entire class performs
relative to previous classes. The curve cant
hurt you, meaning that any score above 90 will be
an A, 80-90 will be at least a B, 70-80 at least
a C, and 60-70 at least a D. Academic dishonesty
will not be tolerated. You are encouraged to
discuss concepts and homework problems with your
fellow students, but direct copying of someone
else's homework answers is not allowed. Failure
to work the homework problems yourself is almost
always reflected in poor performance on the
examinations.
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READING ASSIGNMENTS Chapter Topic
Pages 1. Introduction 1-12 2. Soil
Water-Plant Relationships 13-52 3. Measuring
Water Applications 53-76 4. Plant Water
Use 77-123 5. Irrigation System
Performance 124-161 6. Irrigation
Scheduling 162-195 7. Salinity
Management 196-220 8. Irrigation
Hydraulics 221-253 9. Water Delivery
Systems 254-277 10. Surface Irrigation 278-309
11. Sprinklers 310-351 12. Set Move/Traveler
Systems 352-387 13. Center Pivots Lateral
Moves 388-415 14. Microirrigation 416-447 15. La
ndscape Irrigation 448-474
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Reading
Approx. Assignment of
Periods   A. Introduction Class
orientation Chapter 1 1
Importance of irrigation pp. 124-127 159-160
Types of irrigation systems, Irrigation in
OK B. Water Measurement Chapter 3 1
Units Volume balance (QtAd) Flow measurement
C. Soil-Water Relationships Chapter 2 3  
Soil properties Water in soils Infiltration
Soil water measurement  D. Irrigation Water
Requirements Chapter 4 1
Evapotranspiration pp. 127-160
Efficiencies and uniformities System
capacity  E. Irrigation Scheduling Chapter
6 2   Principles Moisture accounting Other
methods  F. Irrigation Water Supply Chapter
9 3 Surface water Ground water and
wells Chapter 7 Water quality Water
law Hour Exam 1 (TBA) 1
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Reading Approx.
Assignment of Periods   G. Pipeline
Hydraulics pp. 222-236 2 Basic
relationships Friction loss pp. 458-464 H.
Pumping Plants   Types of pumps Pump
characteristics Pump selection pp. 237-252 4
Power units Pumping costs  I. Sprinkler
Irrigation pp. 124-125 5 Types of
systems pp. 159-160 System components
Chapter 11 Sprinkler performance
Chapter 12 Hydraulics of laterals
Chapter 13 Other design/management
considerations pp. 448-457 465-473 Hour Exam
2 (TBA) 1 J. Microirrigation pp.
126-127 2 Types of systems System
components p. 159 Emitter and lateral
hydraulics Chapter 14 Other
design/management considerations K. Landscape
Irrigation pp. 126-127 3 Types of
systems Control systems pp. 159-160
Other design/management considerations Chapter
15 Final Exam Tuesday, May 1, 1000 1150 AM
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Class Notes The lecture notes for class are
available online on Dr. Kizers personal web
page http//biosystems.okstate.edu/Home/mkizer/i
ndex.htm The notes are in MS PowerPoint and
can be viewed with the web browser of any campus
computer with a network connection. They can
also be viewed from off-campus computers which
have Internet service. However, be warned that
many of the PowerPoint files are large (1 MB to 8
MB in size). If you do not have a high-speed
cable modem or DSL service, it will take a long
time to read the files via the typical dial-up
internet connection. Once you have finished all
the slides of a particular file (or any time you
want to quit viewing) click on the Back arrow of
your browser and you will be returned to the Home
page.
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If you want to print out copies of the notes for
study or review you can do so by using the
following steps Open the target file by clicking
on the appropriate hypertext title in the class
index On your web browsers tool bar click on
File and then on Print In the interest of saving
trees, I would suggest that you go to the Print
what drop-down menu of the print window and
select Handouts In the Slides per page drop
down menu select 6 (usually the default value).
This will print six, 2-in x 3-in images of the
slides per page, which are typically large enough
to be read easily Click on the OK button.
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Introduction
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Importance of Irrigation

• Definition
• the supply of water to crops and landscaping
  plants by artificial means
• Estimates of magnitude
• world-wide 544 million acres
• (17 of land ? 1/3 of food production)
• U.S. 59 million acres
• (10 of land ? 25 of crop value)
• annual water withdrawal (world-wide) 870
  trillion gallons (6X Mississippi River)

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Purpose

• Raise a crop where nothing would grow otherwise
  (e.g., desert areas)
• Grow a more profitable crop (e.g., alfalfa vs.
  wheat)
• Increase the yield and/or quality of a given crop
  (e.g., fruit)
• Increase the aesthetic value of a landscape
  (e.g., turf, ornamentals)

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Reasons for yield/quality increase

• Reduced water stress
• Better germination and stands
• Higher plant populations
• More efficient use of fertilizer
• Improved varieties

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Other Benefits of Irrigation

• Leaching of salts
• Frost protection
• Plant/soil cooling
• Chemical application
• Wind erosion control
• Waste disposal

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An Historical Perspective

• Nile River Basin (Egypt) - 6000 B.C.
• Tigris-Euphrates River Basin (Iraq, Iran, Syria)
  - 4000 B.C.
• Yellow River Basin (China) - 3000 B.C.
• Indus River Basin (India) - 2500 B.C.
• Maya and Inca civilizations (Mexico, South
  America) - 500 B.C.
• Salt River Basin (Arizona) - 100 B.C.
• Western U. S. - 1800s
• Involvement of federal government - 1900 (only
  about 3 million acres then)

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Types of Systems

• Sprinkler
• pressurized irrigation through devices called
  sprinklers (water is discharged into the air and
  hopefully infiltrates near where it lands)
• used on agricultural and horticultural crops,
  turf, landscape plants
• Surface
• Irrigation water flows across the field to the
  point of infiltration
• primarily used on agricultural crops and orchards
• Micro (drip, trickle)
• frequent, slow application of irrigation water
  using pressurized systems
• used in landscape and nursery applications, and
  on high-value agricultural and horticultural crops

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Rainfall Distribution
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Temperature Profile
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Alfalfa Irrigation Requirement (inches of
irrigation/year)Normal Year
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• Irrigated Acreage in Oklahoma by County
• 2000-
• (x 1000 acres)

90 190 34
20
61
16 21 68
52
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Irrigation in Oklahoma

• 2000 Irrigation Survey
• About 667,000 irrigated acres
• 48 in Cimarron/Texas/Beaver Counties
• 24 in Harmon/Greer/Jackson/Tillman counties
• 9 in Caddo County
• 68 sprinkler irrigation
• 28 surface irrigation
• 4 microirrigation
• 82 using ground water
• 18 using surface water

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Irrigation in Oklahoma

• 51 pumped with natural gas as the energy source
• 23 pumped with LP gas as the energy source
• 20 pumped with electricity as the energy source
• Agronomic crops
• Corn (180,000 acres)
• Wheat (105,000 acres)
• Grain sorghum (57,000 acres)
• Cotton (56,000 acres)
• Alfalfa (98,000 acres)
• Peanuts (60,000 acres)
• Horticultural and turf crops
• Commercial vegetables (15,000 acres)
• Commercial nurseries (5,000 acres)
• Golf courses, parks, sod farms (14,000 acres)
• Orchards (5,000 acres)