FARM PRECISION IRRIGATION AND SUSTAINABLE

WATER MANAGEMENT AT BASIN SCALE FOR

DIFFERENT CROP TYPES AND CLIMATE

Professor Marco Mancini Tallat Mehmood

Supervisor PhD Student

Scuola di Ingegneria Industriale e dell’Informazione
Department
LaureaofTriennale
Civil and– Enviornmental Engineering
Ingegneria Energetica
Introduction

• Deep percolation(DP) reduces water use efficiency in paddy field and accounts
for 50–80% of water input (Belder et al., 2007; Cesari de Maria et al., 2016)

• Deterministic soil water flux models based on the classical Richards equation,
HYDRUS-1D (Simunek et al., 1998) provide accurate computations of DP (Liu et al.,
2006)

• Soil amendment is considered as one of the best management practices by

researchers, which improve the water and nutrient retention of soil, water
percolation, drainage, aeration, and soil structure resulting in better plant
growth (Abdollahi et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2015; Saha et al., 2020b; Tuong et al., 1994; Bouman
et al., 1994; Kukal S.S & Aggarwal G.C. (2002); B.Goitom et al., 2016; Kalita et al., 2020;
P.K.Sharma et al., 1995)
Review: Possible Soil Amendments

1. Puddling
Plowing the field under water-saturated conditions to enhance water retention and
reduce deep percolation (B.Goitom et al., 2016; Behera B.K et al., 2009; Tuong et al., 1994;
Bouman et al., 1994; Kukal S.S & Aggarwal G.C. (2002); P.K.Sharma et al., 1995; Guerra L.C. et
al.,1998; G.Kirchhof et al., 2000)

2. Compaction
It reduces pore size distribution to achieve desired density, soil is plowed, harrowed,
fertilized and brought to optimum moisture content for compaction by one to more
passes of a cylindrical roller of known dimension and mass over the soil surface
(R.P.Agarwal et al., 1986; R.P.Agarwal et al., 1991; P.K.Sharma et al., 1995 : Lowery and Schuler
(1991); Logsdon et al., 1992; Singh et al., 2015)
Review: Possible Soil Amendments

3. Plastic Sheet Barrier

Plastic sheet burried at rootzone depth can improve rice productivity and decrease percolation.
(M.C.S.Wopereis et al., 1994; Memon M.S. et al., 2018; He H et al., 2013)

4. Adding Clay Content

Clay-soil is reported to be able to affect the organic C sequestration and the water and nutrients
holding capacity (Herwati A et al., 2021; Riaz M. & Marschner P. (2020); Schapel A. et al., 2018;
Schapel A. et al., 2018)

5. Biochar Addition
It is a carbon-rich, solid by-product obtained from agricultural and forestry biomasses
Pyrolysis affecting some soil physical properties such as texture, structure, porosity and pore size
distribution, available water capacity and soil drainage properties (T.J Lim et al., 2016; A.Libutti et
al., 2019 ; A.N.A.Haque et al., 2021 ; A.Obia et al., 2016; M.O Omondi et al., 2016)
Review: Possible Soil Amendments

6. Soil Absorbant Polymers

Superabsorbent hydrogels also termed as water-absorbing can absorb and retain
large quantities of water and solute molecules in a swollen state, it can increase the
water holding capacity of the soil and reduce the water stress condition (Akhter et al.,
2004; Koupai et al., 2008; Saha et al., 2020a; Renkuan Liao et al., 2016; A.Saha et al., 2020)

7. Addition of Bentonite
It is a clay smectite mineral which solves problems related to drought stress, soil
degradation and increases soil moisture and soil water storage (J. Me et al., 2020; J. Me
et al., 2017; O. Mohawesh & W. Durner (2019); R. Talebnezhad & A.R. Sepaskhah (2013; Ibrahim-
Saeedi F, Sepaskhah AR. (2011)
 Research Activity

Field Experiment

Data Collection
Laboratory Numerical
Analysis Land Preparation
Analysis
Crop Data Soil Data Meteorological
(Pot Experiments Data (Soil Hydraulic
and Field Soil parameters will
Sampling before No be analysed by
and during trials Puddling Compaction Plastic Sheet soil moisture a&
Amendment
for soil physical water balance
and hydraulic tools like
properties ARMOSA or
T T T T T T T T T T T T
analysis) HYDRUS)
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

• Sharma, P. K., Ingram, K. T., & Harnpichitvitaya, D. (1995). Subsoil compaction to improve water use efficiency and yields of rainfed lowland rice
in coarse-textured soils. In Soil & Tillage Research (Vol. 36)
• Kukal, S. S., & Aggarwal, G. C. (n.d.). (2002) Percolation losses of water in relation to puddling intensity and depth in a sandy loam rice (Oryza
sativa) field.
• Goitom, B., Tripathi, R. P., Ogbazghi, W., & Weldeslassie, T. (2016). Effect of Puddling and Compaction on Water Requirements of Rice at
Hamelmalo, Eritrea. Computational Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, 05(02), 27–37. https://doi.org/10.4236/cweee.2016.52003
 Soil Profile Amendments

Loamy (Top Soil) Loamy (Top Soil) Loamy

Puddling upto 6in Compaction upto
(Top Soil)
Hard Pan 10in
Hard Pan Loamy Sand
Loamy Sand Loamy Sand
(Sub Soil) (Sub Soil)
(Sub Soil) Plastic Sheet

Sandy Loam Sandy Loam Sandy Loam

c) Compaction (soil is plowed, d) Plastic Sheet Barrier under Sub soil at

a) Soil Profile Overview b) Puddling Break down of soil harrowed, fertilized and brought to 10-15in
aggregates into ultimate micro optimum moisture content for
aggregates to a depth of upto 6inches compaction by one to more passes of a
cylindrical roller of known dimension
and mass over the soil surface
• Sharma, P. K., Ingram, K. T., & Harnpichitvitaya, D. (1995). Subsoil compaction to improve water use efficiency and yields of rainfed lowland rice in coarse-textured
soils. In Soil & Tillage Research (Vol. 36)
• Kukal, S. S., & Aggarwal, G. C. (n.d.). (2002) Percolation losses of water in relation to puddling intensity and depth in a sandy loam rice (Oryza sativa) field.
• Goitom, B., Tripathi, R. P., Ogbazghi, W., & Weldeslassie, T. (2016). Effect of Puddling and Compaction on Water Requirements of Rice at Hamelmalo, Eritrea.
Computational Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, 05(02), 27–37. https://doi.org/10.4236/cweee.2016.52003
 Soil Profile Amendments

Loamy (Top Soil) Loamy (Top Soil) Loamy (Top Soil) Loamy (Top Soil)
Adding Clay Adding Biochar Soil Absorbant Bentonite Clay
Polymers
Loamy Sand Loamy Sand Loamy Sand Loamy Sand
(Sub Soil) (Sub Soil) (Sub Soil) (Sub Soil)

Sandy Loam Sandy Loam Sandy Loam Sandy Loam

g) Soil Absorbant Polymers that can h) Bentonite is a smectite clay mineral

e) Adding Clay Content f) Biochar is charcoal
absorb and retain large quantities of
upto 10-20 tons/ha product from pyrolysis of
water and solute molecules in a swollen
biomass 10-30 tons /ha
state 30-40kg/ha
• Herawati, A., Mujiyo, Syamsiyah, J., Baldan, S. K., & Arifin, I. (2021). Application of soil amendments as a strategy for water holding capacity in sandy soils. IOP Conference Series: Earth and
Environmental Science, 724(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/724/1/012014
• Lim, T. J., Spokas, K. A., Feyereisen, G., & Novak, J. M. (2016). Predicting the impact of biochar additions on soil hydraulic properties. Chemosphere, 142, 136–144.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.06.069Goitom, B., Tripathi, R. P., Ogbazghi, W., & Weldeslassie, T. (2016).
• Liao, R., Wu, W., Ren, S., & Yang, P. (2016). Effects of Superabsorbent Polymers on the Hydraulic Parameters and Water Retention Properties of Soil. Journal of Nanomaterials, 2016.
https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/5403976
• Mi, J., Gregorich, E. G., Xu, S., McLaughlin, N. B., Ma, B., & Liu, J. (2017). Effect of bentonite amendment on soil hydraulic parameters and millet crop performance in a semi-arid region. Field
Crops Research, 212, 107–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2017.07.009
 Possible Outcomes

• Evaluation of best soil profile amendment technique as hydraulic barrier for reducing percolation losses
• Quantifying seasonal water losses from a paddy field, such as deep percolation will assist in estimation of water
availability to the rice crop and development of appropriate water management starategies in different soil profiles
in phenological stages of rice crop
• This activity will contribute to the water use efficiency improving irrigation systems of rice crop up to 20-40% of
seasonal water use per hectare and quantification of water balance parameters.
• Soil moisture dynamic and crop water needs will be then computed at present and future time considering
different irrigation techniques.
• This study will help to evaluate paddy water availability and productivity across various soils amendments.
• Strategies to manage and optimize irrigation and crop production will be concluded according to soil and crop
characteristic