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Optimization of an automatic irrigation system for precision irrigation of blueberries grown in sandy soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2017

G. Egea ,
J. Muñiz  and
A. Diaz-Espejo
G. Egea*
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace Engineering & Fluids Mechanics. Universidad de Sevilla, ETSIA, Ctra. Utrera km 1, 41013 Seville, Spain
J. Muñiz
Affiliation:
Irrigation & Crop Ecophysiology Group, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes, n° 10, 41012 Seville, Spain
A. Diaz-Espejo
Affiliation:
Irrigation & Crop Ecophysiology Group, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes, n° 10, 41012 Seville, Spain
*
†E-mail: gegea@us.es
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Abstract

An experiment was carried out to assess the performance of an automatic irrigation system based on remotely-sensed soil moisture measurements in blueberries grown in sandy soil under plastic tunnels. The system uses the information provided by soil moisture sensors installed at three soil depths (10, 20 and 30 cm) and user-defined irrigation set-points to trigger automatic irrigation events. An Optimized irrigation treatment in which irrigation set-points and duration of irrigation have been determined from soil hydraulic properties analysis and soil water modelling is compared to the irrigation scheduling criteria established by the grower (Control treatment). The results showed that the Optimized treatment applied 30% of the water applied by the Control treatment, led to mild to moderate crop water stress conditions and had no impact on berry yield and quality.

Keywords

automatic irrigationmodellingsoil moistureVaccinium corymbosumwireless
Type
Precision Irrigation
Information
Advances in Animal Biosciences , Volume 8 , Special Issue 2: Papers presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA 2017), John McIntyre Centre, Edinburgh, UK, July 16–20 2017 , July 2017 , pp. 551 - 556
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

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