New Water-saving Irrigation System Tested
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Technology
New Water-conserving TQITechnology Has Been Successfully Tested in the Growing Area of Hami in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
With the Trace Quantity Irrigation technology, date trees in the test land yield the same output with only 30 percent to 40 percent of the water volume that would be needed with dripirrigation.
The key part of the TQI system is a water-controlling tip that is put underground near crops' roots. The tip delivers water directly to the roots at a speed that's consistent with crops' absorptionrate.
Drip irrigation sends water to the soil through small holes in plasticpipes.
With the same amount of water, the TQI system can irritate twice as much land as with drip irrigation, and more than 10 times that of floodirrigation.
According to Zhu Jun, a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and the inventor of TQI technology, the test project in Hami has achieved several breakthroughs in water-savingirrigation.
Previously, under the drip irrigation system, the flow volume must be higher than 1.36 liters perhour.
However, with TQI technology, the flow volume can be lower than 200 milliliters per hour, making it possible to irrigate the land at a much lower rate of waterflow.
Thus, water use efficiency is greatly improved. One cubic meter of water can be used to irrigate more than 0.4 hectare, which is about 4,000 square meters of land. With drip irrigation, 1 cubic meter of water can irrigate 0.2 hectare, while for flood irrigation it will cover 0.033hectare.
Additionally, a single well can irrigate more land. And only two valves will be needed with TQI, when 20 are necessary for dripirrigation.
The TQI technology can also reduce seepage of fertilisers, improving fertilisers' efficiency and decreasing pollution togroundwater.
The Hami region is one of the most arid growing areas in China, with annual precipitation of less than 50mm.
Xinjiang water authorities said on Aug 26 that the TQI technology not only helps them save water, but also prevents the emitter from becoming blocked, which happens easily in the drip irrigationsystem.
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