Objective
Background:
The applied irrigation water is poorly controlled in practice with consequences on water losses and nutrient leaching. Improved tools to control the heterogeneity of water applied at field level are necessary. This requires advances at two levels for overhead irrigation systems: a) water transport from sprinkler to soil surface, including climatic perturbations and b) water and nitrates transfer in the soil, to derive losses and crop results.
The objectives are:
The main objective of this project is to develop an integrated mathematical model, that describes at field scale the heterogeneity of irrigation water application and related transfers, and quantifies its consequences on water losses, nitrates leaching and economic yields.
Short description of the project:
To operate this model, extensive scenarios of realistic farmers' irrigation practices under various European conditions will be used. Field experiments and laboratory tests will be made in view of the investigation and validation of the model, which is a combination of mechanistic, empirical and stochastic techniques, designed in a modular framework.
Funding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
13612 Aix-en-provence Cedex 01
France
Participants (3)
MK45 4DT Cranfield
84917 Avignon
02071 Albacete