Variable Rate Irrigation for Precision Water management

Abstract

Agricultural sector takes the responsibility of serving an increasing population with freshwater sources that are reduced or depleting. Innovations in irrigation technologies and services enables site-specific use of in-field irrigation water to enhance the accuracy of water use or minimize water use for sustainable agriculture, particularly in arid and semi-arid locations. Recent developments in variable-rate irrigation (VRI) technology, knowledge and information for the implementation of VRI, and the influences of VRI, such as the profitability of the use of this technique, are addressed in this paper, focusing on agricultural variables in the precise water resource management. The invention of sprinklers has made it possible to apply irrigation towards better accuracy at the independent spray control scale. In order to assess VRI prescription map combining various soil and plant features of various ecosystems, more study is needed. System provides required information for realistic VRI implementations, on-farm tests and whole-field investigations are necessary. Modification of the spatial distribution of prescription areas in reference to temporal variability in soil water condition and crop farming practices, that can be assessed by integrating remote and proximal sensing data, also needs to be addressed in future studies. Comprehensive decision-making support techniques are needed to aid the consumer determine where and how to allocate the amount of irrigation water at specific stages of crop growth to maximise the use of water and crop production based on individual weather patterns and crop management.