Improvement the Performance of the Center Pivot Irrigation System under Limited Water Supply to Irrigate Sugar Beet Crop in West West Mania, Egypt.

Abstract

This research aims to explore different strategies to operate the systems of center pivot when facing the problem of limited water supply or not receiving enough water to operate as designed to irrigate the total area. Four different scenarios were evaluated: Irrigated full circle (CP1) control, irrigated three-quarter circle (CP2), irrigated half circle (CP3), and irrigated full circle with removing one span (CP4). The results showed that the distribution uniformity (DU) was excellent for all scenarios, with values of 92.7, 92.8, 93, and 94 for CP1, CP2, CP3, and CP4 respectively. Also, the coefficients of uniformity (CU) values were 94.5, 93.8, 95.2, and 97.9 for CP1, CP2, CP3, and CP4 respectively. The irrigation water productivity was the highest in the CP4 treatment, which was 9.17 kg/m but the lowest value in CP1, which was 6.56 kg/m, which was higher by 39.8% compared to CP1 treatments. The highest yield was obtained for CP4 treatment, which was 28 tons/fed, which was higher by 16.7% compared to CP1 treatments. The irrigation water applied was the highest in the CP1 treatment; it was 3660.5 m/fed but the lowest values in CP4, was: 3053.6 m/fed, the results indicate that the CP4 treatment utilized less water compared to the CP1 treatment, saving water by 16.6%. In conclusion, when of limited irrigation water, the best solution is to remove one of the axis towers from the center pivot which results in the highest yield and irrigation water productivity.