DESIGN CRITERIA FOR MICROIRRIGATION SYSTEMS

The design criteria for microirrigation systems were determined using an economic analysis of optimal irrigation scheduling and the expected relative return. The analysis was based on the cost of water, crop price, sensitivity of the crop to deficit irrigation conditions, and the cost associated with deep seepage causing the loss of fertilizer and chemicals, environmental pollution, and groundwater contamination. The design criteria were selected to achieve 80% of the maximum crop production return and for various uniformity expressions. A simple table was presented to determine design criteria for the Uniformity Coefficient (UC) the Coefficient of Variation (CV) and the Emission Uniformity (EU) based on the availability of water resources and considerations of environmental pollution and groundwater contamination.