Publication details

Scheduling irrigation is about planning when and how much water to apply to a crop to achieve crop production or a particular quality. The principles of scheduling water apply to all crops, however the critical timing, methods and techniques can vary with the crop.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Safety

  • Importance
  • Hazards associated with irrigation systems

Chapter 3: Environmental impacts of irrigation

  • Importance
  • Sustainable use of irrigation water
  • Management

Chapter 4: The need for water varies

  • Evapotranspiration
  • Water stress and water logging
  • Crop response to stress

Chapter 5: Factors affecting evapotranspiration

  • Weather
  • Crop
  • Other factors
  • Calculating crop evapotranspiration

Chapter 6: Scheduling irrigations

  • Weather-based scheduling
  • Plant-based scheduling
  • Soil-based scheduling

Chapter 7: How soil holds water

  • Soil moisture tension
  • Field capacity
  • Saturation point
  • Refill point
  • Permanent wilting point
  • Plant available water capacity (PAWC)

Chapter 8: Data from soil moisture probes

  • Non-continuous data
  • Continuous data
  • Data display
  • Record keeping

Chapter 9: Do you need a calibrated probe?

  • When calibration is not needed
  • When calibration is needed

Chapter 10: Implementing a deficit strategy

  • Introduction
  • Types of deficit strategy

Chapter 11: Placement of soil probes

  • Introduction
  • Use of Electro-Magnetic (EM) induction soil surveys

Chapter 12: Irrigation water quality

  • Salinity
  • Water pH
  • Sodicity
  • Chloride
  • Calcium carbonate
  • Soluble iron
  • Turbidity
  • Nutrients
  • Pesticides
  • Testing water quality
  • Minimise the effects of irrigating with poor-quality water

Title Irrigation: scheduling
Pages 66  
ISBN 9 781742 567877  
Catalogue number B953  
Year published 2015  
Publisher NSW Department of Primary Industries  
Price $25.00AUD (inc GST)

Jennifer Laffan



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