The Ultimate Guide for Drip Irrigation (2018)

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About the author View All Posts amar sawant Amar Sawant is an entrepreneur, farmer, and writer. He works more than ten
years as agri-entrepreneur. Always busy in farm to find something new.
May 8, 2018

This Guide will teach you everything you need to know about Drip Irrigation.

Components Of Drip irrigation system

Cost of installation

Government subsidy

And Guidelines For Maintenance and much other valuable information that I’ve never
shared anywhere else before.

Let’s get started…

The available water for agriculture is decreasing day by day due to increase in population,
industrialization, and short rainfall. it has become essential to use modern irrigation
technologies like Drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation in agriculture

Drip irrigation means providing the required quantity of water directly to the root zone of
Crop plants through a network of small pipes this is also called micro-irrigation or trickle
irrigation.

This is the most efficient irrigation technique.

In Drip irrigation system water supplies to plant roots through a collection of plastic pipes,
lateral tubes, and valves. These components, controlled with the help of dripper and water
pump. with help drip irrigation system it is become easy to provide liquid fertilizer to plant
root system.

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Table of Contents

Drip Irrigation Advantages

Components Of Drip irrigation system
1) Water Pump
2) Filter unit
a) Media (Sand/ Garval) Filters
b) Hydrocyclone Filter
c) Screen Filter:
c) Disc Filter:
3) MainLine:
4) Submain:
5) Laterals:
6) Drippers:
a) Online Dripper:
b) Inline Dripper:
7) Fertilizing Unit
8)Pressure Gauge:
8) Controls Valves
9) Flush Valve:
10) Non-Return Valve
11) Air valve
12) End cap
Types of Drip Irrigation System
1) Surface drip system
2) Sub-surface drip system
Drip Irrigation System suitable for this crop
Drip Irrigation System Cost
Government subsidy for drip irrigation
List of Top Drip irrigation companies
Guidelines For Maintenance Of Drip irrigation system
A. General care
B. Clean the filters.
1. Sand filter:
2. Screen Filters/ dice filter:
3. Submain pipe and Laterals tubes:
C. Chemical Treatment:
1. Acid Treatment:
2. Chlorine reaction:
Drip Irrigation Disadvantages/ Limitation
1) Persistent Maintenance Requirements
2) Economic – Initial cost
3) Salinity Hazards
4) Technical knowledge

Drip Irrigation Advantages

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 1. Drip irrigation Saves water around 30% – 60% as compared to flood irrigation
2. It is observed that crop yield increase up to 230%.
3. Fertilizer use efficiency increase by 30 percent
4. Reduce Weed growth
5. Save Labour and electricity cost is much significantly less than other irrigation
methods.
6. For drip irrigation, Field leveling isn’t vital.
7. Easy to maintain Moisture near the root zone
8. Water supply is extremely optional, controlled by way of each nozzle.
9. Help to reduce Soil erosion
10. Enable the use of saline water for irrigation

Components Of Drip irrigation system

Drip irrigation system is made up of the water pump, filter unit, mainline, sub-mainline,
lateral pipes, dripper and other accessories such as control valves, pressure gauge,
Fertilizer tank/venturi, end cap etc.

1) Water Pump
A pump of a suitable capacity Water pump is used to supply water through the components
of the drip irrigation system at a specific level of pressure.

If the source of a water supply is a bore well, open well or a Canal there is the possibility of
organic and inorganic foreign bodies in the water. In this case, use the suction filter to get
relatively clean water.

The electric motors or diesel engines are the common prime mover of the pump. Recently
the solar pump is being used to popularize it for drip irrigation purposes.

2) Filter unit

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There should be a good quality filter in control head installation of a drip system. The filter
uses to clean the suspended impurities of water supplied by the pump before it reaches to
drippers. Impurities in irrigation water may cause blockage the holes and passage of
drippers.

The success of drippers is greatly depending on the performance of the filter

A filter unit cleans irrigation water impurities that are suspended and prevent blockage of
holes. there is various type of filter available in the market.

There are Three Types of filters namely Hydrocyclone Filter, Media filter, and Screen or Disk
filter available.

Suitable filters are installed according to the impurities found in the source of water.

If the source of water is a bore well with less of physical impurities you can install only
screen filter.

If the source of water is an open well or a Canal install screen or disc filter along with sand
filter and Hydrocyclone Filter.

To work drip irrigation system properly two-stage filter unit is used.

a) Media (Sand/ Garval) Filters

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These filters come as the primary filter unit, and this is
powerful against inorganic suspended solids, biological
materials, and other organic substances.

Media Filter consists of fine gravel and sand of selected sizes

placed in a pressurized tank. It helps to remove organic
substance such as algae and other vegetative substance
present in the water.

The filters are made up of a circular tank filled with layers of

coarse sand and different sizes of gravel with a provision of
valves or flushing the filter assembly in case of clogging.

The media filters are available in different sizes ranging from

500 to 900 mm diameter with an output of 15 to 50 Cu.M.
respectively.

Gravel filter or sand filter is vital for the open reservoir, even where algae growth occur in
the water source.

b) Hydrocyclone Filter

If the irrigation water contains more sand particle,

hydro-cyclone type filters are removed this sand particle
by creating centrifugal force and spins out sand from
water.

The Hydro-cyclones Filter generates a spinning activity

causing the sand particles to separate out of the water
and be trapped in a storage tank at the bottom of this
device.

Hydro-cyclone type filters are produced in various sizes

for different discharge capacity.

c) Screen Filter:

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In general, the screen filter consists of a single or double
perforated cylinder placed in a plastic or metallic container
for removing the impurities.

Generally, 100 to 200 mesh screens are used in this type of

filters. It must be cleaned and inspected periodically for
satisfactory operation of any drip system.

Screen filer is installed with or without gravel filter, depend upon

the quality of irrigation water. The screen filter is made up of non-
corrosive plastic or metal substance.

c) Disc Filter:

Disc filter comes as part of the secondary

filter unit. Multiple circular discs filter
water. it is made up of high-quality
plastic material

3) MainLine:
The mainline transfers the total amount of water for the irrigation system. It connects the
different sub-mains to a water source. The main pipes are commonly made of flexible
material such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or plastics.

The mainline pipe pass water from the filtration unit to the sub-main pipe. The diameter of
this pipe depends upon drips irrigation system flow capacity, normally 2.5 – 4 Inch
diameter PVC pipe used as main-line.

Mainline & sub-main should be installed in a Telescopic manner that is the pipe with a
larger diameter should be connected first followed by pipes with a smaller diameter. this
arrangement helps to maintain uniform pressure in the system.

Mainline should be buried at least 45 centimeters to prevent them getting damaged during
cultural operation.

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4) Submain:
The sub-main feed to the laterals on one or both sides. It is made of either of medium
density polyethylene (PE) or PVC. There should be a balance between the diameter of
the main and sub-mains.

These are determined in consideration to rate of discharge, number of sub-mains, and

friction losses in pipes

5) Laterals:

Laterals are made up of low-density polyethylene (LDP) or linear low-density polyethylene

(LLDPE) material and available in different size 12 mm, 16mm, and 20 mm.

Based on the availability of water, crop and spacing 12 millimeter 16-millimeter laterals
install.

6) Drippers:
Drippers also called emitters. The dripper is discharging water from the lateral pipe to the
soil.

drippers are generally manufactured from poly-propylene materials.

Mainly, two types of dripper are available in the market. Online Dripper and Inline Dripper

a) Online Dripper:

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In this type of dripper, they placed on lateral, so it is
called online dripper. these drippers are fixed on the
lateral by punching suitable size holes in the pipe

This type of dripper use for mostly for Orchard Crops

like coconut, pomegranate, guava, etc. the capacity of
discharge of water available 2L/hour, 4L/hour and 8L
/hour.

b) Inline Dripper:
In this type, dripper placed inside the lateral pipe. The
distance between two drippers is same. There are
three types available inline dripper.

Non-Pressure Compensating Drippers (NPC): This is

a very simple dripper, which does not maintain uniform
pressure

Pressure Compensating Drippers (PC): This dripper is

more advanced, it maintains uniform pressure in all dripper. it mostly uses for the
greenhouse crop, the price of this dripper slightly high.

Non-Draining Drippers: This dripper is mainly used in soilless like medium

likecocopits,Perlite and Vermiculite.

7) Fertilizing Unit

The direct application of fertilizer through drip irrigation has

increased the efficient use of fertilizer along with saving in labour
and money.

With the help of this fertilizing unit, liquid fertilizer is provided to the
plant through a drip irrigation system.

Application of fertilizer into irrigation system is done by either a by-

pass pressure tank or by venture pump or direct
injection system.

8)Pressure Gauge:

It is used to determine water pressure in the drip irrigation system.

8) Controls Valves
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This value used for control water flow. They made up of
plastic and iron material

9) Flush Valve:
The flush valve is placed at the end of the sub-Maine pipe it uses to
flush out dirt.

10) Non-Return Valve

Non -return valve is useful to stop return water toward the

water pump.

11) Air valve

It helps to prevent sucking of mud by the drippers and release air in the drip
irrigation system.

12) End cap

The end cap is used to close the one end of the lateral pipe, they remove at the time of
cleaning.

Types of Drip Irrigation System

Their many types available in drip irrigation here only two popular type is explained.

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1) Surface drip system
In surface drip system the emitter and lateral pipe are placed on the soil surface. This is the
most common and popular type of drip system.

It is suitable for wide-spaced plants as well as for row crop. It is easy to use a surface drip
to observe and inspect, change and clean the emitters, observe surface moisture patterns
and measure individual emitted discharge rates.

2) Sub-surface drip system

in subsurface drip irrigation system the lateral is placed below the ground and near to the
plant root zone area. in this system, water is slowly applied below the surface through the
emitters.

Sub-surface drip systems have gained wider acceptance due to a removal of earlier
problems of clogging at a large extent.

Due to the sub-surface drip method, there is less intervention in agriculture or any cultural
practices and possibly more operational life.

Sub-surface drip system provides little interference with cultivation or any cultural practices
and possibly longer operational life.

Drip Irrigation System suitable for this crop

Crop Type Crop

Vegetables Tomato, Capsicum, Cabbage, Chilly,

Cauliflower, Onion, Brinjal, Bitter Gourd,
Ridge Gourd, Peas, Cucumber, Pumpkin,
Spinach etc

Cash Crops Sugarcane, Tobacco, Cotton

Poyhouse crop Gerbera, Dutch rose, Carnation, Anthurium,

Lily, Orchids, Strawberry etc

Plantation Crop Coffee, Coconut, Tea, Rubber, etc

Orchard Crops Banana, Grapes, Citrus, Orange,

Pomegranate, Mango, Guava,
Pineapple, Cashewnut, Coconut,
Papaya, Watermelon, Muskmelon,
Litchi, Lemon, etc

Drip Irrigation System Cost

The Cost of drip irrigation system installation depends upon various factors, like what kind
of crop you are sowing, type of terrain, quality of soil, sowing pattern, water quality, quality
of drip material, manufacture company of drip irrigation system and design of the drip
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irrigation system.

Drip irrigation system cost per acre For vegetable crop will come around Rs. 50,000–
65,000 per acre approximately and For fruits crop, if they are planted in the 3X3
pattern cost per acre for drip irrigation system come around 35,000- 40,000 approximately.

Government Suggestive cost of drip Irrigation system:

Ref: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)

If you using non-ISI material your initial cost for one acre come around 20,000-25,000 rupee
for the vegetable crop but the life of non-ISI material for 2-3 years with high maintenance
cost . while the life of ISI material is 7-10 years with low maintenance.

Government subsidy for drip irrigation

The subsidy available for Drip irrigation in India under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee
Yojana (PMKSY). The government of India gives subsidy per beneficiary up to 5 hectares.
There has been financial assistance under different categories and depending upon the
category of States for dessert, drought, hilly and other regions of the country. for more
detail check PMKSY website or contact nearest agriculture office.

List of Top Drip irrigation companies

These are Top Drip irrigation manufacturer company in India

1. Netafim Irrigation
2. Jain irrigation system
3. Finolex Plasson Industries

Guidelines For Maintenance Of Drip irrigation system

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Drip irrigation is a mechanical system. Which performs at a specific pressure of water, if
the system has to perform well for a long time the pressure should be properly maintained.

Even if good quality materials are used and installed in a scientific manner, there is a
possibility of failure. if the field maintenance is not proper and regular therefore
management of drip irrigation system is very important.

Follow these guidelines to maintain drip irrigation system –

A. General care
1. Check all Working emitters or Dripper, Inspect the water leakage and make Sure that
water is uniformly distributing all of the corners of this plot/field.
2. Check water dispensation area If their dry patches are found increase drip irrigation
operation time.
3. If a twist, fold, cut, puncher is observed on lateral, sub-main, valve correct
it immediately.

B. Clean the filters.

The filter is the main part of the drip irrigation set. if the filter is not working properly there
is the major chance of complete drip irrigation system Failure.

1. Sand filter:
Clean sand filter after every week. Backwashing facility available in sand filter uses this by
allowing water flow through the lid instead of the water valve and stir the sand in the filter.
So, the waste which is sitting at the bottom will come and go out of the water

2. Screen Filters/ dice filter:

Open the lid and remove the mud and garbage trapped. Open the filter and remove the
filings and rubber seals and clean it on both sides.

3. Submain pipe and Laterals tubes:

Sometimes a fine particle, dirt pass through filter and store in the main and sub-main tubs,
Laterals, Therefore, to clear these tubes, remove the end cap, Flush Valve and let the water
flow. Do this until the clean water come.

C. Chemical Treatment:
The drippers are stopping working due to various alkali
If the amount of carbonate, bicarbonate, chlorides, sulfur, manganese, and calcium, sulfur
sulfate is higher in water, yellowish dots appear, and the reddish dots appear on dripper
and if the amount of iron is high red spot appear on dripper following treatment carried out.

1. Acid Treatment:

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Acid treatment useful for though dripper and laterals blocked by various chemical
impurities including fertilizer residue. This impurity can be removed by treating the system
either with hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid or nitric acid among this hydrochloric acid at
25% dose is best for the acid treatment.

Method:

Take required amount of hydrochloric acid in water. Inject it into the system through the
Venturi or fertigation tank. The system is filled with water allow acid solution into the
system until the pH of 4. A check pH with litmus paper for both at the starting and the last
dripper. close the system for 24 hours.
The acidified water in the system reacts with the salts deposited in the system and
dissolves it. After 24 hours they are acidifying water along with the dissolved solids comes
out of the system by flashing.

2. Chlorine reaction:
Chlorination is useful to remove the biological impurities collected in the drip irrigation
system chlorination can be done either by using calcium hypochlorite, sodium hypochlorite,
chlorine or calcium hydrochloride or bleaching powder.

Method
Dissolve the required quantity of bleaching powder in water one day before treatment. This
solution is let into the system through Venturi or fertigation tank and allow it to stay in the
system for 24 hours. after that open the end caps of the lateral and run the system for
about an hour so that the impurities are thrown out of the system

Drip Irrigation Disadvantages/ Limitation

Despite observed successes, some problems have been encountered in the mechanics of
applying water with drip equipment for some soils, water qualities, and environmental
conditions. Some important limitations are described below:

1) Persistent Maintenance Requirements

Dripper clogging is considered the most serious problem in Drip irrigation unless preventive
measures are taken. It is, therefore, necessary that water should be filtered properly.

Besides this, salts and chemical deposits can be deposited in emitter or lateral pipe this
leads Clogging it will adversely affect the rate and uniformity of water application, increase
maintenance costs, and result in crop damage and decreased yield, if not detected early
and corrected timely.

Other maintenance problems include pipeline leaks and cracking of the tubes. Rodents,
Coyote, rabbits, and dogs can chew and damage dripline, and ants and other insects
occasionally have enlarged openings in drip tubings.

2) Economic – Initial cost

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As the equipment requirements are numerous with drip irrigation, initial investment and
annual costs may be high when Compared with surface or portable sprinkler irrigation
systems.

The actual prices of drip irrigation system equipment will vary greatly depending on the
types of crops, grades of pipelines, filtration equipment, and fertilization equipment etc.,

3) Salinity Hazards
If the drip system is used under saline conditions, they should be taken extra care
to manage drip irrigation work properly.

4) Technical knowledge
High skill is required for drip irrigation system design, installation, and subsequent
operation.

Technical improvements in the designs of emitters, fittings, filters etc., have been
necessary;

The development procedures for preventing or correcting emitter clogging and equipment
failure have been difficult, and the development of the proper methods for injection of
fertilizers and other chemicals has sometimes been a
Problem.

A higher level of design management and maintenance is required with drip than other
irrigation methods.

Image source :

www.indiamart.com
www.wikipedia.org

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