Analysis of Soil and Irrigation Management: A Report on Murray System

This report provides an analysis of soil and irrigation management practices, with a specific focus on the Murray Irrigation system in Australia. It covers background information on the irrigation project, including water supply quality, soil type, cropping systems, and application methods. The report details the installation requirements for the irrigation project, including pump specifications, system components, and installation procedures. It also addresses the effectiveness and efficiency of the irrigation system, outlining checking procedures and evaluation standards. Furthermore, the report explores various techniques used in evaluating irrigation system performance and discusses strategic management approaches. The analysis includes water calculations for different crop stages and considers various irrigation options like drip, center pivot, and flood irrigation, ultimately recommending a trickle system based on the soil's water retention capacity. Desklib offers a variety of solved assignments and study resources for students.

SOIL AND IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT
By Name
Course
Instructor
Institution
Location
Date

Introduction
In Australia, sustainability is very important as far as the drivers of the policies are
concerned. Nearly all the regulations that are used are meant to solve the water shortage.
Reduction of the uses of water in the sector of the agriculture has been treated to be challenging.
However, irrigation process implementation allows for the sustainability aim to be achieved.
This is because the issue of water being a limiting factor is complete sorted out( Bouraima,
Zhang and Wei, 2015). It has been estimated that the use of irrigation process can effectively
assist in the continuous provision of the raw biomaterials used in the industries of manufacturing
as well as flow of food thereby boosting the economy of the country. This particular paper
analyses the specific aspect of the irrigation in Murray.
Aims
To evaluate the irrigation system used currently in Australia (Murray Irrigation)
Background Information
The system of the irrigation will be located at the Murray river whose location is -
35°33'19.19" S 138°52'28.79" E. The presently practiced cropping enterprise will include wheat
in the winter season while summer will be characterized by growing cotton. The irrigation
captures Hay and Rhodes growing throughout the year. The water source is the Murray
River .The river has a constructed dam for keeping the water needed for the processes including
irrigation. The water holding capacity of the Hume dam is 1522 GL. Considering the data
sources in regard to the quality of the water generated from the River Murray; it is free from the
pollutants with the recommended level of the nutrients. As a result of the likelihood of the

occurrence of the surface runoff, it will be recommended that the water be tested before it can be
used for activities of irrigation.
The system of the irrigation will be handling the capacity of 35.5ha/.The system of
padlocking is recommended to ensure that the three i.e. maximum utilization of the land.
Apparently the area is handling production exercise of the crops such as Wheat as well as cotton.
There are plans underway to introduce maize growing (Clements et al, 2018). This will not only
create opportunities for learning but also improve on the production levels. The implementation
of the program is scheduled for other coming season. The area that has been chosen and tagged
field 1 has a self-mulching clay soil which is actually black in colour. One of the super
characteristic of this kind of the black soil is its ability to retain water. This implies that the
application rate of water will be low. There will be utilization of this particular proper during the
periods of dry spell. During the irrigation process (Farquharson and Welsh, 2017), there will
natural draining of water via the slope.
Having analysed the topography of the land, it will be recommended for the installed irrigation
system to be in lign with the land.
The topography of the land will therefore support trickle system of irrigation. In this
system of the irrigation method, water will be trickling through the furrows. The use of the
machinery system will be most recommended. It is the water retention capacity of the soil which
has determined the selection of this particular irrigation method (Jamali, Quayle and Baldock,
2015). Considering that this particular soil is capable of holding water for so long, the volume of
the required water system will be low.
Water Calculations

Least demand of water in week one
Utility of water for every plant = 3mm/day = 2 ÷ 100 = 0.03ML
Targeted Hectare for irrigation = 35.5
0.03 X 35.5ha = 1.065 ML for the entire paddock per day
1.065 X 7 = 7.455ML/week.
9th week and 10th week characterized with the highest water
Utility of water for every plant = 9.00mm/day = 9.00 ÷ 100 = 0.09ML
Farm size targeted = 35.5
0.09ML x 35.5 = 3.195 ML/day
3.195 ML x 7 = 22.365 ML/week
Considered options of the irrigations
Drip
It has very minimal soil interference
It has very low running costs and despite the high level of the maintenance, the manual operation
will be least required once it starts operating (Logg-Scarvell, Navis and Patrick 2015).
Centre, travelling irrigator/sprinkle
Minimal soil interference
More expensive ion running
Flood or Furrow
- Cheap installation, maintenance as well as being easy to run

- It causes a lot of soil interference which is responsible for the variation of the chemistry
of the soil.
- High amount of the labour is needed manually.

Table : Crop water requirements
Pump and Data Performance of the Pump
Damages associated by the flooding should be reduced by situating the pump station 15m above
the waterline. The height should be properly elevated as the gravity causes greater losses in the
friction and acceleration. Hence for pumping water up to the station it will be recommended to
use a suction lift or another pump which is miner at the origin of the pumping system
(McAllister, Whitfield and Abuzar 2015). Installation of the pump at the station will be done by
a rotodynamic centrifugal pump since it has the capacity of a suction lift.
Capacity Head Temperature of
Liquid
Liquid Pumped Bearings of the
Motor
Week (stage of
growth)
Water
requirement/crop
1 2.0mm
2 2.1mm
3 2.3mm
4 2.9mm
5 4.8mm
6 5.2mm
7 5.8mm
8 6.0mm
9 7.1mm
10 7.3mm
11 7.4mm
12 7.2mm
13 6.2mm
14 5.0mm
15 4.2mm
16 3.5mm
17 2.7mm

Max (300L/sec) 160 m 0 to 100 0C Clear water 11kW/15hp
Installation components
The system of linear move can be powered by either electricity or diesel, conversely an onboard
generator driven by diesel is preferred for powering and hose-feeding the system. The costs
incurred on operations especially on large machines can possibly be reduced by use of a pipe of
large span as it will reduce friction for an equivalent amount of flow of water (Peake et al, 2016).
The compositions of the system of linear move are as in the table below:
Span This is the pipe sandwiched between wheels
and towers.
Droppers Outlet pipes that enable the flow of water
into the emitters. Droppers are adjustable to
raise or lower the sprinklers as per the
required height from the ground.
Traveller lay flat hose The submains are for supplying the linear
move with water from the pump. They are
usually made of hard caravans which is
compost of rubber.
Tower This connects wheels to the linear move
system. Tower if for controlling the system
of drive and also to offer support to the
spans.
Pump This include the end suction centrifugal
motor pump of Southern Cross Starline.
Emitters Emitters are responsible for supplying the
plants with water from the droppers or from
the outlets. Emitters are also referred to as
sprinklers. The pressure in the emitters is
inverse to the efficiency of water application
such that the efficiency is high when the
pressure is low and low when the pressure is
high.

Mainline Also galvanised steel of 150mm
Outlet Pipe Is the PVC pipe of 100mm
Inlet Pipe Is a galvanised steel of150mm
Laterals A galvanised steel of 150mm
Valves
The procedure of installation
A hose at a high pressure of the lay flat is required for the system of hose fed linear move at it
will go through the linear move which is has connections with the laterals(Watts et al 2018). Due
to the operation of the system of lateral move on either sides and at a speed which is constant to
rotate the irrigator to and from the paddocks, the system of linear move will automatically be
controlled. The onboard generator powered by diesel is set of after it is filled with diesel to
control the operation of the lateral move irrigator.
Effectiveness and efficiency of operation of the irrigation
To certify the effectiveness and efficiency of the system, there should be consistency in checking
the coverage and pressure of the flow of linear move system. The operation of the system can be
hindered by the small size of the pipe and poor quality of water. Checking of Pressure and rate of
flow of the system if possible, should be done every week since the regulation processes are not
complex. Parameter called pressure gauge is used to measure the pressure of the water that flows
through the attachment while catch cans positioned across area of irrigation to determine the
coverage of the flow and record the volume in every container(Abuzar, Whitfield and McAllister
2017).
Question 3
Techniques used in the evaluation of the irrigation performance

There are several techniques that are used in the evaluation of the performance of the irrigation
system including:
 Fuzzy set theory
 Direct indicator measurements
 Remote Sensing
 Analysis Hierarchy Process (AHP) (Zeleke and Nendel, 2016).
Strategy of evaluation

Irrigation Schedule
Conclusion
In the cases where surface irrigation methods are used, it is actually not practical to have the
depth of the irrigation varied. This implies that the application rate of water will be low. There
will be utilization of this particular proper during the periods of dry spell. During the irrigation
process, there will natural draining of water via the slope.
Having analysed the topography of the land, there will be recommendations for the installed
irrigation system to be in line with the land. It is actually confusing for the farmers to have their

schedule for the irrigation taking place. It is usually sufficient to do an estimate or rough
calculation on the irrigation schedule.