Lecturer: Dr A Senzanje (Ext. 1412: Office: Soil Science Main Office)

Course Objective:

The Irrigation and drainage engineering course strives on acquaint agricultural engineering graduates with the principles and practices of irrigation science in an integrated manner.

 Prereguisites:         SL300, AGEN301

COURSE OUTLINE

 A.  Irrigation and Development

      Irrigation - objectives, approaches and concepts.  Types of irrigation development.
Irrigation economics.  Irrigated agriculture in LDC.  Irrigation in Zimbabwe, EIA w.r.t to irrigation.
 

B. Irrigation Agronomy

      Crop consumptive use.  ETref and predictive equations  -- Penman and Pan methods. Crop coefficients and actual crop water use. Irrigation water requirements and project planning - design duty and system capacity.  Irrigation scheduling - methods and practices. Deficit irrigation. Computer models.

C.  Irrigation Hydraulic Structures

      Concept of hydraulic control in open channel flow - occurrence, location, types and applications.   Water control in irrigation systems.  Discharge regulation. Discharge measurement. Proportionality index and sensitivity.  Implications on water management.

 D.   Surface Irrigation Systems

     Pros and cons of surface irrigation. Basic of surface irrigation hydraulics - advance, recession and intake characterization. Furrow and border irrigation. Design and construction considerations. Operation, management and performance evaluation procedures. Recent advances in surface irrigation. Computer models.

E.  Pressurized Irrigation Systems

Sprinkler Irrigation
Adaptability and limitations.  Sprinkler system types.  General system components and performance characteristics of sprinkler types. System design considerations. Operation, management and maintenance of sprinkler systems. Evaluation and performance measures.

Drip /Trickle Irrigation Systems

Benefits and problems associated with trickle irrigation. Trickle irrigation methods. System components. Filtration and fertilizer injection. Trickle system design considerations. Operation and management principles. Field performance and evaluation. Computer models in design and evaluation.

F.   Agricultural Land Drainage

Drainage needs and benefits.  Theory and practice of drainage. Surface and subsurface drainage systems.  Design procedures
- drain layout, spacing and depth. Steady-state conditions - Hooghoudt's equation. Transient conditions - Glover*Dumm  equation and solution techniques. Maintenance of drainage systems. Drainage computer models.

G.  A ricultural Water Man ement

Environmental issues in irrigation.  Pollution problems and control. Diagnostic analysis and rapid rural appraisal of irrigation schemes. Alternatives to irrigation.  Basic soil
management and reclamation.
 

General Textbooks

1) Michael, A.M.,                Irrigation: Theory and Practice.
2) Withers & Vipond              Irrigation: Principles and Practices.

Additional references will be given for the individual sections.