Evaluation of Operation Speed Effect on Center Pivot Irrigation System Performance. A Case Study of El Waha and El Zahra Project in Northern State (Sudan)

Abstract

This study was conducted in Northern State, the field experiment was carried out during the period November 2008 to April 2009 at El Waha- Elzahra project, to evaluate using of center pivot irrigation system in wheat production. The study was designed to determine the optimum speed to attain the best Christiansen’s coefficient (CU) and Distribution uniformity (DU) and compare the productivity of wheat under center pivot and surface irrigation system (common system in the state). The performance of the system was evaluated when running at four different speeds (60%, 70%, 80% and 100%) with complete randomized design (CRD). The respective values of uniformity coefficient (CU) for the four speeds were 70.5%, 79.6%, 72.4% and 80% and there was a significant different between these values at p = (0.05). From the results obtained the general trend found was that the (CU) and (DU) values tend to increase with speed increase. These values are considered low when compared to the normally recommended value of 85% for center pivot irrigation system. For the distribution uniformity (DU) the system gave 55.9%, 75.6%, 61.9% and 68% at the different speeds respectively and there was a significant different between these value at p = (0.05). The center pivot has been better when evaluated for producing wheat and has improvement by 72% in productivity of the wheat under surface irrigation (3.48 ton/ha for center pivot compared to 2.02 ton/ha for surface irrigation method) under similar soil, fertilizing rate, seed rate and seed varieties conditions, (variety Wadi El Neele). In addition to increasing the productivity the center pivot made high water saving and it significantly better on yields than surface irrigation method