Elect on Saving Water of Underground Trickle Irrigation

Water consumption at the farm is up to 48 percent of water resource of South Korea while manufacturing industry's is only $9.6\%$. The area of arable land is 2,077,067 ha and 27 percent of it is used for growing fruits and vegetables using furrow or surface irrigation at the greenhouse. Surface irrigation at the greenhouse for fruits and vegetables has problems such as over watering and insufficient supply of water to the fine roots of the plant. However, the research on the new method of irrigation to save water usage is few. The characteristics of soil wetting was measured for using surface irrigation and underground trickle irrigation method where water was supplied at 10, 15, 20, and 25 cm beneath the surface ground. Followings are summary of this study. 1. The efficiency of underground trickle irrigation was expected to be as high as twice of surface irrigation such as drip watering or sprinkling. 2. This improvement could be possible by using less than $50\%$ of irrigation water than surface irrigation to supply similar amount of water near fine roots. 3. Surface irrigation causes soil compaction as deep as 20 cm below the surface ground which reduces soil porosity and root respiration ending up developing less fine roots. 4. Underground trickle irrigation can prevent overdamping in the greenhouse since it does not over wet the surface soil. At winter, the amount of agricultural chemical usage could be reduced since this irrigation method does not develop blight or crop disease from condensation of water vapor.

지중관수 방법에 의한 용수절감 효과