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 Testing of Irrigation Best Management Guidelines1997-1998

Contents

• Disclaimer
• Foreword
• Summary 
• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 Background
  • 1.1 Background
  • 1.3 Summary of Indicators and Guidelines Reports
  • 1.4 Proposed Work Program
• 2 Selection of Farms
  • 2.1 Selection Criteria  
  • 2.2 Farm Selection
• 3 Data Collection Methods
  • 3.1 Flow Measurement  
    • 3.1.1 Relevance to Indicators  
    • 3.1.2 Sprinkler Irrigation Systems  
    • 3.1.3 Border Strip Irrigation Systems  
  • 3.2 Soil Moisture Measurement  
    • 3.2.1 Relevance to Indicators  
    • 3.2.1 General Calibration of Aquaflex Units
• 4 Dairy Farm – Sprinkler Irrigation
  • 4.1 Irrigation System Design  
    • 4.1.1 System Description 
    • 4.1.2 Water Supply  
    • 4.1.3 System Capacity  
    • 4.1.4 Water Requirements  
    • 4.1.5 Application Depths/Return Intervals  
    • 4.1.6 Application Rates 
    • 4.1.7 Changes to System  
  • 4.2 Design Audit  
    • 4.2.1 Required Hydrant Pressures  
    • 4.2.2 Main Supply  
    • 4.2.3 Additional Supply 
    • 4.2.4 Summary of Design  
  • 4.3 Water Use 
    • 4.3.1 Installation and Calibration of Equipment 
    • 4.3.2 Discussion of Flow Measurement
    • 4.3.3 Estimating Water Use for Total Season  
  • 4.4 Soil Moisture Measurement  
    • 4.4.1 Neutron Probe Tubes  
    • 4.4.2 Aquaflex ™ Soil Moisture Sensors  
  • 4.5 Soil Moisture Data Analysis  
    • 4.5.1 Neutron Probe Data  
    • 4.5.2 Aquaflex™ Calibration  
    • 4.5.3 Percentage of Water Stored in Root Zone
• 5 Dairy Farm – Border Strip Irrigation
  • 5.1 Irrigation System Design 
    • 5.1.1 System Description
    • 5.1.2 Water Supply 
    • 5.1.3 Water Requirements  
    • 5.1.4 Application Rates and Depths  
    • 5.1.5 Return Intervals  
  • 5.2 Design Audit  
  • 5.3 Water Use  
    • 5.3.1 Installation and Calibration of Equipment  
    • 5.3.2 Calculation of Applied Depths  
    • 5.3.3 Estimating Water Use for Total Season  
  • 5.4 Soil Moisture Measurement 
    • 5.4.1 Installation of Equipment 
    • 5.4.2 Sensor Calibration  
    • 5.4.3 Percentage of Water Stored in Root Zone
• 6 Cropping Farm – Sprinkler Irrigation
  • 6.1 Irrigation System Design  
    • 6.1.1 System Description  
    • 6.1.2 Water Supply  
    • 6.1.3 Preliminary Analysis  
    • 6.1.4 General Recommendations  
  • 6.2 Testing of Guidelines  
    • 6.2.1 Water Metering  
    • 6.2.2 Soil Moisture Measurement  
    • 6.2.3 Change of Objectives
• 7 Data Measurement and Recording
  • 7.1 Recording and Management of Data  
  • 7.2 Managing Irrigation on Non-Monitored Paddocks
• 8 Conclusions
  • 8.1 Summary  
  • 8.2 Flow Measurement  
  • .3 Soil Moisture Measurement  
  • 8.4 Presentation of Guidelines
• 9 Recommendations
• 10 References
• 11 Acknowledgements
• Figures
  • Figure 1: Location of farms for testing the Guidelines
  • Figure 2: Layout of centre-pivot irrigation system
  • Figure 3: Layout of border strip irrigation system
  • Figure 4: Layout of cropping farm irrigation system
• Tables
  • Table 1: Irrigation water use by Bruce Rolls
  • Table 2: Losses to drainage and irrigation efficiency on Rolls farm
  • Table 3: Losses to drainage and irrigation efficiency on Mulholland farm 
• Appendices
  • Appendix I: Centre-Pivot Flow Calibration Curve
  • Appendix II: Pressure Readings from Centre-Pivot
  • Appendix III: Soil Moisture Readings for Paddock 1 (Bruce Rolls)
  • Appendix IV: Flow Rates for Border Strip Property
  • Appendix V: Soil Moisture Readings for Andrew Mulholland
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