Improving water use efficiency is included in the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Ethiopia is a developing country struggling with food production as well as water scarcity. This study presents the results of a statistical analysis of changes in water productivity (i.e. yield versus water usage), wheat yield and irrigation amount by implementation of irrigation scheduling in Koga Irrigation Scheme, north-west Ethiopia. Highest water usage (570 mm), lowest water productivity (0.5 kg m-3) and lowest yield (2800 kg ha-1) were obtained for the control group (i.e. traditional irrigation scheduling, based on experience). All groups which implemented some irrigation scheduling displayed higher water productivity than the control group. The highest water productivity and yield was achieved with a soil moisture sensor (Chameleon) technology, with increases of 58 % and 32 % with respect to the control group, respectively. Nitrogen had a positive effect on both yield and water productivity, however, the interaction effects between applied nitrogen and implemented irrigation scheduling were considered insignificant. This study is concluding that implementation of irrigation scheduling should be a successful approach for improving yield as well as water productivity in Koga. / En förbättrad effektivitet i vattenanvändningen ingår i Förenta nationernas Globala mål för hållbar utveckling. Etiopien är ett utvecklingsland med utmaningar i såväl matproduktion som vattenbrist. Denna studie presenterar resultaten av en statistisk analys av förändringar i vattenproduktivitet (dvs skörd per vattenmängd), skörd och bevattningmängd genom implementering av verktyg för bevattningsplanering i Koga bevattningsområde, nordvästra Etiopien. Högsta vattenförbrukning (570 mm), lägsta vattenproduktivitet (0,5 kg m-3) och lägsta skörd (2800 kg ha-1) erhölls för kontrollgruppen. Alla grupper som infört någon typ av bevattningsplanering visade högre vattenproduktivitet än kontrollgruppen (dvs traditionell bevattningsplanering baserad på erfarenhet). Den högsta vattenproduktiviteten och skörden uppnåddes med en vattenfuktsmätare (Chameleon), med ökningar på 58 % respektive 32 % jämfört med kontrollgruppen. Kväve hade en positiv effekt på både skörd och vattenproduktivitet, men interaktionseffekterna mellan kväve och de implementerade bevattningsplaneringarna ansågs försumbara. Denna studie drar slutsatsen att införandet av någon typ av bevattningsplanering bör vara ett framgångsrikt tillvägagångssätt för att förbättra skörd samt vattenproduktivitet i Koga. / “Using Remote Sensing in support of solutions to reduce agricultural water productivity gaps” (Capacity development for increasing water productivity) (GCP/INT/229/NET)

One of the earliest functions to express infiltration as a function of time was introduced by Green and Ampt. In this study their formula was modified to account for air compression and counterflow. Physically,infiltration, air compression, and counterflow occur simultaneously, while in this model they are decoupled within a time step. Counterflow is calculated as a mass flux and pressure is found using the perfect gas law. First, a comparison of three infiltration methods, the original Green and Ampt formulation, a modified version incorporating air compression only, and the third version including air compression and counterflow, was conducted. Then sensitivity of the model accounting for both air compression and counterflow was explored. Results showed that accounting for both air compression and counterflow improves the predicted infiltration rate. Air effect on infiltration can be significant even for environments with an impervious layer as deep as 10m; while for very deep water table environments (100m) the three models give similar results. In shallow water table environments (0.5m), air effect on infiltration rate, cumulative infiltration, ponding time, and saturation time is substantial. The model accounting for air compression and counterflow was then tested for different parameters. It provided reasonable results compared to the Green and Ampt model and the modified version accounting for air compression only. The advantages of this model are that no additional data is required other than what's needed for the original Green and Ampt formulation, and it can be applied for any environment. The assumption of uniform soil moisture content is a limitation for the model, especially for shallow water table environments where the variations in the soil moisture profile within the wetting front depth is substantial.

Estimating the quantity of water that reaches the water table following an infiltration event is vital for modeling and management of water resources. Estimating the time scale of groundwater recharge after a rainfall event is difficult because of the dependence on nonlinear soil characteristics and variability in antecedent conditions. Modeling the flow of water through the variably saturated zone is computationally intensive since it requires simulation of Richards' equation, a nonlinear partial differential equation without a closed-form analytical solution, with parametric relationships that are difficult to approximate. Hence, regional scale coupled (surface water - groundwater) hydrological models make simplistic assumptions about the quantity and timing of recharge following infiltration. For simplicity, such models assume the quantity of recharge to be a fraction of the total rainfall and the time to recharge the saturated groundwater is scaled proportionally to the depth to water table, in lieu of simulating computationally intensive flow in the variably saturated zone. In integrated or coupled (surface water - groundwater) regional scale hydrological models, better representation of the timing and quantity of groundwater recharge is required and important for water resources management. This dissertation presents a practical groundwater recharge estimation method and relationships that predict the timing and volume accumulation of groundwater recharge to moderate to deep water table settings. This study combines theoretical, empirical, and simulation techniques to develop a relatively simple model to estimate the propagation of the soil moisture wetting front through variably saturated soil. This model estimates the time scale and progression of recharge following infiltration for a specified depth to water table, saturated hydraulic conductivity and equilibrium moisture condition. High-resolution soil moisture data from a set of experiments conducted in a laboratory soil column were used to calibrate the HYDRUS-1D model. The calibrated model was used to analyze the time scale of recharge by varying soil hydraulic properties and simulating the application of rainfall pulses of varying volume and intensities. Modeling results were used to develop an equation that relates the non-dimensional travel time of the wetting front to excess moisture moisture content above equilibrium. This research indicates that for a soil with a known retention curve, the wetting front arrival time at a given depth can be described by a power law, where the power is a function of the saturated hydraulic conductivity. This equation relates the non-dimensional travel time of the wetting front to excess moisture content above the equilibrium moisture content. Since the equilibrium moisture content is dependent on the water retention curve, the powers in the equation governing the timing of recharge depend on the saturated hydraulic conductivity for a large variation in water retention curve. Also, the power law relates recharge (normalized by applied pulse volume) to time (normalized by the time of arrival of wetting front at that depth). The resulting equations predicted the model simulated normalized (relative) recharge with root mean square errors of less than 14 percent for the tested cases.

Water infiltration into the unsaturated zone especially in a shallow water table environment is affected by air compression ahead of the wetting front and air counterflow. Neglecting air compression in infiltration modeling can overestimate infiltration and infiltration rates, whereas not accounting for air counterflow can underestimate infiltration and infiltration rates due to unrealistic buildup of air pressure resistance ahead of the wetting front. A method, derived on the basis of the Green and Ampt (1911) infiltration model, is introduced to simulate air compression and air counterflow during infiltration into a shallow water table. The method retains the simplicity of the Green and Ampt (1911) model but adds the air pressure resistance term ahead of the wetting front. Infiltration equations are derived on the basis of the Green and Ampt (1911) and Sabeh’s (2004) infiltration model which accounts for air compression and air counterflow. The difference between this method and Sabeh’s (2004) model is that air counterflow, air compression, and infiltration are decoupled and updated with each wetting front increment whereas Sabeh’s (2004) method uses time step as a decoupling mechanism. Air compression ahead of the wetting front is predicted using the perfect gas law. Laboratory experiments showed that the introduced method is reasonably accurate when modeling cumulative infiltration values. Results of laboratory experiments were compared to results of the modeled infiltration methods: original Green and Ampt (1911) model and Green and Ampt with air compression and counterflow. The advantage of this new method is its simplicity. The new method uses parameters that are generally needed for modeling infiltration with the Green and Ampt (1911) approach. Disadvantages of the model are assumptions of the uniform water content and the uniform pressure. Another shortcoming of the model is that it does not account for air compression and air counterflow prior to ponding. Laboratory experiments described in this work and a proposed model can be further used for modeling and studying infiltration with air effects. In addition, this work can be of use to someone studying irrigation techniques of rice or other crops.

O estudo das propriedades de transporte do meio poroso é um tema importante para muitas áreas como a Ciência do Solo, onde o conhecimento dos processos que envolvem o movimento da água é de fundamental importância para o manejo e a conservação do mesmo. Nas últimas décadas, as técnicas não-invasivas e o processamento de imagens têm ajudado muito na modelagem e visualização da estrutura do meio, e têm sido aplicadas no estudo da distribuição dos fluidos com diferentes abordagens. Nesse trabalho é apresentado um novo método para análise do movimento da água, baseado na descrição da estrutura tridimensional da frente de molhamento no processo de infiltração vertical na região não-saturada do solo, considerando que a frente de molhamento tem informação relevante sobre os primeiros estágios da infiltração na interface líquido-sólido. O método proposto para a descrição da estrutura tridimensional da frente de molhamento compõe-se de dois principais módulos. O primeiro é responsável pela segmentação de imagens tomográficas para a detecção da frente de molhamento e cujo resultado é crucial para a análise da superfície resultante. O segundo módulo efetua a determinação de descritores da superfície obtida baseada na computação da variabilidade morfológica e a identificação de zonas de máxima adsorção através da análise da curvatura. As imagens usadas nos experimentos foram obtidas usando um tomógrafo de campo específico para estudos de solos, permitindo o processamento sem alterar a estrutura do solo. Os resultados preliminares são encorajadores e indicam que a abordagem utilizada consegue descrever o movimento da água usando informação da frente de molhamento no espaço tridimensional e no tempo. / The study of the transport properties in porous media is an important issue for many areas such as soil science, where knowledge about processes that involve the movement of water in the soil has fundamental importance to soil management and soil conservation. In recent decades noninvasive techniques and image processing algorithms have been very helpful in modeling and visualization of the structure medium and have been applied to study of the distribution of fluid with different approaches. This work present a new method to analysis of the movement of water based on the description of the three-dimensional wetting front structure in vertical infiltration process in unsaturated soil, whereas the wetting front structure has relevant information in the earliest stages of infiltration in liquid-solid interface. The proposed method for the description of the three-dimensional wetting front structure is comprised of two main modules. The first module is responsible of the three-dimensional image segmentation for the wetting front detection and its result is a very crucial step to analysis of the surface obtained. The second module compute features of the surface obtained to analysis based on morphological variability and maximal adsorption zones identification through the curvature. The image used in the experimental test were obtained using a tomograph of field specific to soil study, allowing the processing without changing of the soil structure. Our preliminary results are encouraging and indicate that our approach can describe the movement of water using information from the wetting front in three-dimensional space and time.

O estudo das propriedades de transporte do meio poroso é um tema importante para muitas áreas como a Ciência do Solo, onde o conhecimento dos processos que envolvem o movimento da água é de fundamental importância para o manejo e a conservação do mesmo. Nas últimas décadas, as técnicas não-invasivas e o processamento de imagens têm ajudado muito na modelagem e visualização da estrutura do meio, e têm sido aplicadas no estudo da distribuição dos fluidos com diferentes abordagens. Nesse trabalho é apresentado um novo método para análise do movimento da água, baseado na descrição da estrutura tridimensional da frente de molhamento no processo de infiltração vertical na região não-saturada do solo, considerando que a frente de molhamento tem informação relevante sobre os primeiros estágios da infiltração na interface líquido-sólido. O método proposto para a descrição da estrutura tridimensional da frente de molhamento compõe-se de dois principais módulos. O primeiro é responsável pela segmentação de imagens tomográficas para a detecção da frente de molhamento e cujo resultado é crucial para a análise da superfície resultante. O segundo módulo efetua a determinação de descritores da superfície obtida baseada na computação da variabilidade morfológica e a identificação de zonas de máxima adsorção através da análise da curvatura. As imagens usadas nos experimentos foram obtidas usando um tomógrafo de campo específico para estudos de solos, permitindo o processamento sem alterar a estrutura do solo. Os resultados preliminares são encorajadores e indicam que a abordagem utilizada consegue descrever o movimento da água usando informação da frente de molhamento no espaço tridimensional e no tempo. / The study of the transport properties in porous media is an important issue for many areas such as soil science, where knowledge about processes that involve the movement of water in the soil has fundamental importance to soil management and soil conservation. In recent decades noninvasive techniques and image processing algorithms have been very helpful in modeling and visualization of the structure medium and have been applied to study of the distribution of fluid with different approaches. This work present a new method to analysis of the movement of water based on the description of the three-dimensional wetting front structure in vertical infiltration process in unsaturated soil, whereas the wetting front structure has relevant information in the earliest stages of infiltration in liquid-solid interface. The proposed method for the description of the three-dimensional wetting front structure is comprised of two main modules. The first module is responsible of the three-dimensional image segmentation for the wetting front detection and its result is a very crucial step to analysis of the surface obtained. The second module compute features of the surface obtained to analysis based on morphological variability and maximal adsorption zones identification through the curvature. The image used in the experimental test were obtained using a tomograph of field specific to soil study, allowing the processing without changing of the soil structure. Our preliminary results are encouraging and indicate that our approach can describe the movement of water using information from the wetting front in three-dimensional space and time.

O estudo das propriedades de transporte do meio poroso é um tema importante para muitas áreas como a Ciência do Solo, onde o conhecimento dos processos que envolvem o movimento da água é de fundamental importância para o manejo e a conservação do mesmo. Nas últimas décadas, as técnicas não-invasivas e o processamento de imagens têm ajudado muito na modelagem e visualização da estrutura do meio, e têm sido aplicadas no estudo da distribuição dos fluidos com diferentes abordagens. Nesse trabalho é apresentado um novo método para análise do movimento da água, baseado na descrição da estrutura tridimensional da frente de molhamento no processo de infiltração vertical na região não-saturada do solo, considerando que a frente de molhamento tem informação relevante sobre os primeiros estágios da infiltração na interface líquido-sólido. O método proposto para a descrição da estrutura tridimensional da frente de molhamento compõe-se de dois principais módulos. O primeiro é responsável pela segmentação de imagens tomográficas para a detecção da frente de molhamento e cujo resultado é crucial para a análise da superfície resultante. O segundo módulo efetua a determinação de descritores da superfície obtida baseada na computação da variabilidade morfológica e a identificação de zonas de máxima adsorção através da análise da curvatura. As imagens usadas nos experimentos foram obtidas usando um tomógrafo de campo específico para estudos de solos, permitindo o processamento sem alterar a estrutura do solo. Os resultados preliminares são encorajadores e indicam que a abordagem utilizada consegue descrever o movimento da água usando informação da frente de molhamento no espaço tridimensional e no tempo. / The study of the transport properties in porous media is an important issue for many areas such as soil science, where knowledge about processes that involve the movement of water in the soil has fundamental importance to soil management and soil conservation. In recent decades noninvasive techniques and image processing algorithms have been very helpful in modeling and visualization of the structure medium and have been applied to study of the distribution of fluid with different approaches. This work present a new method to analysis of the movement of water based on the description of the three-dimensional wetting front structure in vertical infiltration process in unsaturated soil, whereas the wetting front structure has relevant information in the earliest stages of infiltration in liquid-solid interface. The proposed method for the description of the three-dimensional wetting front structure is comprised of two main modules. The first module is responsible of the three-dimensional image segmentation for the wetting front detection and its result is a very crucial step to analysis of the surface obtained. The second module compute features of the surface obtained to analysis based on morphological variability and maximal adsorption zones identification through the curvature. The image used in the experimental test were obtained using a tomograph of field specific to soil study, allowing the processing without changing of the soil structure. Our preliminary results are encouraging and indicate that our approach can describe the movement of water using information from the wetting front in three-dimensional space and time.

Increased water- and fertilizer-use-efficiency in containerized crop production, via reduced water loss, enhances crop-available nutrients while reducing non-point source agrichemical contributions in accordance with regulatory standards. Previous studies detailed nutrient leaching patterns throughout crop production seasons, leaving little known about water and dissolved nutrient (solute) movement through soilless substrates during irrigation. The following experiments evaluated fundamental water and solute transport principles through pine-bark based substrates. 1) Ilex crenata Thunb. 'Bennett's Compactum' were grown in 2.7 L containers. Tensiometers detected wetting front (WF) movement throughout the substrate during irrigation. 2) Tracer solution (containing NO3-, PO43- and K+) and deionized water (DI) were applied to substrate-filled columns to characterize tracer breakthrough under saturated and unsaturated conditions. 3) Controlled-release fertilizer (CRF) was topdressed (surface-applied), incorporated (throughout substrate), dibbled (center of substrate) or not applied to fallow substrate, irrigated with DI and leachate analyzed to determine nutrient concentrations throughout irrigation. Tensiometers revealed that seasonal root growth affected substrate pre-irrigation moisture distribution. Wetting fronts channeled through the substrate before becoming thoroughly wetted. Tracer breakthrough occurred with less effluent volume under unsaturated conditions. Breakthrough of NO3- and PO43- was relatively conservative, though 37% of K+ was retained by the substrate. Leachate concentrations for topdressed and incorporated CRF peaked early (first 50mL effluent) before diminishing with continued leaching. Leachate concentrations for dibbled CRF initially increased (first 150mL leachate), plateaued and then diminished. These results show the relative rapidity which water and solutes move through pine-bark during irrigation and demonstrate methods for future research on within-irrigation solute transport. / Master of Science

MESHWR / Department of Hydrology and Water Resources / Irrigation uses the largest amount of water, estimating to 60 % of the total consumption in South Africa. For this reason, the efficient and reasonable use of water by irrigators is of paramount importance. Thus, this study was carried out to assess the suitability of Wetting Front Detectors (WFDs) in improving water management. The study involved an on-farm survey; field installations; testing of WFD technology on selected plots within the scheme; identification of the crops grown; documentation of the current water supply and documentation of the challenges faced by farmers in relation to irrigation. These were carried out to identify the ideal situations in the scheme. Irrigation scheduling helps farmers to know when to irrigate and amount of water required supplying for crop need. The study presented WFD, as a means of improving irrigation efficiency. The WFD is a simple tool that helps farmers to identify what is occurring around the root zone. Four plots with a representative farmer in each of the plot were identified in four Blocks (Block 1 farmer 1, Block 1 farmer 2; Block 2 farmer 1; Block 3 farmer 1 and Block 4 farmer 1). On-farm experiment of the WFD was carried out. However, with Block 4 farmer 1, insufficient data was collected due to absence of LongStop equipment. This also involved field installation, observation and measurements of the LongStops (LSs) and FullStops (FSs) WFDs at placement depth of 30 cm, 45 cm and 60 cm. The efficiency of an irrigation system depends on different performance indicators including Irrigation Efficiency (IE), Conveyance Efficiency (CE), Application Efficiency (AE), Storage Efficiency (SE), Distribution Uniformity (DU) and Coefficient uniformity (CU). In this study, attention was focused only on DU; CU and SE, as represented by water moisture availability. All the DU for all plots in blocks were below the standard DU of furrow, which is 65%. Farmer 2, in Block 1, had a higher DU and CU, which were 60% and 68%, respectively- considered closer to the standard DU value. For the other farmers, their DU and CU prior to irrigation were very low, which indicated that there was uneven distribution of water in these plots. The poor DU in Block 1 farmer 1, indicated by the uneven infiltrated water, resulted in excessive watering. Analysing the WFD showed that farmers were performed well in all the Blocks, except for farmer 1 in Block 1. Average soil moisture content result indicated high water loss through deep percolation. The highest volumes of water recorded before and after irrigation were 131 ml and 159 ml, respectively, for LS90 placed at a depth of 90 cm in Block 2 farmer 1. High volumes of water were collected in Block 1 farmer 2, Block 2 farmer 1 and Block 3 farmer 1 before and after irrigation. The result showed that, the more placement depth down the soil profile, the more accumulation of water in the LSs. Therefore, it was recommended that farmers continue to use the WFD as a tool for irrigation efficiency. However, there is need for improvement and capacity building in using the tool.