INFLUENCIA DE LAS PROGRAMACIONES DE RIEGO EN PARCELA SOBRE EL FUNCIONAMIENTO DE UNA RED COLECTIVA DE RIEGO

[EN] In irrigated areas with pressurized irrigation networks, it is necessary to develop tools with the aim of improving efficient use of water and energy resources, maintaining crop yield and productivity. In this paper, the performance of the irrigation network is analyzed, considering several scenarios of on-farm irrigation scheduling for a day with the highest crop water requirements (July). The proposed methodology has been applied to the irrigation area of Tarazona de La Mancha (Albacete). For this aim, an irrigation scheduling was used for each plot of the irrigated area, based on the typical meteorological year (TMY) methodology. To analyze irrigation network performance, energy consumed and energy costs were computed at each scenario of opening of hydrants. To compute hydraulic variables, EPANET® toolkit was used in combination with MATLAB®.[ES] En zonas regables con redes de distribución de agua, es necesario el desarrollo de herramientas de ayuda para mejorar la eficiencia en el uso del agua y la energía, sin comprometer el rendimiento y productividad de los cultivos. En este trabajo se realiza un análisis del comportamiento de una red de distribución de riego, con distintas estrategias de la programación del riego en parcela, aplicado a un día de máximas necesidades hídricas de los cultivos. La metodología propuesta ha sido aplicada en la zona regable de Tarazona de La Mancha (Albacete, España). Para ello, se establece una programación de riego en diversas parcelas de la zona regable, a partir del año meteorológico típico (TMY). Para evaluar el comportamiento de la red, se han determinado los costes energéticos y consumo de energía en función de los distintos escenarios de apertura de tomas en parcela planteados. Para simular el comportamiento hidráulico de la red, se ha utilizado EPANET®, en combinación con MATLAB®.Lima, F.; Córcoles, J.; Martínez-Romero, A.; Tarjuelo, J. (2015). INFLUENCIA DE LAS PROGRAMACIONES DE RIEGO EN PARCELA SOBRE EL FUNCIONAMIENTO DE UNA RED COLECTIVA DE RIEGO. En XXXIII CONGRESO NACIONAL DE RIEGOS. Valencia 16-18 junio de 2015. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/CNRiegos.2015.1458OC

Análisis del funcionamiento de una red colectiva ante distintas estrategias de riego en parcela

En zonas colectivas de riego, la tarifa a pagar por los agricultores está muy condicionada con el gasto energético de los equipos de bombeo, relacionada a su vez con la cantidad de agua aplicada a los cultivos. Así pues, es necesario el desarrollo de herramientas de ayuda a la toma de decisiones que busquen mejorar la eficiencia en el uso del agua y la energía, sin comprometer el rendimiento y productividad de los cultivos. El objetivo del trabajo es analizar el consumo energético en una estación de bombeo de una red colectiva de riego a la demanda ante distintos escenarios de riego en parcela y de presiones en la cabecera. La metodología propuesta ha sido aplicada a la zona regable de Tarazona de La Mancha (Albacete, España). Se han establecidos dos manejos de riego en parcela (con y sin déficit) para los principales cultivos de la zona y diferentes estrategias de presiones en la cabecera (variable y fija), para analizar el efecto sobre la eficiencia y consumo energético del bombeo. Para ello, se ha utilizado una herramienta de simulación desarrollada en MATLAB®, en combinación con el motor de cálculo EPANET®, y se ha aplicado como ejemplo a un día de elevada demanda de agua en la red. Los resultados indican que la utilización de presión en cabecera variable y manejo deficitario, genera ahorros energéticos de 12,43% en relación al mismo manejo con presión fija

A non-destructive method for estimating onion leaf area

Leaf area is one of the most important parameters for characterizing crop growth and development, and its measurement is useful for examining the effects of agronomic management on crop production. It is related to interception of radiation, photosynthesis, biomass accumulation, transpiration and gas exchange in crop canopies. Several direct and indirect methods have been developed for determining leaf area. The aim of this study is to develop an indirect method, based on the use of a mathematical model, to compute leaf area in an onion crop using non-destructive measurements with the condition that the model must be practical and useful as a Decision Support System tool to improve crop management. A field experiment was conducted in a 4.75 ha commercial onion plot irrigated with a centre pivot system in Aguas Nuevas (Albacete, Spain), during the 2010 irrigation season. To determine onion crop leaf area in the laboratory, the crop was sampled on four occasions between 15 June and 15 September. At each sampling event, eight experimental plots of 1 m2 were used and the leaf area for individual leaves was computed using two indirect methods, one based on the use of an automated infrared imaging system, LI-COR-3100C, and the other using a digital scanner EPSON GT-8000, obtaining several images that were processed using Image J v 1.43 software. A total of 1146 leaves were used. Before measuring the leaf area, 25 parameters related to leaf length and width were determined for each leaf. The combined application of principal components analysis and cluster analysis for grouping leaf parameters was used to reduce the number of variables from 25 to 12. The parameter derived from the product of the total leaf length (L) and the leaf diameter at a distance of 25% of the total leaf length (A25) gave the best results for estimating leaf area using a simple linear regression model. The model obtained was useful for computing leaf area using a non-destructive method

Management evaluation of Water Users Associations using benchmarking techniques

The development of different tools to evaluate the performance of Water Users Associations (WUAs) is an important practice for improving water and energy management, together with other production costs. One of these tools is the Benchmarking technique, which is based on the comparison between different WUAs to determine the best practices in each of them. In this paper, a Benchmarking process is applied to seven WUAs located in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) during three irrigation seasons (2006-2008). The performance indicators developed by the International Programme for Technology and Research in Irrigation and Drainage (IPTRID) are used, while new indicators dealing with production and energy are proposed. The goals of this paper are to group WUAs with the same characteristics, using performance and energy indicators, and to reduce the set of indicators using statistical methods. The most important indicators, easy to obtain and yielding result in maximum information are retained for further use. Three proposals reducing the initial number of indicators were proposed, with an aim of being useful for future applications based on characterizing WUAs. Indicators results highlighted that irrigable areas can be grouped based on the application of drip irrigation systems and those with sprinkler irrigation systems. When using groundwater resources, no significant differences were observed for energy consumption between these irrigation systems. This can be explained by the indicator energy load index (ICE, m), which had similar values in all WUAs analyzed. According to annual irrigation water supply per unit irrigated area (VTSr, m3 ha-1), the highest values (between 5200 m3 ha-1 and 6800 m3 ha-1) were obtained in WUAs with sprinkler irrigation systems, which contained crops characterized by high water requirements, compared to the VTSr (less than 1800 m3 ha-1) of WUAs with drip irrigation systems, with crops that required less volume of irrigation water. Regarding production efficiency indicators, in drip irrigation systems the high presence of vineyards, almond and olive trees, crops with low water requirements, explained high values of gross margin per unit irrigation delivery (MBVs, [euro] m-3)(close to 0.82 [euro] m-3) in comparison with sprinkler irrigation systems (close to 0.36 [euro] m-3).Performance indicators Benchmarking Water Users Associations Water and energy management

Comparative analysis of energy efficiency in water users associations

The government of Spain has developed an energy strategy that includes a campaign of energy audits in water users associations (WUAs) in order to improve energy efficiency in irrigation. A guideline for energy audits has been developed, standardizing the audit process in WUAs. This guideline has been implemented in 22 WUAs in the Castilla-La Mancha, Valencia, and Murcia Regions. In this paper, an analysis of the indicators proposed in the guideline is performed, and the indicators that most represent energy efficiency of WUAs are identified. Also, the suitability of the proposed indicators and classifications under different conditions are discussed. In addition, a cluster analysis is performed on WUAs to classify them according to their energetic aspects. Results show that indicators global energy efficiency (GEE) and active energy consumed per hectare (EacSr) are not adequate for analysing the evolution of energy consumption in a WUA. The most representative energy indicators are those expressing ratios between energy consumption and water volume supplied to the users as the indicators active energy consumed per volume unit (EacVs) and energy cost per volume unit (CENVs). It is conclude that using the current methodology for calculate the supply energy efficiency indicator (SEE), GEE is not an adequate indicator for energy classification of WUAs, and also that the results of the energy analysis must be used to propose measures for energy conservation and energy cost reduction