Research HighlightsPunching More Accurate Holes in Furrow Irrigation
In this article, you’ll find details on:
- While tools and technology aim to improve the efficiency of furrow irrigation, the manual process of punching holes in irrigation polypipe offers room for improvement.
- Research and development of an automated system to punch holes in polypipe at Mississippi State University aims to make it easier for farmers to benefit from hole prescription technology.
By Laura Temple
White polypipe stretches across soybean fields throughout the Mississippi Delta, distributing irrigation water that spurts through holes centered on each furrow.
This has been the region’s preferred irrigation method for more than 20 years, according to Wes Lowe, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Mississippi State University.
Tools and technology aim to improve the system’s efficiency. For example, computerized hole selection software creates hole prescriptions that apply water to a field evenly and efficiently. These software calculations take into account field characteristics like size, shape and slope, as well as irrigation well parameters such as maximum flow, water pressure and more. The prescriptions intend to reduce water use and improve water use efficiency by ensuring water reaches the downstream end of the field in all rows at the same time.
“Many farmers have told me that the computerized hole selection prescriptions don’t work as intended in their fields,” Lowe says. “And, punching the holes is a slow, manual process.”
He and fellow Mississippi State researchers Daniel Chesser, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Drew Gholson, assistant professor of agronomy and irrigation and coordinator of the National Center for Alluvial Aquifer Research, decided to explore ways to improve that process, with checkoff support from the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board. Helping the existing tools and technology for furrow irrigation work better in the field would minimize overwatering, ensure more even yields, and keep soil nutrients from washing away.
Manual Challenges
Irrigation polypipe comes in rolls that cover between a quarter-mile and half-mile. An implement creates the furrow it lies in and unrolls it. Then, the pipe is attached directly to the irrigation pump or through underground piping at a riser. As the pipe fills with water, someone walks alongside it, using a polypipe hole punching tool like the Poly-Piranha II hole punch to poke the needed holes that align with each furrow.
“Applying the hole prescription can be limited by the die sizes that a person carries,” Lowe explains. “Each stick can carry dies to punch holes in four sizes, from 1/16 inch to 1 inch, in 1/16-inch increments. Applying the prescription requires counting the furrows and using the right die size for each one.”
Errors in implementing the hole prescription can unintentionally be introduced anywhere in the length of the pipe. To address these limitations, he considered ways to refine and automate the process.
“We realized that we didn’t know much about the polypipe material itself,” he says. “We had to take a step back in our research and understand its material characteristics and what it can and can’t do before we moved forward.”
His team’s research on the polypipe itself revealed that the pressure of the water charging the pipe so that holes could be punched can actually distort those holes, especially those punched first, closest to the pump. That impacted the hole prescription, leading to water flow issues further down the pipeline.
“The material is actually very sensitive,” Lowe reports. “We learned that even small changes in pressure caused significant changes in the holes before the pump was set for the field’s flow needs.”
Automated Solutions
Lowe determined that punching holes while rolling out the polypipe would address these problems. He designed a patented attachment intended to be compatible with any roller implement used to lay polypipe.
“The mechanized hole punch is infinitely adjustable between the minimum and maximum, making it easier to follow a hole prescription,” he explains.
Punching holes when the pipe is not under water pressure eliminated distortion issues identified during lab tests. During the 2024 season, Lowe and his team will start testing the automated system in the field. They will have trials at both a university research station and in fields of cooperating growers.
“We learned that we need to know the precise location in a field, so that the holes are punched in the right place,” Lowe says. “We are using GPS with real-time kinematics, or RTK, to accurately trigger where the holes need to be, so they align with the furrow.”
That’s critical, especially in fields where the polypipe for furrow irrigation runs at an angle to the crop rows. He anticipates needing a few years of field testing to work the bugs out of the automated system, but he believes it will make a real, practical difference in furrow irrigation efficiency.
Looking ahead, he envisions three ways that this system could come to farmers’ fields.
- Farmers who own an irrigation roller could add this technology to their system.
- Laying irrigation pipe with automated prescription hole punching could become a service offered to farmers, where someone comes and does the laying and punching for them.
- Farmers may be able to submit their hole punch prescription and buy polypipe pre-punched for each field.
“We plan to work with commercial partners to ensure this technology will work both with implements and hole prescription software,” Lowe says. “Our goal is to meet the needs of as many farmers as possible to help them save money, time and water as they become more efficient.”
Additional Resources:
- Improving Furrow Irrigation Efficiency – SRIN article
- Discovery Farms Engage Arkansas Farmers in Finding Sustainable Solutions – SRIN article
- Arkansas Farmers Get Help Improving Irrigation Management – SRIN article
Published: Sep 26, 2024
