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Modeling operational parameters for water management of ebb-and-flow benches

ABSTRACT

Subirrigation requires appropriate water and nutrient management based on the equipment specifications and crop cultivated in order to obtain high irrigation efficiency. Our objectives were to characterize the operation of an automated ebb-and-flow bench in theoretical and experimental conditions, determining the irrigation time inside the equipment at different water heights and water flows. The first step was to simulate the ebb-and-flow subirrigation bench performance, by estimating the application and drainage time for different water depths (1, 3 and 5 cm) and flow rates (10, 20 and 30 L/min) based on empirical equations. The second phase evaluated the ebb-and-flow subirrigation bench performance experimentally, validating the proposed simulation methodology. The third step consisted of applying equations to simulate water management parameters for the ebb-and-flow bench. The theoretical values of irrigation time ranged from 9.1 to 68.2 minutes and the experimental values ranged from 9.5 to 78.4 minutes. The combination of water flow and height controlled the contact time and height between the water and substrate and allowed the water management establishment for different cultivation conditions.

Keywords:
Greenhouse; irrigation; water management; capillarity

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