Modeling the transfer of potassium monophosphate with irrigation water in drip irrigation and sprinkling

Abstract

Fertigation practically always allows us to simultaneously solve a wide range of problems of supplying plants with mineral substances. It is due to the possibility to localize the application area in accordance with the structural features of the root system of the plant. A review of the studies on modeling and calculating the transfer of nutrients shows that spatial inhomogeneity of nutrients distribution may lead to their excess in wrong soil areas. Time intervals and volumes of applying dissolved fertilizers determine the not yet completely studied dynamics of concentration of the nutrition elements in the root area. Formation of the root system is under a strong influence of the boundaries of the wetting contour, since after the irrigation and soil drying nutrients tend to concentrate in this particular area. The results of transfer modeling showed significant differences in the final distribution of potassium monophosphate in soil depending on the initial distribution of moisture there. This can be pre-estimated and calculated. The designed software programme for modeling nutrients transfer with irrigation water allows the user to set various initial wetting gradients depending on the depth, the intervals between the drippers, the intensity and duration of watering. The calculations are made considering the basic hydrophysical soil characteristic and hydraulic conductivity function. The software is equipped with an interactive graphic interface for primary data processing, soil profile discretization and graphic representation of the results.