Performance of drip irrigation system with agro-industrial wastewater on sugar-beet cultivation

• Grant number: 13/12656-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2013
• End date: January 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering - Soil and Water Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Tamara Maria Gomes
• Grantee: Natalia Prado Fortuna Macan
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The processing of animal and vegetal products by the agro-industries produces liquid effluents, with high contents of organic matter, nutrients and salts. Even after the treatment, the effluent still has the potential to pollute water resources, due to the presence of nitrogen and phosphorus sources. The irrigation with wastewaters is an alternative to replace fresh waters. Furthermore, the wastewaters enables the upkeep of soil moisture, can be a source of nutrients and can prevent the contamination of water resources. To ensure the yield and the bacteriological quality of the plants, the wastewater supply to cultivation needs to be evaluated on nutritional and microbiological aspects. The microirrigation systems, mainly the drip systems, are the most appropriate to effluent reuse, because they have a lower potential to spread pathogens. However the operation of these systems with the use of treated agro-industrial effluents is little known. This work is a part of FAPESP research, number 2012/19239-0 and entitled "Irrigation with agro-industrial wastewater on sugar-beet cultivation". The aim of this research is evaluate the drip irrigation system performance, using dairy wastewater, treated by anaerobic and aerobic reactors. It will be applied on different irrigation levels on the sugar-beet cultivation and will be study two cultivation cycles. To evaluate the irrigation system performance, it will be analyzed the operation of the drip emitters. So will be measured the pressure, the mean discharge, the reduction of discharge and then it will be possible to determine the uniformity coefficients (Christiansen coefficient, the emission uniformity coefficient and statistical uniformity coefficient). (AU)