Adequate Irrigation Amount per Application Is Required to Secure Uniform Water Management in Drip Irrigation Systems

Soil moisture sensor-based drip irrigation enables efficient irrigation practices by delivering the required water to plants. However, efficiency must be accompanied by uniform water management and crop growth. This study examined the effect of different irrigation amounts (IAs) per application (5.5...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sooeon Lee, Lynne Seymour, Jongyun Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Agronomy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/7/1639
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849418231174922240
author Sooeon Lee
Lynne Seymour
Jongyun Kim
author_facet Sooeon Lee
Lynne Seymour
Jongyun Kim
author_sort Sooeon Lee
collection DOAJ
description Soil moisture sensor-based drip irrigation enables efficient irrigation practices by delivering the required water to plants. However, efficiency must be accompanied by uniform water management and crop growth. This study examined the effect of different irrigation amounts (IAs) per application (5.5, 55, 110, and 165 mL) on the uniformity of substrate volumetric water content (VWC) within an irrigation plot, and the corresponding effect on sweet basil growth uniformity. Sixty-four frequency domain reflectometry sensors monitored the VWC of each 440 mL pot, and drip irrigation was automatically applied at 0.3 m<sup>3</sup>·m<sup>−3</sup>. The 5.5 mL IA showed the highest water use efficiency; however, it also resulted in considerable non-uniform VWC (coefficient of variation, CV = 0.404). In contrast, the 110 and 165 mL IAs provided better VWC uniformity (CV = 0.073 and 0.075, respectively), suggesting that less frequent, but larger IAs improved VWC uniformity. Despite the differences in VWC uniformity among treatments, the growth and physiological responses were quite similar across the treatments. It was found that supplying 110 mL irrigation water via the soil moisture sensor-based drip irrigation system to sweet basil plants in 440 mL pots is optimal for achieving both water use efficiency and VWC uniformity.
format Article
id doaj-art-1ab06495454c4675abc4e485e27c744b
institution Kabale University
issn 2073-4395
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Agronomy
spelling doaj-art-1ab06495454c4675abc4e485e27c744b2025-08-20T03:32:31ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952025-07-01157163910.3390/agronomy15071639Adequate Irrigation Amount per Application Is Required to Secure Uniform Water Management in Drip Irrigation SystemsSooeon Lee0Lynne Seymour1Jongyun Kim2Department of Plant Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Statistics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USADepartment of Plant Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of KoreaSoil moisture sensor-based drip irrigation enables efficient irrigation practices by delivering the required water to plants. However, efficiency must be accompanied by uniform water management and crop growth. This study examined the effect of different irrigation amounts (IAs) per application (5.5, 55, 110, and 165 mL) on the uniformity of substrate volumetric water content (VWC) within an irrigation plot, and the corresponding effect on sweet basil growth uniformity. Sixty-four frequency domain reflectometry sensors monitored the VWC of each 440 mL pot, and drip irrigation was automatically applied at 0.3 m<sup>3</sup>·m<sup>−3</sup>. The 5.5 mL IA showed the highest water use efficiency; however, it also resulted in considerable non-uniform VWC (coefficient of variation, CV = 0.404). In contrast, the 110 and 165 mL IAs provided better VWC uniformity (CV = 0.073 and 0.075, respectively), suggesting that less frequent, but larger IAs improved VWC uniformity. Despite the differences in VWC uniformity among treatments, the growth and physiological responses were quite similar across the treatments. It was found that supplying 110 mL irrigation water via the soil moisture sensor-based drip irrigation system to sweet basil plants in 440 mL pots is optimal for achieving both water use efficiency and VWC uniformity.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/7/1639automated irrigation systemcoefficient of variationefficient irrigationsoil moisture sensoruniform productionvariability
spellingShingle Sooeon Lee
Lynne Seymour
Jongyun Kim
Adequate Irrigation Amount per Application Is Required to Secure Uniform Water Management in Drip Irrigation Systems
Agronomy
automated irrigation system
coefficient of variation
efficient irrigation
soil moisture sensor
uniform production
variability
title Adequate Irrigation Amount per Application Is Required to Secure Uniform Water Management in Drip Irrigation Systems
title_full Adequate Irrigation Amount per Application Is Required to Secure Uniform Water Management in Drip Irrigation Systems
title_fullStr Adequate Irrigation Amount per Application Is Required to Secure Uniform Water Management in Drip Irrigation Systems
title_full_unstemmed Adequate Irrigation Amount per Application Is Required to Secure Uniform Water Management in Drip Irrigation Systems
title_short Adequate Irrigation Amount per Application Is Required to Secure Uniform Water Management in Drip Irrigation Systems
title_sort adequate irrigation amount per application is required to secure uniform water management in drip irrigation systems
topic automated irrigation system
coefficient of variation
efficient irrigation
soil moisture sensor
uniform production
variability
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/7/1639
work_keys_str_mv AT sooeonlee adequateirrigationamountperapplicationisrequiredtosecureuniformwatermanagementindripirrigationsystems
AT lynneseymour adequateirrigationamountperapplicationisrequiredtosecureuniformwatermanagementindripirrigationsystems
AT jongyunkim adequateirrigationamountperapplicationisrequiredtosecureuniformwatermanagementindripirrigationsystems