Nicola Minerva - Beta ADVANCES IN SUGAR BEET IRRIGATION Valladolid 5 June 2013
Sugar factories % of the provincial areas where is grown sugar beet. 2
C C 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0-5 Maximun temperature trend 2010 2011 2012 2013 Polinómica (2010) Polinómica (2011) Polinómica (2012) Polinómica (2013) 35 25 15 5-5 Minimun temperature trend
mm 700 650 600 550 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 01 March 01 April 01 May 01 June 01 July 01 August 01 September ETC 2011 ETC 2012 ETC 2013 ETC 2010 ETC Average
mm 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 2010= 699mm 2011=365mm 2012=461mm 2013= 438 mm 0 jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec
% CONTRIBUTION TO ETo 100 80 60 40 20 0 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 WATER-TABLE DEPTH (cm) LOAMY SOILS SANDY SOILS CLAYEY SOILS Contribution of shallow water table to irrigation water requirement (IWR) of crops depends on capillary rise that develops within root zone. This capillary rise is function of root zone environment and depth of shallow water table. 6
0 28 January 2010 28 February 2010 31 March 2010 30 April 2010 31 May 2010 30 June 2010 31 July 2010 31 August 2010 30 September 2010 31 October 2010 30 November 2010 31 December 2010 31 January 2011 28 February 2011 31 March 2011 30 April 2011 31 May 2011 30 June 2011 31 July 2011 31 August 2011 30 September 2011 31 October 2011 30 November 2011 31 December 2011 31 January 2012 29 February 2012 31 March 2012 30 April 2012 31 May 2012 30 June 2012 31 July 2012 31 August 2012 30 September 2012 31 October 2012 30 November 2012-50 -100-150 -200-250 -300-350 7
Depth (cm) 0-50 -100-150 -200-250 Depth water table Roots activity without irrigation Roots activity wth irrigation -300 Time 8
Depth (cm) 0-50 Water table Root activity -100-150 -200-250 -300 9
Drip Irrigation Splinker Boom Total Irrigation Volume- m 3 1500 1500 1500 Numbers of Irrigation 5 5 4 Amortisation cost 635,36 316,97 36,00 Maintenance cost 13,07 17,31 18,92 Bank interests 29,41 38,95 4,79 Manpower for installation 113,60 113,60 - Total fix costs 791,44 486,83 59,70 Manpower for distribution 28,40 28,40 28,40 Energetic costs 54,00 94,50 26,00 Total Variable Costs 82,40 122,90 154,40 Total Cost 873,84 609,73 214,10 Total Costs x m 3 0,58 0,41 0,14 Total Variable Costs x each irrigation 174,77 121,95 53,52
Index 150 140 130 2005 1 harvest 2005 2 harvest 120 2006 1 harvest 2006 2 harvest 110 100 Sprinkler Drip Boom Beta irrigation trials in Northern Italy in 2005 (average 3 locations) and 2006 (Average 2 locations) highlight the increase of the sugar yield compared to dry test (100). 2006 was drier and hotter than 2005. Irrigation rose yield from 8 to 47% more than dry test. In Italy only 50% of beet grower apply irrigation
AcquaFacile Plus is Beta software for the sugar beet irrigation. It allows to calculate the water consumption of the crop indicating the moments of intervention and the volumes of water. The main features of "ACQUAFACILE Plus" are: Multiple Functionality to calculate the evapotranspiration with Hargreaves formula: ETo = 0,0023 RA x (T + 17,8) x (Tx Tn) 0,5 automatically : using a database with historical daily provincial average temperatures; manual: input of daily temperatures mixed mode: changing the historical data only in the event of abnormal weather conditions; Estimate of water supply of the shallow water table as a function of its depth; Ability to customize the water volume to be returned to the culture according to the irrigation system (sprinkler, drip, boom, etc); Ability to manage and store an unlimited number of farm water budgets; Possibility to enter and export data to Excel spreadsheet; Free downloadable from together with a spreadsheet for readily available water (RAW) calculation
INITIALIZATION PROVINCE Select the province where the field is located; CULTURE select the type of crop sowing: spring or autumn; IRRIGATION SYSTEM select the type of irrigation system to choose the volume of water to be distributed: selecting drip system the program automatically sets a volume of 20 mm selecting mini sprinkler the program sets a volume of 30 mm selecting boom the program sets a volume of 30 mm until 20 th of May and 40 mm for the period after selecting custom it s possible to set the volume according to the RAW EFFICIENCY it s possible to set the system efficiency system (by default equal to 100%).
DATA ENTRY - The program calculates daily water balance considering maximum and minimum temperatures, rainfall, irrigation, shallow water table depth and crop coefficient (Kc) TEMPERATURES using automatic setting, sw uses the historical temperatures. Otherwise user can input daily min or max values. RAINFALL every daily rainfall must be inserted IRRIGATION every irrigation must be inserted. SHALLOW WATER TABLE by default is absent. Once you set the depth is always used in the calculation of all the following days until the user intervenes to change it. CROP COEFFICIENT (Kc) automatical setting is recommended (the program uses the Kc corresponding to selected date). Manual setting is possible too.
AF for each day estimates the water balance suggesting interventions according to set irrigation water volume
Cd distribution: about 900 copies Web download 2005-2009: about 500 In 2009 AF was used by about 20% of the participants in the demonstration platforms, about half of those who used computer for their business. Beta keeps constantly updated water balances of experimental locations. Based on these data it draws orientative bulletins to be allocated by associations and sugar industry technicians to the producers. To supplement this bulletin, sent by mail or email, technicians also provide to send sms in order to be faster and more widespread. Table from a Beta bulletin of June 2012, containing water balance of its beet experimental locations in Northern Italy
Internet: users identification ARMYWORMS REMOTE REMARKS Costumerized dashboard irrigation, CLS, armyworms(batch) (weather data) (messages) CERCOSPORA LEAF SPOT (CLS) VARIETY CHOICE IRRIGATION WEATHER STATIONS WEED CONTROL FERTILIZATION SOIL ANALYSIS From 2013 Beta is implementing a Decisional Support System in order to offer an integrated tool, suitable to the optimization of some technical operations in sugar beet growing.
Italian weather conditions are very variable in the different years (especially during summer time) Shallow water table contributes significantly at the restore water requirement of the crop Water requirement isn t always satisfy by rainfall and swallow water table At present only 50% of sugar beet grower uses irrigation Irrigation is a necessary tool to improve sugar yield in Italy Acqua facile is an easy tool to drive the irrigation in sugar beet. The DSS will integrate different tools to support beet grower in technical decision and Acqua Facile is one of these. 18