Expandable Garden Hose
Drip Irrigation System Kit
Hard Garden Hose
Multiple Accessories
This article is from AI friends and Jane. Drip Irrigation system, as an efficient water-saving irrigation technology, is a highly efficient water-saving irrigation technique that directly delivers water to the roots of plants through pipes and drippers, reducing evaporation and waste. Its development history reflects the evolution process of agricultural technology from traditional to intelligent. The process is closely related to human demand for water resource utilization, the progress of agricultural technology and breakthroughs in materials science.
Before the advent of modern drip irrigation technology, human irrigation mainly relied on methods such as flood irrigation, furrow irrigation and border irrigation.
Ancient Egypt (3000 BC), for example, they used the regular rule of the Nile flooding to simply diverse water to the farmland, but the disadvantages are the serious evaporation and water leakage.
Mesopotamia civilization (2500 BC), they use irrigation ditches, but the soil salinization and waste of water resource had limited the scale of the agriculture.
In 2000 BC, the ancient Egyptians in the Nile delta region also used clay to convey and store water, and then put the water to drip to the crops root around.
Persia "qanat" system (underground channels), the persians found water in the desert and leaded to the more suitable ground for human habitation through underground channels.
During the warring states period in ancient China, they to promote "karez" (underground channels) to reduce evaporation, but the essence is still a long distance water conveyance flood irrigation mode.
As the prototype of early drip irrigation, the common problem with these traditional methods is the low utilization rate of water resources, and it is difficult to precisely control the water demand of crops. And water shortage has become a bottleneck for agricultural development in arid and semi-arid regions (such as Israel and the Arabian Peninsula). Therefore, "How to ensure that every drop of water precisely reaches the roots of the crops" has become a key demand.
In 1860, Germany began to conduct underground irrigation experiments by using corrugated pipes for drainage. Short corrugated pipes with positive joints were buried underground and covered with filter layers, which increased crop yields several times over.
In 1913, E.B. House, a researcher from California, USA, proposed the concept of irrigation through perforated pipes, but it failed to be widely promoted due to material limitations.
In 1920, Charles Lee California passed around the ceramic crock of punch for irrigation, which is considered to be the world's first underground drip irrigation technology. At the same year, German inventor Simcha Blass observed that trees grew better due to pipe leakage and came up with the idea of controlled drip irrigation. Thus, perforated pipe irrigation was adopted, achieving a major breakthrough in the outflow of orifice drippers.
In 1934, Robey from the United States, studied canvas pipe irrigation, water seepage become another form of drip irrigation.
In the late 1940s, Germany used plastic pipe on the research of drip irrigation. With the rapid development of the plastic industry, plastic pipes have gradually been applied to drip irrigation systems, providing better material support for the development of drip irrigation technology.
The birth of modern drip irrigation is directly related to Israel's arid environment and agricultural demands. At the beginning of the 20th century, approx. 80% of Israel (then a mandate of British Palestine) was desert or semi-arid land, with per capita water resources of only about 300 cubic meters (far below the internationally recognized warning line of 500 cubic meters), forcing local agriculture to seek efficient water usage methods. Drip irrigation has become the core technology of "desert agriculture".
In the 1930s, Simha Blas, an Israeli water engineer, observed a phenomenon in northern Palestine. There was a water pit near the root of a date palm tree. Despite the extremely small amount of water, the date palm tree grew exceptionally lush. This phenomenon inspired him to think that delivering water slowly and precisely to the root systems of plants might be more efficient than large-scale irrigation.
In 1959, Blas began to drip irrigation system research. He initially attempted to drill holes in metal tubes as drippers, but found that the clogging problem (impurities in the water blocking the small holes) was severe, resulting in unstable water output.
It was not until 1960 that he accidentally discovered that the flexibility of plastic pipes could replace that of metals, which significantly reduced the probability of clogging by adjusting the structure of the dripper (such as extending the water flow path and reducing the pore size).
In 1964, he and his son Yeshayahu invented the first modern drip irrigation device, which used plastic pipes and adjustable drippers to solve the problem of clogging. In the same year, he and his partners founded a company (Netafim) and launched the world's first commercial drip irrigation system - delivering water to the roots of plants at a rate of several drops per second through plastic pipes, combined with pressure regulation devices to ensure uniform irrigation.
When plastics industry had not yet spread, the high cost of drip irrigation system and applies only to higher-value crops, such as greenhouse vegetables, flowers. However, the Israeli government had strongly supported it (regarding it as a "national survival technology"), promoting it through subsidies and legislation to enable it to demonstrate advantages in desert agriculture. It can save 50%-70% of water, increasing yields by 30%-100%, and successfully developing world-leading agriculture (such as citrus and cotton cultivation) in the desert.
After the 1970s, drip irrigation technology began to be studied and demonstrated successively in the United States, Australia, Mexico, South Africa and other places, for example, for high-value crops (such as grapes and fruit trees).
Pressure-compensating drippers (1970s) : Traditional drippers in sloping land or long-distance pipelines had uneven water output due to changes in water pressure. Pressure-compensating technology balanced water pressure through internal structural design (such as elastic diaphragms), ensuring consistent water output from drippers at different positions and expanding the application of drip irrigation in mountainous areas and terraced fields.
Anti-clogging design: Through filtration systems (such as mesh and disc filters) and dripper flow channel optimization (increasing flow channel diameter and reducing dead zones), the risk of impurity clogging is reduced, making drip irrigation suitable for irrigation water containing sediment (such as rivers and groundwater).
Integrated equipment: Drip irrigation pipes (plastic flexible tubes with embedded drippers) replaced complex piping systems, reducing costs and maintenance difficulties. And farmers can directly lay and use them. Although the drip irrigation equipment performance be improved, but there are still problems not solved, such as poor irrigation uniformity, jams.
In the 1980s, advancements in the plastic industry reduced costs of drip irrigation system. And the drip irrigation gradually became popular in developing countries such as India and China. The popularization of low-cost materials such as polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), along with the improvement of micro-irrigation technology theories, has driven drip irrigation into a period of rapid development. Moreover, with the shortage of water resources and the enhancement of environmental awareness, drip irrigation technology has played a significant role in agricultural water-saving irrigation through experimental verification and technological improvements which has been widely applied worldwide.
In 1990s, scientists (might be from Israeli and other countries) had introduced a computer control system into the drip irrigation system, which can automatically adjust the drip irrigation time and water volume by monitoring the changes in soil moisture and pH through sensors. And it is called fertigation.
Entering the 21st century, information technology has been deeply integrated with agriculture. The drip irrigation system is developing in the directions of precision, intelligence and ecologicalization.
Intelligent control: By using sensors (soil moisture, temperature, EC value [electrical conductivity]) to monitor the water demand of crops in real time, and combining the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically adjust the drip irrigation time and flow rate, achieving "water supply on demand". For example, the "Smart Drip Irrigation" system of Netafim in Israel can adjust the irrigation plan in advance according to the weather forecast.
Solar-driven: Solar drip irrigation systems are adopted in remote areas.
Integrated water and fertilizer (Fertigation) : Dissolve fertilizers in irrigation water and simultaneously deliver them to the roots of crops through the drip irrigation system, improving fertilizer utilization rate (traditional fertilization is only 30%-40%, while drip irrigation can reach over 80%) and reducing non-point source pollution.
Eco-friendly design: Develop degradable drip irrigation pipes (to reduce white pollution), bio-based material emitters (to replace petroleum-based plastics). And drip irrigation systems are good at soil improvement (such as injecting microbial agents and water-retaining agents).
Low-cost popularization: "Simple drip irrigation packages" for small-scale farmers (such as "drip irrigation under film" in Northwest China) and combine government subsidies to reduce initial investment, promoting the popularization of the technology in developing countries (such as Africa and South Asia). And it extends from agriculture to urban greening and home gardening (such as DIY drip irrigation kits).
Water conservation: It saves 30% to 60% of water compared with traditional irrigation, and is especially suitable for arid areas.
Production: precise water fertilizer can increase crop yield by 20% to 50%.
Sustainability: reduce the soil salinity and waste of water resources.
High initial cost: The equipment investment is relatively high, but the long-term returns are significant.
Maintenance requirements: drop heads are easily blocked, filtering, and regular cleaning.
Drip irrigation technology has moved from the laboratory to global farmlands, becoming an important tool for dealing with water shortages and food security. In the future, it may be further integrated with regenerative agriculture and AI to make the ecology healthy.
In the Middle East, countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have utilized drip irrigation to grow wheat and forage in deserts, alleviating the pressure of food imports.
Americas: California (agricultural drought), Brazil (semi-arid coffee growing areas) introduction of drip irrigation, improve fruit and vegetable production.
Asia: India, Pakistan, in cotton, wheat, China (pilot) in the 1980 s by drip irrigation in Xinjiang cotton yield doubled.
Africa: South Africa, Morocco adopted the drip irrigation development of drought-resistant crops, such as grapes, olives, improve the food security of poor areas.
At present, drip from "technology in Israel" development as the core of the arid and semi-arid regions in the world of agricultural technology.
The essence of the development of drip irrigation is humanity's continuous exploration of the efficient utilization of water resources. From the accumulation of ancient experience to modern technological innovation, from solving the survival problems in arid regions to promoting the sustainable development of global agriculture, drip irrigation has not only changed the way of using water in agriculture, but also reshaped the ecological and economic landscape of arid areas. In the future, if the intensified climate change and water shortage issues are coming, hope the drip irrigation can become one of the core supporting technologies for "SMART AGRICULTURE".
