EVALUATION OF SOME TURF IRRIGATION SPRINKLERS UNDER DEFICIT IRRIGATION LEVELS

Several types of turf irrigation equipment are available to best meet the landscape requirements: from long range sprinklers that throw water for more than twenty meters to a small sprayer that splash water for 2-5 meters or less. So, selecting the right equipment is an important part of landscape irrigation. Uniformity of water distribution, water use rationalization and total costs are the major concerns for design and management of turf irrigation systems in Egypt. Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate the performance of Spray sprinklers PS and Rotator sprinklers MP on the distribution pattern uniformity of soil moisture content and water use efficiency of turf grass (Paspalum 10), under deficit irrigation management. The field experiment was executed in sandy soil, at the Up Town Cairo compound, Mukattam city, Cairo governorate, during 2017-2018 seasons. The results indicated that ▪ Water distribution uniformity DUlq for the rotator type sprinkler MP was higher than that for the spray type sprinkler PS, while the coefficient of uniformity (CU) was similar for the two types of sprinklers. ▪ The average soil moisture content for MP sprinkler after irrigation run was 7% higher than that for PS sprinkler under all tested deficit irrigation levels. ▪ The grass growth rate and water use efficiency for MP sprinkler were 12.9 % and 13.3 % higher than those for PS sprinkler respectively. As well as, using MP rotor sprinkler can save 20% of water compared with full irrigation using PS sprayers with no effect on grass growth rate or water use efficiency.