Abstract:Aiming to have insights into characteristics of soil moisture transfer of porous ceramic infiltration irrigation, soil moisture transfer experiment was conducted by using porous ceramic emitter, of which the working head was 0m, meanwhile, subsurface drip irrigation tape with working head of 10m was used to carry out a control test. The comparisons of cumulative infiltration, emitter discharge, wetting soil characteristic and change of soil water content of two different irrigation methods were made. The results indicated that when the irrigation time was the same, the cumulative infiltration, wetting front and wetting zone sectional area of porous ceramic infiltration irrigation were less than those of subsurface drip irrigation. The discharge of porous ceramic infiltration irrigation was decreased gradually with the increase of time, which was closed to 0L/h at last, in contrast, the discharge of subsurface drip irrigation was relatively stable. In the late experimental period, soil water contents in the wetting zone of porous ceramic infiltration irrigation were changed slightly. While water contents of subsurface irrigation were increased continuously, and then they got decreased after stopping irrigation because of soil water redistribution. Because porous ceramic infiltration irrigation was a continuous irrigation method, thus it could provide a constant soil moisture environment for crops. But subsurface drip irrigation was a passive and intermittent irrigation method, and soil moisture environment for crops was alternate drying-wetting. The present study provided valuable information for the popularization and application of porous ceramic infiltration irrigation.
