WATER QUALITY,
SOIL AND MANAGING
IRRIGATION OF CROPS

Edited by Teang Shui Lee











Water Quality, Soil and Managing Irrigation of Crops
Edited by Teang Shui Lee


Published by InTech
Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Copyright © 2012 InTech
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First published March, 2012
Printed in Croatia

A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com
Additional hard copies can be obtained from


Water Quality, Soil and Managing Irrigation of Crops, Edited by Teang Shui Lee
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-51-0426-1









Contents

Preface IX
Part 1 Reuse Water Quality, Soils and Pollution 1
Chapter 1 Water Quality at the
Cárdenas-Comalcalco Basin, México 3
Ángel Galmiche-Tejeda, José Jesús Obrador-Olán,
Eustolia García-López

and Eugenio Carrillo Ávila
Chapter 2 Effluent Quality Parameters
for Safe use in Agriculture 23
Hamid Iqbal Tak, Akhtar Inam,
Yahya Bakhtiyar and Arif Inam
Chapter 3 Provision of Essential
Minerals Through Foliar Sprays 37
Rizwana Jabeen and Rafiq Ahmad
Chapter 4 Assessment of Geochemistry of Soils for
Agriculture at Winder, Balochistan, Pakistan 73
Shahid Naseem, Salma Hamza and Erum Bashir
Chapter 5 Geospatial Relationships Between Morbidity
and Soil Pollution at Cubatão, Brazil 95
Roberto Wagner Lourenço,
Admilson Irio Ribeiro, Maria Rita Donalisio,
Ricardo Cordeiro, André Juliano Franco

and Paulo Milton Barbosa Landim
Part 2 Managing Irrigation of Crops 111
Chapter 6 Developing Crop-Specific Irrigation
Management Strategies Considering Effects
of Drought on Carbon Metabolism in Plants 113
Silvia Aparecida Martim, Arnoldo Rocha Façanha
and Ricardo Enrique Bressan-Smith
VI Contents

Chapter 7 Influence of Irrigation, Soil and Weeding
on Performance of Mediterranean
Cypress Seedling in Nursery 141
Masoud Tabari
Chapter 8 Surface Infiltration on Tropical
Plinthosols in Maranhão, Brazil 3
Alba Leonor da Silva Martins, Aline Pacobahyba de Oliveira,
Emanoel Gomes de Moura and Jesús Hernan Camacho-Tamayo
Chapter 9 Growth Characteristics of Rainfed/Irrigated
Juniperus excelsa Planted in an Arid Area
at North-Eastern Iran 161
Masoud Tabari
and Mohammad Ali Shirzad
Part 3 Examples of Irrigation Systems 169
Chapter 10 A Review of Subsurface Drip Irrigation
and Its Management 171
Leonor Rodríguez Sinobas and María Gil Rodríguez
Chapter 11 Irrigation of Field Crops in the Boreal Region 195
Pirjo Mäkelä, Jouko Kleemola and Paavo Kuisma
Chapter 12 Land Flooding Irridation Treatment System
for Water Purification in Taiwan 217

Yu-Kang Yuan









Preface

This book, Water Quality, Soil and Managing Irrigation of Crops, consists of twelve
chapters written by experts in various disciplines covering topics regarding quality of
water for re-use in agriculture, plant agronomy, soils and its properties, health issues
pertaining to soil pollution, infiltration, as well as irrigation systems. Chemical and
biochemical properties of water in water bodies are indeed important for water
ecosystems management. Guidelines for quality of water for re-use in irrigated
agriculture are important not only for the short-term measure of replenishing much
needed water resources for plants, but suffice to say, that the long term use of such
waters, if not carefully handled, can lead to permanent destruction of good
agricultural land and may further aggravate water conditions of water bodies and
wetlands downstream, where an environmental disaster is waiting to accumulate and
recovery may be too difficult thereafter. Thus, for those involved with irrigation and
drainage engineering practices, the totality of provision of prudent water resources
and soil management is the order of the day if no detrimental after-effects are to surface.
Development of appropriate irrigation management strategies in order to produce crops
of high quality without wastage of water is the way forward in our future world wherein
global warming is a foregone conclusion. Consequent to it may be floods and droughts
that seemingly do not follow historical patterns and thus are difficult to cope with. With

more than 70% of the water resources going to agriculture and where more than 40% of
global food is produced on irrigated soils, it would be a disastrous scenario where too
much water unexpectedly washes away much needed crops whilst the onset of
unexpected droughts will play havoc with no way out. Another aspect that has been the
focus of many researches is the introduction of salt-tolerant varieties of crops. This is
particularly so in areas where the accumulation of salts in precious soils is beginning to
take its toll on crops. This incremental accumulation of salt concentration through use
and re-use of saline waters is building up salinity levels to the extent of eventually
rendering the land irrevocable. This is also evident in many areas where seawater saline
intrusion occurs and the fresh saline interface keeps encroaching higher up the water
table. But such use and re-use of saline waters is the only way that crops can be irrigated,
and thus a vicious cycle repeats. Although the growing of crops out of thin air and with
irrigation (aeroponics) is possible and hydroponics technology has been established,
these technologies are reserved for growing expensive crops as well as in small scale
production in view of the high energy costs involved. Therefore, to grow stable food
X Preface

crops in tonnage appropriate to the demands for the masses, we may have to develop
drought-resistant crops that can grow with high productivity in poorer soils and
environment and less water, but also having the taste and texture that at least is
considered passable by the populace.
Water problems in many parts of the world are chronic and without a crackdown on
waste, will ultimately worsen as demand for food rises and the vagaries of climate
change intensify. Many daunting challenges lie ahead, including providing clean
water and sanitation, feeding a world population that is set to rise from 7 billion to 9
billion by 2050 and coping with the impacts of global warming. Pressure for
freshwater is rising, from the expanding needs of agriculture, food production and
energy consumption to pollution and the weaknesses of water management. Climate
change is a real and growing threat and unless humankind can deal with the
onslaught or have timely controls of the emissions of global warming gases in place,

this phenomenon will not self-diminish but will rather aggravate into a potentially
harder one to cope with, temporarily or spatially. Without the benefits of good
planning and adaptation, hundreds of millions of people are at risk of hunger,
diseases, energy shortages, etc. The spotlight is on the competition for water between
cities, farmers and ecosystems, and between countries as well. The water rights issue is
set to trouble many adjacent countries. It is estimated that 148 countries have
international water basins within their territory and 21 countries actually lie entirely
within them. The challenges in accessing water are therefore real and could probably
make or break a country. With temperatures arising in almost all the continents over the
last decades, the demand and competition for water will be greater, not only for potable
water, overcoming droughts in agriculture, but also needed for other demands like fire-
fighting etc. With global warming, it is not impossible that droughts and floods
occurring within a short time span of each other or within short distance apart, like what
had happened recently in Australia where it has been recorded as getting hotter by the
year, and like the unusual big floods that inundated rice fields and the city of Bangkok at
the end of 2011. Thus, for the agricultural engineer engaged with irrigation and drainage,
the task is ever more daunting and the need to grasp knowledge to deal with all the
possible water scenarios is never more demanding. From seeking more efficient and
energy effective systems to nurture crops, to seeking solutions with water re-use, the
irrigation scientist and specialist will really have a lot at hand.

Dr. Teang Shui Lee
Professor of Water Resources Engineering,
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Malaysia





Part 1
Reuse Water Quality, Soils and Pollution