An evaluation study of the application of center pivot irrigation systems

In Cuba, 32,649 ha of land are irrigated using center pivot irrigation systems. In the last few years, the sprinklers on these machines have been replaced by low-pressure spray nozzles. This has made it necessary to evaluate the quality of irrigation and to identify the factors that can affect uniformity economy, and water use efficiency. Eleven pivots in several agricultural enterprises in the west side of the country were evaluated during three irrigation periods (1998-2001). The study was conducted based on several indicators of the quality of irrigation, including the coefficient of uniformity of Heerman and Hein. The results show the lack of correspondence among the results of the several indicators, while 22% of the total pivot area was irrigated in an insufficient way The factor that has greater influence on these results is the technical flaws in the machines. This effect on the areas of irrigation is equal to wasting the cost for the concept of fuel and wages of four out of 20 irrigations under these conditions.