Economic Optimization of Design Parameters of Furrow Irrigation under Deficit Irrigation for Corn in Shahrekord Region

Considering water scarcity in Iran, application of deficit irrigation or water stress on some crops is inevitable. We need to provide appropriate design for deficit irrigation. Furrow irrigation management to obtain high efficiency and uniformity is difficult. Therefore, to investigate the variation of the input discharge, the cut-off time and furrow length that are effective on the efficiency and uniformity are very important. The purpose of this research is to provide a method for determining the optimum water use depth and optimizing furrow irrigation design in deficit irrigation conditions and finally comparing design characteristics under full irrigation conditions and deficit irrigation and comparison in different soil tissues. In order to achieve the objectives of this research, an experiment was conducted on forage corn in Shahrekord in a completely randomized block design with 7 treatments of different levels of irrigation in 3 replications. The costs and benefits functions were determined based on design variable and depth of applied water. The software Lingo was used to optimize the design variables (length of the furrow, the input discharge and cut-off time) and depth of applied water in deficit irrigation condition. The results showed that the highest net profit was obtained using 535 mm (equivalent to 79% of full irrigation) and 85 meters, 0.39 liter per second and 188 minutes, respectively, for the length of furrow, input discharge and cut-off time. The results of this design were compared to full irrigation of deferent soil textures. The results showed that an increase in the permeability of the soil caused length of furrow and the cut-off time to decrease, while the flow rate increases and depth of applied water or percent of deficit irrigation were constant.