Evaluating the Irrigation Practice of Center Pivot Sprinkler Irrigation System at Hiwot Agricultural Mechanization, Ethiopia

Irrigation practice evaluation of center pivot sprinkler irrigation system at Hiwot Agricultural Mechanization farm, North/west Ethiopia was conducted. The aim of the study was evaluating the existing center pivot irrigation practice in terms of irrigation scheduling. Measuring flow rate of center pivot machines for existing irrigation practice and Crop water requirement based scheduling was used to evaluate the system. The highest value of crop water requirement at location m6, m7 and m12 was 5.24 mm/day in September at mid-stage and for location m4 and m8 in October at mid-stage equal to 4.99 mm/day. Whereas, the lowest crop water requirement at location m6, m7 and m12 was 2.52 mm/day in July at the initial stage which was and for location m4 and m8 in august at initial stage equal to 2.08 mm/day. The actual flow rate of center pivot machines varies from 0.7l/s for m7 to a maximum of 1l/s for m4 whereas estimated crop water requirement flow rate varies from 0.6l/s for m6 to a maximum of 0.8l/s for m4. The study also revealed that the actual flow rate of the nozzles was excess. Therefore improvement of center pivot sprinkler irrigation system can be amended by using proper irrigation scheduling and by introducing an automatic control system.