ABSTRACT
The aim of this research was to evaluate the influence of soil water storage variability upon the quality of sprinkle irrigation systems. Based on the soil water retention curves and water depth measurements on 144 points of a 5 x 5 m grid, and using geostatistics techniques, a 1 x 1 m grid was calculated, totalizing 3096 points. With the values of required and applied depths, the storage efficiency, the deep drainage and irrigation adequacy were determined for each of these points. These parameters were also evaluated using the linear model, which considers an average required depth. The variability of soil water storage did not influence significantly the storage efficiency and the deep drainage indices. The linear model showed low sensitivity at distinguishing deficient and adequately irrigated areas.
Key words:
irrigation quality; required depth; spatial variability