CHAPTER FOUR
IRRIGATION IMPLEMENTS
Irrigation is defined as “Artificially supplying & systematically dividing of water for agriculture &
horticulture in order to obtain higher or qualitatively better production. Irrigation is essentially the
artificial application of water to overcome deficiencies in rainfall for growing crops. Irrigation is a
basic determinant of agriculture because its inadequacies are the most powerful constraints on the
increase of agricultural production. Irrigation equipment includes everything from hoses and
impact rotor sprinklers to valves, pipes, controllers, and drip emitters.
4.1 Types of Irrigation Systems
Irrigation methods have been around for thousands of years as long as we’ve had the ability to
grow our own crops and they vary in how they obtain and disperse the water. Here are the different
types of irrigation systems, how they work and the benefits of each.
Surface Irrigation
Sprinkler Irrigation
Drip Irrigation
Centre Pivot Irrigation
Manual Irrigation - using buckets or watering cans
Surface Irrigation
In surface irrigation, water moves over and across the land by simple gravity flow in order to wet
and infiltrate the soil. Surface irrigation can be divided into furrow, border strip or basin irrigation.
It is often called flood irrigation when it results in flooding or near flood of the cultivated land.
Figure: 4.1. Surface Irrigation
1|P age
Agricultural Machinery and Implements, Teaching material, 2nd year, Agricultural Economics
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture an Environmental Science
Arsi University By: Gudina Abdisa/2025
Types of surface method
This method is generally classified as border, basin and furrow.
Border method: water is flooded from the border area
into the number of strips which are separated by
ridges. An irrigation channel runs along the top end of
the borders.
Basin method: large stream of water is applied to
almost level and smaller unit of fields which are
surrounded by levees or bunds. The applied water is
retained in the basin until it filtrates.
Furrow method: water is applied to the field by
furrow which are small canals having a continuous
our nearly uniform slope in the direction of irrigation.
Water flowing in the furrow into the soil spreads
laterally to irrigate the area between furrows.
The advantages of surface irrigation include:
Requires less manual labor than hose spraying or shifting hose sprinklers.
Better able to cover a large plot of land in a shorter amount of time.
Not as negatively influenced by winds or sediments as other systems.
Saves water by eliminating surface water evaporation in hot and arid conditions.
Disadvantages of surface irrigation
Low efficiency
Erosion, leveling, operation, drainage
Not suitable for sandy soils and lands with high slopes
Sprinkler Irrigation
Sprinkler irrigation is another popular
method, which pipes a set amount of water
to the fields, and then sprays this directly
over the crops with high pressure
sprinklers. The amount of water can be
closely controlled.
Figure:4.2. Sprinkler Irrigation
2|P age
Agricultural Machinery and Implements, Teaching material, 2nd year, Agricultural Economics
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture an Environmental Science
Arsi University By: Gudina Abdisa/2025
Advantages of Sprinkler Irrigation
Suitable for varying sizes of land both large and small plots.
Better able to direct water flow to specific areas of a property, avoiding water loss.
Ability to apply fertilizers and chemical treatments through the system for even application.
Can cover large areas and used anywhere
Disadvantages of Sprinkler Irrigation
The most expensive when it comes to initial installation.
Susceptible to wind in an excessively windy area.
Drip Irrigation
Water is delivered at or near the root zone
of plants, drop by drop. This method can be
the most water-efficient method of
irrigation, since evaporation and runoff are
minimized. In modern agriculture, drip
irrigation is often combined with plastic
Figure:4.3. Drip irrigation
mulch, further reducing evaporation, and is
also a means of delivery of fertilizer. The
process is known as fertigation.
Advantages of drip irrigation Disadvantages of drip irrigation
Saving of labour, water and energy Saline hazard
Enhanced plant growth and yield Economic and technical limitations
No soil erosion, Easy to operate and Requirement of high skill in design, installing and
use operations
Centre-Pivot Irrigation
Centre-pivot irrigation involves a self-
propelled system in which a single
pipeline supported by a row of mobile
towers is suspended above ground. Water
is pumped into the central pipe and as the
towers rotate slowly around the pivot
point, a large circular area is irrigated.
Sprinkler nozzles mounted on or
suspended from the pipeline distribute
water under pressure as the pipeline
rotates.
Figure: 4.4. Center pivot irrigation
3|P age
Agricultural Machinery and Implements, Teaching material, 2nd year, Agricultural Economics
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture an Environmental Science
Arsi University By: Gudina Abdisa/2025
Advantages of center pivot irrigation
These systems are found and used in all types of terrain.
This type of system is known as LEPA (Low Energy Precision Application).
Disadvantages of center pivot irrigation
The most expensive when it comes to initial installation.
Susceptible to wind in an excessively windy area
Manual Irrigation These systems have low
requirements for infrastructure and technical
equipment but need high labour inputs. Irrigation
using watering cans is to be found, for example,
in most rural areas and per urban agriculture
around large cities.
Figure:4.5. Manual irrigation
Advantages of drip irrigation Disadvantages of drip irrigation
Easy to operate, no need skill Not efficient
Low cost Only for small farm
4.2. Water pumps
It is a water lifting device which lift water from deeper area to the surface of land.
Lift water for irrigation, drinking, livestock, fire figh tining etc. Priming is the process of removing
sufficient air from the pump and the suction pipe so that the atmospheric pressure can cause the
flow of water inside the pump. Water pumps fall into three general types: center-suction centrifugal
pumps, variable-volume flexible-impeller and vane pumps positive displacement pump.
Figure:4.6. Water pump
All pumps use atmospheric pressure to push the fluid into the pump housing to fill the vacuum
created when fluid or air already in the housing is expelled by the action of the pump. If the pump is
capable of starting up dry and sucking fluid up an inlet line it is considered self-priming. If the fluid
has to be poured into it prior to starting, it is nonself-priming.
4|P age
Agricultural Machinery and Implements, Teaching material, 2nd year, Agricultural Economics
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture an Environmental Science
Arsi University By: Gudina Abdisa/2025
