Micro irrigation

Figure 2 shows the concentration of soil nitrate values observed in the trial period. For all the treatments, the tendency is characterised by high values in the summer due to the combined effect of fertilisation and native soil N mineralisation, since, in this season, soil conditions are not limiting for biochemical activities (optimal soil water contents maintained by micro irrigation and high soil temperature). On the other hand, low values measured in the winter could be ascribed to the rainfall that may leach nitrates from the superficial soil layer. 

Siddahngaswamy, N., Basavaiah, U.D., Dandin, S.B., Narayanagowda, S.N., Shivaprakash, RM., 2007. A study on the efficiency of micro-irrigation systems on growth yield and quahty of mulberry. Indian Journal of Sericulture 46, 76—79. 

Fisher s engineering innovations include the following devices (1) a building-block press (2) an oil-seed press and (3) a micro-irrigation pump. Let us look briefly at each. 

Unlike Union Carbide s MIC plant in Bhopal, KickStart s micro-irrigation pump fit harmoiuously into the existing local Kenyan cultural-environmental system. The culturally mindful engineering design that is a KickStart trademark has enabled those who have purchased and used its products, to enhance their economic situations, provide employment for others, and avoid the economic and socio-cultural harms that would have resulted from inadvertent cultural mismatches in the design of its products. The remarkable impact of KickStart s irrigation pumps can be seen from the fact that as of April 1, 2015, it had sold 257,973 pumps in Africa, created 170,000 enterprises, and moved about 850,000 people out of poverty. 

Quinones-Bolanos E, Zhou H, Soundararajan R and Otten L (2005), Water and solute transport in pervaporation hydrophihc membranes to reclaim contaminated water for micro-irrigation , / Me/nferane Sci, 252,19-28. 

According to modem standards mineral fertilizers are partitioned into two groups standardized and non-standardized. The standardized fertilizers include nitrogen, phosphoms, potassium, complex, and micro-fertilizers that contain the nutrients at the standard basis. The non-standardized fertilizers are municipal wastewater effluents, municipal solid wastes, polluted river waters used for irrigation, etc., which are not characterized by standard content of nutrients. However one should add that in all fertilizers including standardized type there are the admixtures, which pollute the agrolandscape. The known examples are phosphoms fertilizers and any municipal waste and wastewater with a pool of heavy metals and various organic pollutants. 

Johnson, C.M. and H. Nishita Micro-estimation of sulphur in plant materials, soils and irrigation waters Anal. Chem. 24 (1952) 736-742. 

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