Effects of Aquaculture Effluent Quality on Hydraulic Performance of Netafim and Microflopper Emitters

Emitter clogging is the main problem in the use of wastewaters in drip irrigation systems which reduces the emitter discharge, emission uniformity, irrigation efficiency and increases maintenance costs. Aquaculture effluents contain appropriate nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) that can be used by plants. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of aquaculture effluent on hydraulic performance of Netafim and Microflopper emitters with different discharges. For this purpose, two drip irrigation systems were established to use inflow water and wastewater of a fish farm in Kurdistan province. Also, adding a management treatment, the effect of drip irrigation laterals discharge at the end of each irrigation event was studied when using this type of waste. The relative discharge, emission uniformity, Christiansen Uniformity Coefficient, statistical uniformity and discharge reduction rate were used to compare the hydraulic performance of the emitters. The results showed that in both fresh water and wastewater cases, the hydraulic performance of Netafim 4 l/hr and Netafim 8 l/hr emitters were better than the Microflopper 4 l/hr, Microflopper 8 l/hr and Netafim 12 l/hr emitters, respectively. Also, Netafim 4 l/hr emitters had the least dependence and sensitivity to water quality and irrigation management compared to the other studied emitters. In addition, the use of management treatment, for lateral pipe flushout, has a great impact on improving the performance of Netafim 12 l/hr and Microflopper 8 l/hr emitters.