Emitter Clogging Effects on Trickle Irrigation Uniformity

ABSTRACT A simulation model for emitter clogging on trickle irri-gation systems was developed. Hypothetical emitter populations were generated from specific initial values for the average discharge rate and coefficient of variation of the emitter. Various combinations of clogging were in-troduced into the model to determine how they affected average discharge rates and uniformity coefficient for single and multiple emitter placements per plant. Uniformity was greatly reduced even when 1 to 5 percent of the emitters were clogged with two to eight emitters per plant.