A Review on the Effects of Sprinkler Uniformity on the Spatial Distributions of Soil Moisture and Crop Yield

The effects of sprinkler uniformity on the spatial distributions of soil moisture and crop yield are fundamentally important for selecting design uniformity. This paper reviewed the researches concerning the aspects mentioned above. Both field experiments and simulations on the spatial distributions of soil moisture under sprinkler irrigation demonstrated that the water was more uniformly distributed in the soil than that on the ground surface. Current researches regarding the effects of uniformity on crop yield mainly concentrated on simulation models. A common disadvantage of the models is that the redistribution of sprinkler water in the soil is not included. Further experiments are obviously necessary to quantify the relationship between the spatial distribution of soil water content and sprinkler uniformity as well as the effects of sprinkler uniformity on deep percolation. Field experiments should also be conducted to establish crop yield and uniformity relation.