A prototype for a forest nursery with fertigation by sub-irrigation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29298/rmcf.v13i74.1195Keywords:
water, fertilizers, overhead-hand fertigation, nutrient solution, systemAbstract
Research in forest nurseries has focused on producing quality stock with efficient irrigation and fertigation systems and substrate alternatives to reduce environmental impacts. The objectives of the present research were to design a sub-irrigation system prototype to produce 600 seedlings of three species at nursery and to quantify the amount of water and fertilizer used. The prototype was compared to a hand watering system. Morphological traits were evaluated at the end of the production stage. To create the prototype, four 0.30×0.30×3.0 m trenches were dug inside the nursery. The amount of water used in the hand fertigation system exceeded the subirrigation system by 219 %. With overhead hand fertigation, 8 960 l of water were used, while in sub-irrigation, only 2 808 l were utilized. However, the amount of soluble fertilizer used in overhead hand fertigation was 4 779.4 g, whereas in sub-irrigation, the total amount was 5 347.6 g. With overhead-hand fertigation, the nutrient solution dripped off the containers and leached through the soil. In sub-irrigation however, the nutrient solution was reused to fertigate a fruit tree orchard.
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