María Gil Rodríguez

A Review of Subsurface Drip Irrigation and Its Management

According to the ASAE Standards (2005), subsurface drip irrigation SDI is “the application of water below the soil surface though emitters* with discharge rates generally in the same range as drip irrigation.” Thus, aside from the specific details pointed out in this chapter, an SDI unit is simply a drip irrigation network buried at a certain depth. There is a wide variety of plants irrigated with SDI all over the world such as herbaceous crops (lettuce, celery, asparagus and garlic), woody crops (citrus, apple trees and olive trees) and others such as alfalfa, corn, cotton, grass, pepper, broccoli, melon, onion, potato, tomato, etc. Over a quarter of a billion hectares of the planet are irrigated and entire countries depend on irrigation for their survival and existence. Growing pressure on the worlds available water resources has led to an increase in the efficiency and productivity of water-use of irrigation systems as well as the efficiency in their management and operation. The efficiency of subsurface drip irrigation SDI could be similar to drip irrigation but it uses less water. It could save up to 25% 50% of water regarding to surface irrigation. Throughout this chapter, the specific characteristics of SDI will be presented and some criteria for its design and management will be highlighted.