International Journal of Agricultural

Science and Research (IJASR)

ISSN(P): 2250-0057; ISSN(E): 2321-0087
Vol. 6, Issue 5, Oct 2016, 177-188
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd

ICT TOOL - TO DESIGN DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

CALCULATOR FOR AGRICULTURAL CROPS
A. P. BOWLEKAR1 & P. R. KOLHE2
1

M. Tech. scholar, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology,

Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, Maharashtra, India

2

Officer in-charge, Agriculture Knowledge Management Unit (AKMU),

Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT
It is true that almost all the civilizations appeared on the banks of the large rivers. One can say that 3rd World
war will be for water which indicates the importance of water. It shows how essential water is for our survival. Past
couple of years, there has been a severe drought in our country. So, there is a need to use water judiciously for
irrigation. Today Information Communication Technology (ICT) tool in daily life is important era unlike water. To
accurately design the drip system, ICT tool is very important. Drip irrigation is the frequent and slow application of
irrigation system, it requiers a lot of time as there are many calculations involved in it. This paper discusses how ICT
tool a C programming language is efficient for calculating the drip design fromulae like water requirement of crop,
selection of emitter, selection and design of lateral, selection and design of submain, selection and design of main,
selection of pump and calculation of irrigation time. The drip design, calulator been developed by using C language
compiler V 3.00 Turbo C++ copyright 1990,1992 by Borland International. The design calculator contains the main
page where, the design parameters are given. By entering the values of each parameter, the complete design is done

Original Article

water to the soil, near the root zone of the plants through mechanical devices called emitters. To design the drip

within few minutes. Also, it shows whether the design is safe or not. The results obtained were verified with the manual
calculations and it was found that the results were accurate. Thus, this caculator programme is very useful for
designing the drip irrigation system.
KEYWORDS: ICT, Drip, Irrigation, Emitter, Lateral, Turbo C++

Received: Aug 04, 2016; Accepted: Aug 26, 2016; Published: Sep 15, 2016; Paper Id.: IJASROCT201621

INTRODUCTION
Drip irrigation (also known as trickle irrigation or micro-irrigation) is an irrigation method that allows
precisely controlled application of water and fertilizer by allowing water to drip slowly near the plant roots
through a network of valves, pipes, tubing, and emitters.
To accurately design the drip system, ICT tool is very important. Drip irrigation is the frequent and slow
application of water to the soil, near the root zone of the plants through mechanical devices called emitters.
To design the drip irrigation system, it requiers a lot of time as there are many calculations involved in it. This
paper discusses how ICT tool a C programing langusage is efficient for calculating the drip design fromulae
like water requirement of crop, selection of dripper, selection and design of lateral, selection and design of
submain, selection and design of main, selection of pump and calculation of irrigation time. The drip design

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A. P. Bowlekar & P. R. Kolhe

calulator been developed by using C language compiler V 3.00 Turbo C++ copyright 1990,1992 by Borland
International. The design calculator contains the main page where, the design parameters are given. By entering the values
of each parameter, the complete design is done within few minutes. Also, it shows whether the design is safe or not.
The results obtained were verified with the manual calculations and it was found that the results were accurate.
Thus, this caculator programme is very efficient for designing the drip irrigation system. To simplify the calculations and
to check whether the design is safe, the present study entitled ICT Tool - To Design Drip Irrigation System Calculator for
Agricultural Crops is undertaken with following objective:- To simplify the calculations of design of drip irrigation
system using C language.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Design of drip calculator to design drip irrigation system using C language includes different formulae such as:

Determination of water requirement

Selection of emitter

Selection and design of lateral

Selection and design of submain

Selection and design of main

Selection of pump

Calculation of irrigation time

Configuration of the System

Windows 7 Ultimate

Copyright @ 2009 Microsoft Corporation.

Processor: Intel (R) Core (TM) i3-3110M CPU @ 2.40 GHz

Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB

About The Platform

Turbo C++ Version 3.0 Copyright 1990, 1992 by Borland International, Inc.
DESIGN OF DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Determination of the Water Requirement

Water required (lit/day/plant) =

Sl x Sd x P.E. x Pc x Kc x % wetted area

where,
Eu

Sl = Lateral spacing along the

submain, m

Sd = Dripper spacing along the

lateral, m

P.E. = Pan evaporation (mm/day)

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.8136

NAAS Rating: 3.53

ICT Tool - to Design Drip Irrigation System calculator for Agricultural Crops

179

Pc = Pan coefficient
Kc = Crop coefficient
Eu = Emission uniformity

Selection of Dripper
Total number of drippers =

Total area
Sl x Sd

Selection and Design of Lateral

By Hazen William equation,

Q
Hl K x l
C

1.852

x Dl

4.871

x Ll x F

where,
K = 1.21 x 1010

Hl = Head loss in lateral, m

Ql = Flow rate in lateral, lit/sec
C = Friction coefficient for pipe material
Dl = Inside diameter of lateral, mm
Ll = Length of lateral, m
F = Outlet factor

Selection and Design of Submain

By Hazen William equation,
1.852

Q
Hs K x s
C

x Ds

4.871

x L s x F where,

K = 1.21 x 1010

Hs = Head loss in submain, m

Qs = Flow rate in submain, lit/sec
C = Friction coefficient for
Ds = Inside diameter of

pipe material
submain, mm

Ls = Length of submain, m
F = Outlet factor
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A. P. Bowlekar & P. R. Kolhe

Selection and Design of Main Line

By Hazen William equation,

Q
Hm K x m
C

1.852

x Dm

4.871

x Lm x F

where,
K = 1.21 x 1010

Hm = Head loss in main line, m

Qm = Flow rate in main line, lit/sec
C = Friction coefficient for

pipe material

Dm = Inside diameter of main

line, mm

Lm = Length of main line, m

Selection of Pump
Total head = suction head + delivery head + operating pressure of drip system + main line head loss + filter loss +

fitting loss + venture loss + elevation difference.

HP requirement of pump =

QxH
75 x n motor x n pump

where,
Q = Flow rate in main line, lit/sec
H = Total head, m
nmotor = Motor efficiency
npump = Pump efficiency

Calculation of Irrigation Time

Irrigation time (hrs) =

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.8136

Water required (lit / day / plant)

Discharge rate of emitter per unit area (lit/hr)

NAAS Rating: 3.53

ICT Tool - to Design Drip Irrigation System calculator for Agricultural Crops

181

Figure 1

GENERAL LAYOUT OF DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Source Code for Design of Drip Irrigation using C Language
#include <stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
floatc,r,p,f,k,a,W,e,u,A,d,l,n,L,D,N,E,q,T,C,F,i,j,x,P,O,U,J,t,R,V,w,K,G,S,B,y,M,b,s,h,g,X,Y,Z,xx,I,yy,m,nm,np,
HP,aHP,It,Aa,Bb,Cc,Dd,Ee,Ff,Gg,Hh,Ii,Jj,Kk,Ll,Mm,Nn,Oo,Pp,Qq,Rr,Ss,Tt,Uu,Vv,Ww,Xx,AA,BB,CC,DD,EE,FF,GG,H
H,II,JJ,KK,Yy,LL,MM,NN,OO,PP,Zz,QQ,RR,SS,TT,UU,VV,WW,XX,YY,ZZ,aA,aB;
intkk, choice = 0;
clrscr();
// while statement start
while (choice!=15)
{
clrscr();
// setcolor(10); //
printf("\t Design of Drip Irrigation System \n\n");
printf("\tA.Model design for Drip Irrigation system for 1 hectare vegetables\n");

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A. P. Bowlekar & P. R. Kolhe

printf("\t\t 1.Determination of water requirement \n");

printf("\t\t 2.Selection of dripper \n");
printf("\t\t 3.Selection and design of lateral\n");
printf("\t\t 4.Selection and design of submain \n");
printf("\t\t 5.Selection and design of main line \n");
printf("\t\t 6.Selection of pump \n");
printf("\t\t 7.Irrigation time \n\n");
printf("\tB.Model design for Drip Irrigation system for 1 hectare fruit crops \n");
printf("\t\t 8.Determination of water requirement \n");
printf("\t\t 9.Selection of dripper \n");
printf("\t\t 10.Selection and design of lateral\n");
printf("\t\t 11.Selection and design of submain \n");
printf("\t\t 12.Selection and design of main line \n");
printf("\t\t 13.Selection of pump \n");
printf("\t\t 14.Irrigation time \n\n");
printf("\t\t 15.EXIT \n\n");
printf("\n\t ENTER YOUR CHOICE <1 -15>");
scanf("%d",&choice);
switch (choice)
{
case 1: /*To determine water requirement*/
{
clrscr();
printf("\n\t\t ***Determination of water requirement***\n\n");
printf("\n\t Enter the value of crop to crop distance (m) \t\t=");
scanf("%f",&c);
printf("\n\t Enter the value of row to row distance (m) \t\t=");
scanf("%f",&r);
printf("\n\t Enter the value of Pan Evaporation (mm/day) \t\t=");

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.8136

NAAS Rating: 3.53

ICT Tool - to Design Drip Irrigation System calculator for Agricultural Crops

183

scanf("%f",&p);
printf("\n\t Enter value of crop factor \t\t\t\t=");
scanf("%f",&f);
printf("\n\t Enter value of canopy factor \t\t\t\t=");
scanf("%f",&k);
printf("\n\t Enter value of % wetted area \t\t\t\t=");
scanf("%f",&a);
W=c*r*p*f*k*a;
printf(" \n\n Water requirement of crop (lit/day/plant)= %5.2f\n",W);
printf("\n\t Enter value emission uniformity \t\t\t=");
scanf("%f",&e);
u=W/e; /*For print press print key*/
printf(" \n\n Actual water requirement of crop (lit/day/plant)= %5.2f",u);
getch();
break;
}
case 2: /*To select the dripper*/
{
clrscr();
printf("\n\t\t\t ***Selection of dripper***\n\n");
printf("\n\t Enter the total area (m2) \t\t=");
scanf("%f",&A);
printf("\n\t Enter the dripper spacing (m) \t\t=");
scanf("%f",&d);
printf("\n\t Enter the lateral spacing (m) \t\t=");
scanf("%f",&l);
n=A/(d*l); /*For print press print key*/
printf(" \n\n Total number of drippers= %5.2f",n);
getch();

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184

A. P. Bowlekar & P. R. Kolhe

break;
}
case 3: /*Design of lateral*/
{
clrscr();
printf("\n\t\t\t ***Selection and design of lateral***\n\n");
printf("\n\t Enter the length of lateral on one side of submain (m) =");
scanf("%f",&L);
N=L/d;
printf(" \n Number of drippers on 1 lateral= %5.2f\n",N);
printf("\n\t Enter the discharge of 1 dripper (lph) \t\t=");
scanf("%f",&E);
q=(N*2)/3600;
printf(" \n Discharge rate of lateral (lps)= %5.2f\n",q);
printf("\n\t Enter the value of Hazen-William constant \t\t=");
scanf("%f",&C);
printf("\n\t Enter the friction factor \t\t\t\t=");
scanf("%f",&F);
printf("\n\t Enter the diameter of lateral (mm) \t\t\t=");
scanf("%f",&T);
printf("\n\t Enter the thickness of lateral (mm) \t\t\t=");
scanf("%f",&j);
i=T-(2*j);
printf(" \n Inside diameter of lateral (mm)= %5.2f\n",i);
x=1.21*pow(10,10)*pow((q/C),1.852)*pow(i,-4.871)*L*F;
printf(" \n Head loss through the lateral (m)= %5.2f\n",x);
{
if(x<=1.1)
printf("\n\t Desgin of lateral is safe and hence accepted \t\t\t");

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.8136

NAAS Rating: 3.53

ICT Tool - to Design Drip Irrigation System calculator for Agricultural Crops

185

else
printf("\n\t Desgin of lateral is not accepted and thus select proper diameter of lateral \t\t\t");
}
getch();
break;
}
}
}

RESULTS
The results obtained by design of drip irrigation system using C++. The programme is prepared in the C language,
Version 3.0 Turbo C++.
Steps to be Followed

Enter the option from 1 to 14 serially.

Give the input values.

After pressing enter key, output will be displayed.

Again press the enter key to switch over to the main page.

Follow the same procedure to design the different parameters

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A. P. Bowlekar & P. R. Kolhe

Output Screens for Designed Calculator Using C Language

Figure 2

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.8136

NAAS Rating: 3.53

ICT Tool - to Design Drip Irrigation System calculator for Agricultural Crops

187

CONCLUSIONS

The design calculations were very accurate using C language.

It is user friendly.

It is time efficient.

This is useful for irrigation engineers for designing drip irrigation system.

REFRENCES
1.

Balagurusamy E. 1992. Programmining in ANSI C. Tata MC Graw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi.

2.

Eric S., H. Robert, J. Breman, W. Lamont, D. Treadwell and A. Gazula. 2006. Drip-irrigation systems for small conventional
vegetable farms and organic vegetable farms. IFAS extension.

3.

Gottfried B. S. 2000. Programmining with C. Tata MC Graw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi.

4.

Langsam Y., A. J. Moshe., A. M. Tenenbaum. 1996. Data structures using C and C++. PHI Learning Private Limited, New
Delhi.

5.
6.

Muhammad A. 2012. Design of Drip Irrigation System.International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas.
Patil S. S., P. T. Nimbalkar and A. Joshi. 2013. Hydraulic study, design and analysis of different geometries of drip irrigation
emitter labyrinth. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology. Vol.2 (5):2249-8958.

7.

Perry G. 2000. C - By example. Prentie Hall of India Private Limited, New Delhi.

8.

Prata S. 2012. C++ Primer Plus. Developers Library.

9.

Tiwari K. N., M. Kumar, D. T. Santosh, V. K. Singh, M. K. Maji and A K Karan. 2014. Influence of Drip Irrigation and Plastic
Mulch on Yield of Sapota (Achraszapota) and Soil Nutrients. Irrigation Drainage System Engineering. Vol.2 (1): 168-9768.

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