Bubbler irrigation

With bubbler irrigation, water is applied to the soil surface as a little stream, typically from a small-diameter tube (1–13mm) or a commercially available emitter. Because the application rate generally exceeds the soil infiltration rate, small basins or furrows are needed to spatially control the water distribution and avoid runoff. Although bubblers are extensively utilized in landscape irrigation, they are not currently common in agricultural irrigation. Two major types of bubbler irrigation are available: Low-head or gravity (about 10kPa) and pressurized (50–150kPa) systems. In any case, the operating pressure is lower than that of most agricultural sprinklers. Design procedures for gravity-flow bubblers have been developed and are somewhat unique to this type of irrigation, and the design of pressurized bubbler systems is similar to the procedures for most microirrigation systems, as outlined in Chapter 6. While this chapter covers both bubbler types, the primary focus is on gravity flow.