Behind the Efficiency of Border Irrigation: Lesson Learned in Northern Italy

Abstract

Border irrigation is one of the most ancient and, at the same time, still common irrigation methods for watering row crops worldwide. This method requires large quantities of fresh water to be poured onto the fields by only using gravity and without additional energy costs; however, due to the intrinsic characteristics of the method, the water volumes applied during irrigation are often difficult to measure. As a consequence, the efficiency of border irrigation is still largely unexplored and, in many cases, it appears far from the standards which are described in agronomic manuals.

Keywords: Border irrigation, irrigation efficiency, Water Use Efficiency, irrigation model, AquaCrop, maize