The volume of water needed for a rain gun irrigation system is usually higher than that of a drip irrigation system. A rain gun can use 25,000 – 80,000 litres of water in one hour. Rain guns are notorious for using a huge volume of water.
The volume of water needed for a rain gun irrigation system can be affected by a lot of factors. The type of rain gun used can matter. Small rain guns do not use as much water like big rain guns.
Generally, a typical rain gun irrigation system uses 25,000 – 80,000 litres of water per hour.
Factors that affect the volume of water needed for a rain gun irrigation system
The following factors affect the volume of water needed for a rain gun irrigation system:
1) Climatic Condition
The rain gun irrigation system will typically use more water in a hot tropical environment. In colder climes, plants do not need a lot of water; hence, the rain gun irrigation system may also not need a lot of water.
Rain guns in hot countries like Nigeria will need more water than rain guns in cold countries like Norway.
2) Age of Plant
If you rain guns are used to irrigate young plants like seedlings, you may not need to feed them with a lot of water. However, if the rain guns are used to spray droplets of water to matured plants, you will need a lot of water.
3) Type of Crop
Rain gun irrigation system used for irrigating tree crops like cocoa, oil palm, cashew and mango will need a huge volume of water while rain guns used to irrigate vegetable crops like pepper, tomato and cucumber will need significantly lesser volume of water.
4) Wind Speed
In locations where the wind speed is high, rain gun irrigation systems usually needs more water because the high speed of the wind increases water usage in plants.
5) Type of Soil
Rain gun irrigation system used in places with sandy soil will need to spray more water to the plants as the loose nature of the soil will drain away a lot of water unlike loamy and clay soil.
6) Type of Nozzle Used
Rain guns with high discharge nozzles use significantly more water than rain guns with low discharge nozzles.
Do you use rain gun irrigation for your crops? If yes, why not tell us the volume of water your rain gun irrigation system uses in the comments’ section.
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