RING-TYPED EMITTER SUBSURFACE IRRIGATION PERFORMANCES IN DRYLAND FARMINGS

Irrigation system using ring-type emitter is one of the subsurface irrigation system forms which is done by placing an emitter around the root zone. With the addition of mulch applications, water losses from evaporation in this irrigation system can be reduced. This kind of irrigation system is suitable for dryland. The purpose of this research is to develop an irrigation system with ring-type emitter on annual and perennial crops in dryland. Perennial crops consist of young Vine-crops, young Mango crop, and Srikaya crop, while annual crop used was the Bird Pepper crop. In the application of this system to annual crops, two Mariotte tubes were used to supply 106 Bird Pepper crops. Solar energy was used as a pump energy source to fill the Mariotte tubes and the energy for the microcontroller data logger. Meanwhile, for the perennial crops, one Mariotte tube was used for one crop. The soil texture at the study site was Sandy-Clay-Loam, which was dominated by 59.67% of sand. Rainfall during the study was 58.5 mm. Drylands that used to be fallow during the dry season, can now be used for agricultural activities with the application of the ring irrigation system.