28404 - Irrigation, Drainage And Soil Conservation

Learning outcomes

At the end of the student acquires the knowledge required for the technical-economic management of irrigation and drainage in agriculture in general and more specifically the field of green. Also acquire knowledge for the protection of soil through natural engineering works. In particular, the student is able to choose the most suitable irrigation facilities and drainage especially in the field of green and a set of soil evaluating the effectiveness of forest-hydraulic properties, including working in teams with other professionals (engineers, geologists, ..).

Course contents

Program / Content

Prerequisites
The student that attends this teaching should have a basic knowledge of the fundamentals of physics and economics related to cost components, some notions of agronomy and agro-meteorology, in particular with regards to the aspects of the response of crop yield to irrigation, agronomic features of irrigation methods, the components of soil moisture, the concept of water balance.
Such knowledge and skills are provided by the teachings supplied during the first and second year.

Content of the teaching units

Unit 1 (8 hours)
Importance of water in agriculture and in the green industry, water saving, the meaning of irrigation and drainage.
Surface and underground drainage: parameters, design, selection criteria-drainage costs – reclamation by means of drainage pumping
Unit 2 (20 hours)
Irrigation in the green and in the agricultural sector: Hydraulic-agronomic parameters of irrigation and water requirements - irrigation collective organization.

Gravitational methods, infiltration, submersion: hydraulic and technological characteristics
Pressurized methods: sprinkling irrigation by means of pipes and sprinklers and hose reel machines (wing roll, rainer, pivot): selection criteria, features
Drip irrigation: plant characteristics, hydraulic parameters-Types of filters and selection criteria-Ferti-irrigation: types and parameters calculation-criteria of plant sectors- automation and irrigation scheduling-
Costs of installation and operation of irrigation methods.
Unit 3 (8 hours)
Soil conservation: aims and importance of works to avoid erosion-  Hydrological-hydraulic-forestry works with particular reference to those of natural engineering-Guidelines provincial soil conservation

Unit 4 (24 hours)

Examples of projects in the green industry: drainage and irrigation pressurized systems
Examples of metric calculations in the green industry: drainage and irrigation
Examples of design in soil conservation: naturalistic engineering works
Using of software for the design of irrigation systems
Documentary about bioengineering

Readings/Bibliography

- Class notes of the Teacher

- Handbook of Bioengineering, Emilia-Romagna Region
- Projects and schemes of drainage and irrigation in the green sector from Internet web sites
- Software from the Reclamation Consortium Canale Emiliano-Romagnolo (Tecnirri and IRRInet)

Teaching methods

The course is divided into four teaching units: the first part is composed by lectures on drainage; the second is about irrigation in agriculture and in "green"; the third deepens general aspects of soil conservation and the functional characteristics of bioengineering works; the fourth teaching unit includes exercises about the practical application of the concepts explained in the previous course units, aimed at deepening from a practical point of view the topics covered in lectures, including the use of websites for the project of irrigation systems.

Assessment methods

This teaching is part of the Course INTEGRATED SYSTEMS IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE AND MACHINES FOR THE GREEN with the following other teaching: Equipment for ornamental greenery.
Therefore, the evaluation of the course takes into account jointly the level of knowledge and skills acquired by the student in relation to the contents of both the above teachings. The knowledge and skills taught in this course are evaluated by means of a final oral exam which includes topics related to drainage and irrigation in agriculture and applied to the "green". The student is expected to solve calculations about irrigation parameters and to discuss some topics about soil in particular on the structure of naturalistic engineering works.

Teaching tools

Overhead projector, PC, projector, Internet sites

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppe Taglioli