Hydraulic of Drippers and Suitability for Drip Irrigation of Pond Water Treated with Natural Coagulants

The present study was carried out on the experimental sites of the Faculty of Agronomy of the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey (Niger). In this case, the aim is to assess the suitability for irrigation of pond water treated with natural coagulants derived from Moringa oleifera seeds and raw water from the same pond by highlighting a possible physical clogging of the drippers fed by these different waters. The methodology consists of measuring the water coming from the drippers after each irrigation. To compare the suitability of treated water in a drip irrigation system, three (3) irrigation networks were set up. The hydraulic operation of the latter was previously verified using tap water from the urban distribution network of the city of Niamey on the experimental site of the Faculty of Agronomy of Niamey. The comparison concerned water treated with almond meal (Trt) and almond (Amd) powders from Moringa oleifera and raw water (EB) from the study pond. By carrying out irrigations for 1 hour per network made up of four (4) booms with a total of 24 drippers or 6 drippers per boom. The comparison of the different valve volumes, boom holder volumes, boom volumes, dripper volumes show that at the same pressure, the volumes obtained with the treated water are statistically identical to the reference volumes established with SEEN tap water (Nigerien Water Exploitation Company of Niger). On the other hand, the raw water presented volumes lower and statistically different from the volumes of water mentioned above. This reduction in volume is the consequence of clogging by particles suspended in this network.