A dual overhead irrigation configuration is providing a Western Downs cotton grower with better water use efficiency and lower energy costs.
Kim Bremner, Werrina Downs, Bowenville, has fitted his lateral irrigator with both sprinklers for winter crops and separate Low Energy Precision Application (LEPA) nozzles for summer cotton irrigation.
“For just 5 per cent of the original cost price of the overhead irrigator we were able to put LEPA nozzles on the lateral as well,” Mr Bremner said.
The decision is proving to be a profitable choice for his farming operation with the LEPA sprinklers reducing water evaporation by increasing the water penetration in the soil.
“We are only applying the water to every second cotton crop row, like a band spray on a big scale, but where it’s being applied, the water is going a lot deeper so the plant can access it easily,” he said.
“The two main benefits are if we do get rain there’s room in the soil to absorb the water because we have only been irrigating half the paddock.
“Secondly, the irrigation water penetrates deeper into the soil and therefore we are getting less evaporation with more water available to the cotton plant for longer.”
Mr Bremner said his overhead irrigation is now using 30 to 40 per cent less water when irrigating the cotton crop paddock.
“If we were to flood irrigate the same paddock of cotton we would use between four and five megalitres of water per hectare, but using the LEPA nozzles during summer our average water usage is between 2.5 and three megalitres per hectare,” he said.
“We get an extra growing period by irrigating this way because plant growth is slowed during flood irrigation, but with the precision irrigation we are picking up an extra 10 to 15 days growing time for the plant, which is a contributing factor to our increased cotton crop yields.”
Mr Bremner noted that weather conditions are a major influencing factor for his cotton crop yields. He added that the new LEPA irrigation system had helped lift last year’s cotton crop yields by 2.5 bales extra per hectare compared to any previous cotton crop the family has grown.