Improve the Constructive Design of a Furrow Diking Rotor Aimed at Increasing Water Consumption Efficiency in Sunflower Farming Systems

Florin Nenciu, Marius Remus Oprescu and Sorin-Stefan Biris
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Florin Nenciu: National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Marius Remus Oprescu: National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Sorin-Stefan Biris: Department of Biotechnical Systems, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 006042 Bucharest, Romania

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: Water is the primary limiting factor in dryland crop production, therefore emerging approaches for preserving rainwater to be more accessible to plants, for extended periods of time, can significantly improve agricultural system efficiency. Furrow diking, a method involving compartmentalizing micro-basins to increase infiltration and soil water storage is one of the most promising water conservation solutions, particularly for sloping terrain. Moreover, furrow diking is associated with water conservation practices and regenerative agriculture as adaptive to dryland crop production. The present research study aims at improving the process of building soil compartmentalized segments using furrow diking technology, by designing and testing optimal geometries for the active soil modeling component. Three new constructive designs of a furrow diking active subassembly were built and tested in comparison with the standard version. In accordance with the considered quality indicators, the most efficient constructive shape was the curved rotor blade due to the higher volume of managed soil and fewer soil losses. Furthermore, the technology applied on three non-irrigated sunflower experimental crops grown on sloping land showed very good effectiveness with respect to the studied climatic and pedological conditions in southern Romania. When compared with non-compartmentalized crops, the most efficient rotor geometry design increased seed production by 11–13%. Water storage efficiency contributed the most to the yield increase, with moisture retention from the root zone improving by an average of 20%.

Keywords: water consumption efficiency; climate change control; sunflower crop management; regenerative agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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