Sustainable Micro Irrigation Design Systems for Agricultural Crops: Methods and Practices

This new book, Sustainable Micro Irrigation Design Systems for Agricultural Crops, brings together the best research for efficient micro irrigation methods for field crops, focusing on design methods and best practices.

Covering a multitude of topics, the book presents research and studies on:

• Indigenous alternatives for use of saline and alkali waters
• Hydraulic performance
• Distribution of moisture
• Fertigation technology
• Buried micro irrigation laterals
• Drip irrigation scheduling
• Rainwater harvesting
• Adoption and economic impact of a micro irrigation model

This book is a must for those interested in irrigation planning and management, namely, researchers, scientists, educators, and students.

Megh R. Goyal, PhD, PE, is a retired professor in agricultural and biomedical engineering from the General Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at University of Puerto Rico–Mayaguez Campus; and senior acquisitions editor and senior technical editor-in-chief in agriculture and biomedical engineering for Apple Academic Press Inc. He received his BSc in engineering in 1971 from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India; his MSc in 1977 and PhD in 1979 from the Ohio State University, Columbus; and his master of divinity in 2001 from Puerto Rico Evangelical Seminary, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, USA. He spent a one-year sabbatical leave in 2002–2003 at the Biomedical Engineering Department at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, USA. Since 1971, he has worked as soil conservation inspector (1971); research assistant at Haryana Agricultural University (1972–75) and Ohio State University (1975–79); research agricultural engineer/professor at the Department of Agricultural Engineering of UPRM (1979–1997); and professor in agricultural and biomedical engineering in the General Engineering Department of UPRM (1997–2012).

He was the first agricultural engineer to receive a professional license in Agricultural Engineering in 1986 from College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico. On September 16, 2005, he was proclaimed as "Father of Irrigation Engineering in Puerto Rico for the twentieth century" by the ASABE, Puerto Rico Section, for his pioneering work on micro irrigation, evapotranspiration, agroclimatology, and soil and water engineering. During his professional career of 45 years, he has received awards such as Scientist of the Year, Blue Ribbon Extension Award, Research Paper Award, Nolan Mitchell Young Extension Worker Award, Agricultural Engineer of the Year, Citations by Mayors of Juana Diaz and Ponce, Membership Grand Prize for ASAE Campaign, Felix Castro Rodriguez Academic Excellence, Rashtrya Ratan Award and Bharat Excellence Award and Gold Medal, Domingo Marrero Navarro Prize, Adopted Son of Moca, Irrigation Protagonist of UPRM, and Man of Drip Irrigation by Mayor of Municipalities of Mayaguez/Caguas/Ponce and Senate/Secretary of Agriculture of ELA, Puerto Rico.

He has authored more than 200 journal articles and textbooks, including Elements of Agroclimatology (Spanish) by UNISARC, Colombia, and two Bibliographies on Drip Irrigation. Apple Academic Press Inc. (AAP) has published his books, namely Biofluid Dynamics of Human Body, Management of Drip/Trickle or Micro Irrigation, Evapotranspiration: Principles and Applications for Water Management, Sustainable Micro Irrigation Design Systems for Agricultural Crops: Practices and Theory, Biomechanics of Artificial Organs and Prostheses, and Scientific and Technical Terms in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. During 2014–15, AAP is publishing his ten-volume set, Research Advances in Sustainable Micro Irrigation.

is working as senior scientist at the Indian Institute of Water Management (formerly Directorate of Water Management) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Bhubaneswar in Odisha, India. He has worked on water management issues in vegetables and fruit crops, especially in citrus, and has developed a methodology to enhance water use efficiency under surface irrigation and standardized the alternate furrow irrigation and mulching in different vegetables including okra. He has also worked to standardize water harvesting and on micro irrigation, fertigation, and irrigation design and scheduling in citrus. He has studied the response of deficit and partial root zone drying techniques in citrus under semi-arid conditions and developed a methodology to forecast fruit yield under differential water stress condition in citrus during his PhD research. Presently he is working on runoff harvesting and recycling systems, partial root zone drying in mango, and micro irrigation in rice-based cropping sequence in sub-humid tropical region. In addition, he is also teaching on watershed management and irrigation management in India. He has worked as an expert on different consultancy projects related to water management and has published more than 50 peer-reviewed research publications and bulletins. He has also reviewed a number of research papers in different prestigious international journals. He has also attended and presented his works in different national and international conferences. Dr. Panigrahi obtained his BTech and MTech degrees in agricultural engineering in 1996 and 1999, respectively, from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. He received his PhD in water science and technology from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India in 2012.