Turf irrigation management under arid ecosystem condtions based on a developed expert systems [electronic resource].

Includes references.

Watering commercial and residential landscapes Is the greatest household use of water in Egypt. So improvements In management and efficiency of landscape irrigation systems could potentially yield significant water savings. Irrigation scheduling Is the process of defining when irrigation Is to occur to various zones of the landscape and how much water to apply. Management of landscape or turf irrigation systems require highly-qualitative database of the available resources, corresponding landscape status and conditions. Therefore. the objective of this study was to develop a computer based expert system for landscape irrigation management capable to maintain the health of the landscape without overwatering. As the main achievement of this research. Tuif Irrigation Management Expert System (TIM-ES) had been built and evaluated under arid and semi-arid ecosystem conditions of Egypt. Evaluation of TIM-ES showed that, for spray head type irrigation system, the irrigation run time (representing the applied irrigation water depth) estimated by TIM-ES program was 30-60% less than that calculated by designers or that actually applied based on operator's judgment. While, for rotors and multi streams sprinklers the irrigation run time values estimated by the program were slightly higher than that actually applied by operator's judgment. The TIM-ES program shows that it can simplify the scheduling process and enables users to avoid the problems that may occur during season and saves water. Key Words: Expert System, Irrigation Expert System, Landscape Irrigation Expert System.

Summary in Arabic.

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