Abstract
Precision agriculture is increasingly used where in-field spatial variability exists; however, the benefits of its use in humid climates are less apparent. This paper reports on a cost-benefit assessment of precision irrigation with variable rate technique (VRI) versus conventional irrigation, both compared to rainfed production, using a travelling hose-reel irrigator fitted with a boom on onions in eastern England. Selected environmental outcomes including water savings and CO2e emissions are evaluated. The modelled precision irrigation system, which responds to soil variability, generates better environmental outcomes than the conventional system in terms of water savings and reduced CO2e emissions (22.6% and 23.0% lower, respectively). There is also an increase in the 'added value' of the irrigation water used (£3.02/m3 versus £2.36/m3). Although precision irrigation leads to significant financial benefits from water and energy savings, these alone do not justify the additional equipment investment costs. However, any changes in yield or quality benefits, equipment costs or greater soil variability than on this site would make investment in precision irrigation more viable.
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The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
Precision irrigation saved 22.6% more water than conventional irrigation.
- Taxon
- onions
Allium cepae1 - Treatment
- precision irrigation systeme0
- Outcome
- water savingse0
- Direction
- bettere0
- Value
- 22.6%e0
- Comparator
- conventional systeme0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The modelled precision irrigation system, which responds to soil variability, generates better environmental outcomes than the conventional system in terms of water savings and reduced CO2e emissions (22.6% and 23.0% lower, respectively)”
e1“using a travelling hose-reel irrigator fitted with a boom on onions in eastern England”
Claim · model-written summary
Precision irrigation reduced CO2e emissions by 23.0% relative to conventional irrigation.
- Taxon
- onionsAllium cepae1
- Treatment
- precision irrigation systeme0
- Outcome
- CO2e emissionse0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- 23.0%e0
- Comparator
- conventional systeme0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The modelled precision irrigation system, which responds to soil variability, generates better environmental outcomes than the conventional system in terms of water savings and reduced CO2e emissions (22.6% and 23.0% lower, respectively)”
e1“using a travelling hose-reel irrigator fitted with a boom on onions in eastern England”
Claim · model-written summary
Precision irrigation increased the added value of irrigation water to £3.02/m3 versus £2.36/m3.
- Taxon
- onionsAllium cepae2
- Treatment
- precision irrigatione1
- Outcome
- 'added value' of the irrigation water usede0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- £3.02/m3e0
- Qualifier
- £2.36/m3e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“There is also an increase in the 'added value' of the irrigation water used (£3.02/m3 versus £2.36/m3)”
e1“precision irrigation leads to significant financial benefits from water and energy savings”
e2“using a travelling hose-reel irrigator fitted with a boom on onions in eastern England”
Claim · model-written summary
Water and energy savings under precision irrigation yielded significant financial benefits.
- Taxon
- onionsAllium cepae1
- Treatment
- precision irrigatione0
- Outcome
- financial benefits from water and energy savingse0
- Direction
- benefitse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“precision irrigation leads to significant financial benefits from water and energy savings”
e1“using a travelling hose-reel irrigator fitted with a boom on onions in eastern England”
Claim · model-written summary
Water and energy savings alone did not justify the added equipment investment cost.
- Taxon
- onionsAllium cepae2
- Outcome
- additional equipment investment costse0
- Qualifier
- water and energy savingse1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“these alone do not justify the additional equipment investment costs”
e1“water and energy savings”
e2“using a travelling hose-reel irrigator fitted with a boom on onions in eastern England”
Claim · model-written summary
Changes in yield or quality benefits, equipment costs, or greater soil variability could make precision irrigation investment more viable.
- Taxon
- onionsAllium cepae1
- Outcome
- investment in precision irrigation more viablee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“any changes in yield or quality benefits, equipment costs or greater soil variability than on this site would make investment in precision irrigation more viable”
e1“using a travelling hose-reel irrigator fitted with a boom on onions in eastern England”
The same questions in other papers
irrigation · physiology: water · Allium cepa (onion)Positive and negative results
46 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- negative
- negative
- positive
45 papers more in this group
See all 49 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.