The effect of smart sprinkler irrigation and traditional fixed sprinkler irrigation on water use efficiency and some physical properties

• Shahad Adnan Sadoon1, Mohammed Ali Abood2 and Haidar N. Al-Anbagi3

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Water scarcity is one of the most serious challenges facing the sustainability of agriculture in Iraq. This is a result of climate change and the declining efficiency of traditional irrigation networks. This study aimed to compare the effect of smart sprinkler irrigation and traditional fixed sprinkler irrigation on total water consumption, water use efficiency, and some soil physical properties in regular and irregularly shaped gardens planted with turfgrass. The field experiment was conducted during the 2025-2026 growing season in the experimental gardens of the College of Agriculture, University of Diyala. Water consumption was measured by using a flow meter across ten irrigation cycles, and water efficiency was estimated as the ratio between the standard vegetation cover index and the amount of water consumed. Some physical properties were also measured using field and laboratory methods. The results also showed that smart irrigation significantly reduced total water consumption compared to traditional irrigation, with greater stability and narrower fluctuation range in successive readings under smart irrigation, while Conventional irrigation showed wide and irregular fluctuation. Smart irrigation also significantly improved water use efficiency and the green growth index compared to traditional irrigation, while the shape of the garden alone did not have a significant effect on water use efficiency. Conventional irrigation recorded an expressively higher penetration resistance than smart irrigation, while no substantial differences appeared between the two irrigation methods in the soil moisture stability index and total porosity, although the regular shape of the garden recorded a significantly higher porosity than the irregular shape. These results confirm that smart irrigation represents a more efficient and precise alternative to Conventional irrigation in rationalizing water consumption, as well as the results also exhibited that the smart irrigation system achieved extraordinary savings in water consumption, averaging about 65.2% compared to the conventional irrigation system, with the savings ratio among the four agricultural plots ranging from 52.9% to 70.9%. As it enhancing the physical conditions such as Soil penetration resistance, porosity, soil moisture stability and green growth density for the soil under water scarcity in Iraq.

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