Drip irrigation

Drip irrigation is an irrigation method that applies water slowly to the roots of plants, by depositing the water either on the soil surface or directly to the root zone. Drip irrigation usually employs devices called emitters, which emit the water drop by drop. Drip irrigation systems may be manually operated or may be operated by a controller with electric or hydraulic valves. Drip irrigation systems employing emitters need to have filters because of the small size of the emitter orifices.

Drip irrigation helps achieve water conservation by reducing evaporation and by applying water more precisely to the plant roots, compared to other types of irrigation.

Subsurface drip irrigation or SDI is the practice of drip irrigation using permanently or temporarily buried dripperline or drip tape. It is becoming more widely used for row crop irrigation especially in areas where water supplies are limited.