Rainwater Harvesting in Greenhouses Establishments and Use as Irrigation Water

Abstract

Rainwater collection systems are an alternative water supply method that provides environmental and economic benefits according to traditional water supply methods in arid and semi-arid climates. Rainwater harvested in greenhouse roof by rain gutters can be used to irrigate and grow the plants cultivated in greenhouses. However, rain gutters and storage tanks in greenhouses should be of sufficient size to collect rainwater. Water consumption of plants in the greenhouse should be calculated correctly to determine the storage size in greenhouses. In this study, daily water consumption of tomatoes cultivated in greenhouses not regularly heated in Kumluca district of Antalya province is calculated according to FAO Penman Monteith method. Then, the storage capacity of the remaining part of the falling monthly rainfall used in the greenhouse was determined. As a result of the study, the amount of annual irrigation water harvested from rainfall in Kumluca district where total rainfall is 734.44 l/m2 was determined as 661.00 l/m2 based on rainfall factor of 0.9. In the period between September and June when single crop was grown in the year, the total amount of irrigation water needed by the plants in the not regularly heated greenhouse was calculated as 569.86 l/m2. Accordingly, it was determined that it is possible to meet all of the irrigation water to be provided to the plant with rainwater harvesting. Depending on the amount of rainwater harvest obtained, it was determined that the storage capacity of 0.40 m3/m2 in greenhouse is needed. In the study, it was determined that rainwater harvesting may contribute to the development of agricultural activities in areas suffering from water scarcity.

Keywords: Greenhouse, Rainwater harvest, crop water requirement, Collection systems.

DOI: 10.7176/JSTR/5-5-01