Selection of Optimum Land Leveling Design Method for Surface Irrigation

Land leveling or land grading of surface irrigated fields improve irrigation water distribution and application efficiencies, conserve water and increases crop productivity. Land formation for irrigation face many constraints (ensuring proper slopes, prevention of flood, ensuring canal water command over the field, optimizing earthwork, minimizing truck travel distances, proper equipment utilization). Design engineers traditionally, perform site formation design manually by plane shape, least squire or linear programming methods. Such methods are with different characteristics. The main objective this study is to select and compare performance of these three design methods for proper land leveling design. Consequently, the basic theory of these alternative design methods are reviewed and their performance using data surveyed from five fields in Khartoum North-Sudan, each with different soil surface topographic configurations, is analyzed. The statistical analysis revealed that the linear programming method is the most appropriate design method. Employing the linear programming design method revealed that design slopes in row and cross row directions are within the acceptable range (0.1 to 0.5, the ratio of Cut/fill volumes is within the recommended range (1.1 to 1.3), uniformity of distribution of design elevations of grid points are acceptable and within the target limits (80%), while their deviation is at 80% of grid points around the mean before leveling.