Mitigating emitter clogging in high-sediment water drip irrigation systems through selection of appropriate organic fertilizers

作者：Zeyuan Liu, Lu Xu, Yunlong Bai, Yong Wang, Li Tian, Tiankai Han, Yang Xiao, Lili Zhangzhong · 发表于：Agricultural Water Management · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110482 · 研究领域：Irrigation Practices and Water Management、Soil and Unsaturated Flow、Polymer-Based Agricultural Enhancements

Emitter clogging severely limits the use of high-sediment water in drip irrigation. While organic fertilizers are increasingly integrated into high-sediment water drip fertigation, their impacts on emitter clogging remain insufficiently understood. To address this, a 560 h drip irrigation experiment was conducted with high-sediment water using five treatments: a non‑fertilized control (CK); high‑molecular‑weight organic fertilizers, humic acid (HA) and alginic acid (AA); and low‑molecular‑weight organic fertilizers, fulvic acid (FA) and amino acids (AF). The results showed that low-molecular-weight organic fertilizers alleviated emitter clogging, whereas high-molecular-weight organic fertilizers aggravated it. Among the tested fertilizers, FA exhibited the strongest anti-clogging effect, whereas HA caused the most severe clogging. Relative to CK after 560 h, FA reduced foulant accumulation and improved emitter hydraulic performance, as indicated by higher Dra (average discharge variation ratio) and CU (Christiansen uniformity coefficient), whereas HA markedly increased foulant accumulation and reduced both Dra and CU. Mechanistically, low-molecular-weight fertilizers enhanced electrostatic repulsion and stabilized suspended particles through surface adsorption and chelation, thereby inhibiting particulate deposition and chemical precipitation. In contrast, high-molecular-weight fertilizers promoted bridging flocculation and heterogeneous nucleation, resulting in dense and agg...