As a contribution to sustainable agriculture in regions with scarce water resources, a new micro-irrigation technology is being researched on trial fields in Plovdiv, Bulgaria: SLECI (Self-regulating Low-Energy Clay-based Irrigation).
Developed at the Institute for Polymer and Production Technologies (IPT), an affiliated institute of Wismar University of Applied Sciences, SLECI is a special form of subsurface irrigation in which water is released via porous clay bodies in the root area of the plant. Without additional energy, the system works solely with the natural suction force of the surrounding soil. As this suction force increases with increasing dryness, the plant automatically receives exactly as much water as it needs at any given time. The considerable savings potential (70 to 90 percent in water and energy consumption) is even increased if renewable raw materials are used instead of petrochemical materials for the production of hoses and tanks.
Based on the knowledge transfer between the project partners from Germany, Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia and Spain, a research infrastructure on the topic of micro-irrigation was established. After the consortium was successful with a funding application in the EU Horizon 2020 program, the follow-up project DIVAGRI, coordinated by Wismar University of Applied Sciences, has been running since June 2021 to further develop SLECI irrigation technology on the African continent.
Applicant Microirrigation project: Wismar University of Applied Sciences
Partner:
Fruit Growing Institute - Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Northern Macedonia
Asociación de la Industria Navarra, Spain