Accomplished Research
Since its establishment, the center carried out a number of research dealt with water conservation and water saving in agriculture. Fore example, in 1986 a project underwent a process of converting fixsprinkilers of a center pivot to drippers. The aim was to reduce water losses in Hail Agricultural Development Company (HADCO) farms for the first time in the kingdom. Then research work continued, and in 2003 another leading project dealt with conservation of irrigation water in Al-Hassa Irrigation Project. The purpose was to reduce irrigation water losses by using controllable conveying means. The following section provides a summary of the research works carried out between 1998 and 2007.
1- Conservation of irrigation water at HIDA by using controllable conveying means.
The objective of this research was to reduce irrigation water losses and make water available by improving irrigation system efficiency.
2- Remote sensing techniques for estimating water stress of Alfalfa at various soil water levels.
The aim of this project was to study the improvement of water use efficiency, as was affected by various soil moisture levels, using remote sensing techniques.
3- The Use of DRAINKIM in Assessment of the Re- Use of Drainage Water in Al-Hassa Oasis
The purpose of this study was to use DRAINKIM model in order to evaluate drainage water for crop production at Al-Hassa Oasis.
4- Critical Phosphorus Levels for Salicornia Growth
The goal of this work was to find out an alternative for fresh water in growing plants tolerant to high salinity.
5- Leaching Requirement Conceptual Models for Reactive Salt
The objective of this research was to use mathematical models, to determine the least water required for leaching, improve use of irrigation water and reduce losses of agriculture drainage water.
6- The Response of Salicornia to Fertilizer under Irrigation with Sea Water: A Pots Experiment
The aim of this study was to assess the response of Salicornia growth to various fertilization under drip irrigation with sea water.
7- Effect of Saline Irrigation water on Tree Growth
The goal of this study was to test high saline water (8600 ppm) on growth of windbreaker trees in arid regions. That accomplished by using three different soils and five levels of irrigation water quality.
8- Functions of Crop Yield from Applied Water
The objective of this research was to simulate the relation between wheat yield and applied water under the kingdom environmental conditions.
9- Using Center Pivots for Research
A modified center pivot with drippers is used to estimate crop yield function. This modified system gave results better than the conventional one.
10- Traveling Trickle Center Pivot Design
In this research center pivot is modified to suit KSA field crops, such as wheat. In this, system micro-tubes were fixed at equal spacing, to provide uniform irrigation.
11- The Economy of Irrigation Water Conservation for Center Pivot
Economic evaluation of a center pivot dripper spacing is based on soil properties and technical factors.
12- Hydraulic Model Studies on Silt Exclusion
This study experimented at laboratory models aims at investigating exclusion of silt and clays from irrigation water of Wadi Dahmad irrigation project. As compared with the original design, a number of modifications could improve sediment exclusion.
13- Modification of the Step Drawdown Test for Pump Selection
This study suggested a slightly modified mathematical model for pump test whose aim was to design a correct pump for a well. The model was tested on a number of wells constructed in different kinds of aquifers and results presented.
14- Optimal Design of Multi-Outlet Pipes for Irrigation System.
Pipe lines with multiple outlets are common in irrigation system, being used for both lateral and feeder lines. In this research a design algorithm was presented, a thing which minimized cost as an objective function and included nonlinear constraints.
15- Cost Effective Operation of Urban Water Supply System, Using Dynamic Programming.
An optimization model was designed for operating the water supply systems of cities using groundwater. The Newton-Raphson pipe network was used for network analysis and a dynamic programming optimization algorithm was used for determing a schedule for pump operation in the pipe network system.
16- Optimal Crop Water Requirements
This study explains a hydro-economic computer model to determine optimal amount of water for a crop and ilustrates the procedure with actual data from the Aziziah farm in Hail region.
17- Non-Structural Methods to Encourage Irrigation Efficiency
This work was an interim report on a study that first look at factors effecting agricultural water conservation; then collected data from interviews with farmers by random sampling techniques in Al-Hassa areas to discover effect of government policies in water use efficiency and reaction to water conservation.
18- Unifying Evaluation Theory in Water Resources Planning
A descriptive study was suggested to relate the planning environment to planning approach. That was designed, so planners may be more accurate in allocating the resources and adapt planning methods to different situations.
19- Reservoir Routing With Spread Sheets
This research showed how to combine a new technology with traditional reservoir routing problem and gave an example of an application.
20- Evaluating Small Farm Irrigation Efficiency
This work explained a new method by (Keller and Marriam) to measure irrigation efficiency. In this method actual irrigation efficiency can be estimated.
21- The effect of Climatic Variations on Agricultural Water Requirements
This study compared the metrological data from Al-Hassa agriculture research center with comparable data from King Faisal University (KFU) agriculture experiment station, some 40 km distant.
22- National Fertilizer Program for Date Palm
The aim of this project was to estimate the fertilization requirements for the date palm under Al-Hassa environmental conditions.
23-Analyzing Irrigation Site Selection Data by Matrix Overlay.
24- Mapping of salt affected soils in Al-Hassa oasis, Saudi Arabia.
25- Using the advanced spatial studies technology to evaluate the effect of using of different types of irrigation water on level of heavy metals in soil and plant in Al- Hassa Oasis.
26- Applying precision farming techniques in date palm production in Al-Hassa Oasis, Saudi Arabia.
Current Research Projects
The following is a list of the current Research Projects
1. Water requirements for economic crops in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia.
2. Contribution of shallow water table towards the irrigation of date palm under flood irrigation and alternate root zone drying.
3. Multi-disciplinary Evaluation of the Environmental and Economic Potentiality of The Inland Sabkha, Al Hassa area.
4. The environmental effects of sludge as organic manure on the soils and plants of Al-Hassa oasis.
5. Multi-date agriculture land cover (Crops) classification in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
6. Decision support system for drinking water quality evaluation in Al-Hassa.
7. Geoelectrical Imaging of the hardpan layer and soil water level at the Agricultural and Veterinary Training and Research Station of KFU, Al Hassa area
8. Study possibility of using of drainage water of evaporation lakes at Al Hassa through desalination
9. Integrated assessment of the effectiveness of main constructed dams at KSA
10. Study sterilizing of treated sewage and drinking water at Al Hassa using gamma ray of Cobalt-60"