Drip irrigation

Drip irrigation, also called trickle irrigation, is a form of micro irrigation that delivers water directly to the root zone of plants through a network of valves, pipes, tubing and emitters, letting water drip in slowly above or below the soil surface with far less evaporation than surface or sprinkler irrigation, and it can also deliver nutrients to crops in a process called fertigation. Early forms existed in China around the first century BCE, using buried clay pots to release water slowly, and modern experiments with subsurface clay pipes began in Germany in 1860. The technology reached its modern practical form in Israel during the 1960s, when Simcha Blass and his son developed plastic emitters that slowed water using internal friction rather than tiny holes prone to clogging, and in 1964 they partnered with Kibbutz Hatzerim to found Netafim, producing the first practical surface drip irrigation system and reshaping agricultural water use.