The objective of this research was to study the parameters that affect the technical-economical selection of emitters. In the study compensated and non-compensated emitters were used. The technical aspects considered were: percentage of wetted soil, number of emitters per plant and the uniformity coefficient as well as price and operation pressure for economic aspects. The results shows that the operation pressure of emitters is the most important factor to be considered in the selection , with smaller values of pressure giving lower total annual cost, independently of the type of emitter. In general, the non-compensated emitter shows lower annual cost values than for compensated emitters, for a similar range of pressures. Finally the technical-economical analysis in the emitter selection is an important procedure.
micro irrigation; emitters selection; economic
