RESEARCH PAPER
Application of soft computing techniques to estimate wind drift and evaporation loss in sprinkler irrigation
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1
Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
2
Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water Chair, Prince Sultan Institute for Environmental, Water and Desert Research, King Saud University, P. O. Box 2454, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Final revision date: 2025-05-23
Acceptance date: 2025-05-28
Publication date: 2025-08-18
Corresponding author
Mohamed A. Mattar
Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water Chair, Prince Sultan Institute for Environmental, Water and Desert Research, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2454, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Int. Agrophys. 2025, 39(4): 427-442
HIGHLIGHTS
- Assessed five models for WDEL prediction under diverse environmental conditions
- ANN showed the highest accuracy with the lowest prediction error
- ANFIS and MARS had moderate accuracy, struggling in extreme conditions
- PLR and SVR performed poorly due to their linear assumption
- Nonlinear models like ANN are crucial for accurate WDEL predictions
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the predictive performance of five models: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS), Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS), Piecewise Linear Regression (PLR), and Support Vector Regression (SVR) in estimating wind drift and evaporation losses (WDEL) in varying environmental conditions. Using a diverse dataset encompassing key environmental variables, such as riser height, operating pressure, nozzle diameters, wind speed, air temperature, and relative humidity, the models were trained and tested to assess their ability to capture complex, nonlinear relationships affecting WDEL. The results reveal that ANN outperformed all the other models, achieving the highest correlation coefficient values and the lowest root mean square error and mean absolute error, highlighting its superior ability to generalize to unseen data. In contrast, ANFIS and MARS exhibited moderate success, with higher prediction errors, especially in extreme conditions. PLR and SVR, which assume linear relationships, struggled to model the nonlinear dynamics governing WDEL, resulting in significantly lower accuracy. These findings underscore the importance of employing nonlinear models, such as ANN, to accurately predict WDEL in complex environmental systems. The study concludes that ANN is the most robust and reliable model for WDEL prediction, offering insights into future research directions, including hybrid models and ensemble approaches to further enhance predictive accuracy.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors extend their appreciation to Ongoing Research Funding program – Research Chairs (ORF-RC-2025-5503), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
FUNDING
Ongoing Research Funding program - Research Chairs (ORF-RC-2025-5503), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The Authors do not declare any conflict of interest.
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