Irrigation is the application of controlled amounts of water to plants at needed intervals. Irrigation helps grow agricultural crops, helps maintain landscapes, and helps revegetate disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall. Irrigation also has other uses in crop production, including frost protection, suppressing weed growth in grain fields and preventing soil consolidation.
In contrast, agriculture that relies only on direct rainfall is referred to as rain-fed or dry land farming. Irrigation systems are also used for cooling livestock, dust suppression, disposal of sewage, and in mining. Irrigation is often studied together with drainage, which is the removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area.
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