Progress 01/12/18 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:This project produced research and outreach products that reached the following audiences: 1) Almond and walnut growers using microirrigation (majority of growers in California use this technology in orchards). 2) Fertigation management of processing tomatoes (tomato growers). 3) Extension specialists and farm advisors working on irrigation related issues. 4) Private industry involved in irrigation technology and management (established collaborations with Netafim and Jain Irrigation). 5) Public agencies involved in water management in particular CDFA and DWR state agencies. 6) Private stakeholders interested in agricultural water management. 7) Students in colleges and Universities used software that we developed as part of this project. Changes/Problems:Shortage of labor to implement field research projects in the summer. I relied on visiting scholars and myself to do some of the field work. There is also limited supply of technical people with knowledge in advanced irrigation systems. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?· I integrated a module in the irrigation systems and water management upper level undergraduate class that I teach at University of California Davis every year. The enrollment during the spring quarter of 2018 was 16 students. The students were introduced to computer aided design of microirrigation systems using the IRRICAD software. · I also created a new class on Evapotranspiration, Principles, Measurement and Modeling, that has been taken by over 20 students. I organized field trips to a research farm where students had the opportunity to see microirrigation in its different forms. · As part of the project I have mentored 3 PhD students, 1 master student and numerous undergraduate students. All the students are working on an irrigation related project. · I also trained a group of technocrats from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on microirrigation management and shared with them experiences from California. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have disseminated our results through journal articles, conference presentations, posters and social media (e.g., UCDIrrigation twitter account). I have also presented our findings at the following events: Almond Board of California conference December 2019. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. Almond Irrigation Management by Variety during Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest Periods, Invited Speaker, Almond Board of California Conference 2018, Sacramento, 12/06/2018, >4000 Attendees. 2. Precision Irrigation and Fertigation Management fo, Invited Speaker, California Tomato Research Institute, Davis CA, 11/29/2018, 100 Attendees. 3. Almond Irrigation Management by Variety during Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest Periods, Invited Speaker, Almond growers, policy markers, almond board, private industry, Colusa, County California, Granzella's Banquet Hall, Williams, CA, January 17th 2019, 400 Attendees. 4. Integrating Soil and Plant Water Status Monitoring, and Satellite Imagery for Site Specific Irrigation Scheduling in Walnuts, Invited Speaker, Walnut growers, farm advisers, specialists, researchers, students, UC Davis Bodega Bay Marine Lab, 01/25/2019, ~300 Attendees. 5. Fertigation with MicroirrigationTraining, Presenter, Represntative Wefang in China, UC Davis Global Affairs, UC Davis Environmental Horticulture Conference Room, 02/12/2019, 60 Attendees. 6. Precision Irrigation Management and Technologies, Presenter, Scientists from the China Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Davis CA, 02/27/2019, 16 Attendees. 7. Precision Irrigation Management in Almonds, Invited Speaker, UC ANR Water Technical Group Members, UC ANR Davis CA, 03/05/2019, 60 Attendees. 8. Soil Moisture Measurement Across Scales using Cosmic-Ray Neutrons, Invited Speaker, UC ANR Water Team Members, Davis CA, 03/06/2019, 30 Attendees. 9. Precision Overhead Irrigation in Alfalfa, Invited Speaker, Growers, diary men, private industry, other academics, UC Davis Campua, 05/15/2019, 120 Attendees. 10. Going from complex models to usable Decision Support Tools, Invited Speaker, USDA NRCS staff, CEAP Project collaborators, Southern San Joaquin Water Collation representatives and other academics., 430 G St, Davis, CA 95616, 06/20/2019, 75 Attendees.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1. Develop robust and appropriately-scaled methods of irrigation scheduling using one or more soil-, plant- or weather-based approaches. Develop of a methodology for estimating of almond water status using artificial neural networks Stem water potential (SWP) is a commonly used method for determining plant water status in tree crops but is labor intensive. To eliminate the necessity for intensive fieldwork, artificial neural networks were designed to predict PWS using easier to measure information such as leaf temperature and microclimatic variables including ambient air temperature, relative humidity, incident radiation, and soil water content (Meyers et al., 2018). To collect these variables, leaf monitors developed by Dhillon et al. (2017) and soil water sensors were installed in an almond orchard. The sensors were interconnected through a wireless mesh network which allowed remote data access. SWP values were taken in the field at midday three times a week during the growing season. The artificial neural networks were trained using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Compared with multiple linear regression models fitting the same data, the neural networks consistently resulted in better R2 values. These results suggest that there is potential for machine learning techniques that use artificial neural networks to model the relationship between environmental conditions and plant water stress, which may be used for predicting acceptable temperature difference from target SWP Microirrigated almond orchards. FARMs Model -Driven Decision Support We have developed FARMs a novel web-based decision support tool that provides site-specific irrigation scheduling recommendations to growers to tree, vegetable and forage growers in California grower's majority of have switched to microirrigation. FARMs uses crop simulation models to integrate the entire farming system including soil (S), weather (E, environment), genetics (G), and crop production practices (M, management; e.g., irrigation and fertility management practices). Preliminary evaluation of FARMs on corn and alfalfa has demonstrated on to improve yields and water productivity through in-season adaptive management of irrigation schedules. Objective 2. Develop microirrigation designs and management practices that can be appropriately scaled to site-specific characteristics and end-user capabilities. Precision irrigation management by variety in almonds and walnuts A significant number of almond growers in California have shifted from flood to microirrigation. Almond production in California has unique water issues, including the need for post-harvest irrigation and the presence of different almond varieties in the same orchard with shifted growth stages and water needs as a way to establish effective pollination. Traditionally, farmers have set up their microirrigation systems (double drip or micro sprinklers) to irrigate the entire orchard the same and cannot independently irrigate the different almond tree varieties within the same orchard. My research investigated how to precisely and independently irrigate different varieties without interfering with harvest activities and offset growth stages of the different varieties. We retrofitted the drip irrigation system on a commercial orchard with a wireless system that we used to remotely open and close tree rows of different varieties independently. Preliminary results from the 2018 growing season showed significant differences in yield amount three almond varieties (Non-peril, Butte and Aldrich) at the same irrigation level. We development a new concept on Zone Irrigation Management in walnuts with the goal of reducing spatial variability production by increasing yields of low producing areas in the orchards. Precision fertigation management for processing tomatoes Processing tomato producers in California are faced with several challenges e.g., constrained water supplies due to droughts and institutional policies like SGMA, and the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (regulation of nitrate leaching). To optimize profitability under limited water resources, growers need to enhance resource use efficiency through precision irrigation and fertigation. Over 80% of processing tomatoes growers in California have switched from flood to subsurface drip irrigation. In May of 2018 we established a study on a 5 acre subsurface drip irrigation field with automated fertigation and irrigation control by volume using ultrasonic flow meters and a Netafim irrigation controller. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of high frequency low concentration fertigation and the low frequency high concentration fertigation on yield of processing tomatoes. Preliminary results indicate that there were no significant differences between high and low frequency fertigation under full irrigation. However, under limited water, sustained deficit irrigation produced lower yields compared to regulated deficit irrigation but increased fruit quality in terms of soluble solute concentration. Objective 3. Develop technology transfer products for a diversity of stakeholders to promote adoption of microirrigation. We have developed the FARMs webapp that growers can use for implementing specific irrigation scheduling for a variety of irrigation systems including microirrigation.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Kisekka, I. and A. Fulton. 2020. Integrating soil moisture, plant monitoring and imagery for site specific irrigation management in walnuts. Report to the California Walnut Board.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Bill Rice, Thomas Harter, Laura Foglia, Isaya Kisekka. 2019. Automated Basin-wide ET Estimation Using the SEBS Method to Improve Groundwater Sustainability Plan Development. AGU 2019.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Kisekka, I. 2019. Integrating soil moisture, plant monitoring and imagery for zone irrigation management in walnuts. Walnut Research Conference, Bodega Marine Lab, Jan. 29-31th 2020
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Umair Gull, Khaled Bali, Robert Hutmacher, Isaya Kisekka, Daniel H Putnam. 2019. Quantifying the Water Productivity, Forage Yield and Quality of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) Utilizing Limited Water Resources. ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings (2019)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Iael Raij Hoffman, Thomas Harter, Isaya Kisekka. 2020. Nitrogen Leaching From California's Central Valley Irrigated Lands: A Multi-scale Modeling Study. AGU 2019
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Prudentia Zikalala, Isaya Kisekka, Mark Grismer. 2019. Calibration and Global Sensitivity Analysis for a Salinity Model Used in Evaluating Fields Irrigated with Treated Wastewater in the Salinas Valley. Agriculture: 9:2-31.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Kelley Drechsler, Isaya Kisekka, Shrinivasa Upadhyaya. 2019. A comprehensive stress indicator for evaluating plant water status in almond trees. Agricultural water management. 216: 214-223.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Tobias E Oker, Isaya Kisekka, Aleksey Y Sheshukov, Jonathan Aguilar, Danny Rogers. 2020. Evaluation of dynamic uniformity and application efficiency of mobile drip irrigation. Irrigation Science. 38(1): 17-35.
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Progress 01/12/18 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Over the review period, this project produced research and outreach products that reached the following audiences: 1. Almond and walnut growers using microirrigation (majority of growers in California use this technology in orchards). 2. Fertigation management of processing tomatoes (tomato growers). 3. Extension specialists and farm advisors working on irrigation related issues. 4. Private industry involved in irrigation technology and management (established collaborations with Netafim and Jain Irrigation). 5. Public agencies involved in water management in particular CDFA and DWR state agencies. 6. Private stakeholders interested in agricultural water management. Changes/Problems:Limited funding to conduct research. Labor to assist with field experiments. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One MS student graduated and immediately gained employment (Davids Engineering Inc.). One PhD student is conducting research under this projects and has been trained in various expects of microirrigation management. Provided training to a group of international visitors from Uzbekistan on irrigation management. UC Davis students that took the HYD 110 irrigation class used facilities of this project as demonstration. I was invited to teach a microirrigation class at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute in Bari Italy. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have disseminated our results through journal articles, conference presentations, posters and social media (e.g., UCDIrrigation twitter account). I gaven the following presentations during the reporting period. Presentations Managing Irrigation with Limited Water Using iCrop, Invited Speaker, United States Committee on Irrigation and Drainage Conference, Phoenix Arizona, 10/10/2018, ~1000 Attendees. 28. iCrop: An Integrated Decision Support Tool for Precision Irrigation Management, Presenter, UC Water faculty, Policy makers from state government, Sacramento, 10/25/2018, 250 Attendees. Almond Irrigation Management by Variety during Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest Periods, Invited Speaker, Almond Board of California Conference 2018, Sacramento, 12/06/2018, >4000 Attendees. Precision Irrigation and Fertigation Management fo, Invited Speaker, California Tomato Research Institute, Davis CA, 11/29/2018, 100 Attendees. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The current multistate microirrigation project will be ending this year, but I plan to continue participating in the new project W-4128 multistate microirrigation project. I plan to conduct related research on improving microirrigation management in specialty crops and field crops.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
My greatest impact is in the development of precision irrigation management systems for specialty crops. For example, our site specific irrigation of almonds project through retrofitting of microirrigation systems has attracted a lot of attention from the growers (printed in two grower oriented magazines) and also received funding from the almond board of California. Our work on high frequency fertigation is also expected to reduce nitrate leaching which is a serious problem in the central valley of California but also improve yields. The web based iCrop decision support system has attracted a lot of interest from growers and crop consultants and is expected to help growers optimize yields and inputs in good years (wet years) while minimizing inputs in bad years (extreme drought) to optimize overall net profitability.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Meyers, J., I. Kisekka, Shrinivasa Upadhyaya, Gabriela Michelon, Kelley Drechsler, Erin Kizer, Channing Ko-Madden. 2018. Development of an Artificial Neural Network Approach for Predicting Plant Water Status in Almonds. 2018. Trans. ASABE. . doi: 10.13031/trans.12970.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Oker, E. T. and I. Kisekka. 2018. Evaluation of Maize Production under Mobile Drip Irrigation. Agricultural Water Management. 210(2018):11-21.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Kisekka, I., Kandelous, M. M., B. Sanden, J. W. Hopmans. 2019. Uncertainties in leaching assessment in micro-irrigated fields using water balance approach. Agricultural Water Management. 213(1): 107-115
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