MICROIRRIGATION: A SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY FOR CROP INTENSIFICATION AND IMPROVED CROP PRODUCTIVITY

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1021355
• Multistate No.: W-4128
• Project Start Date: Nov 21, 2019
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2024
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
410 MRAK HALL
DAVIS,CA 95616-8671

Performing Department
Land, Air and Water Resources

Non Technical Summary
This project supports the mission of the Agricultural Experiment Station by addressing the Hatch Act area(s) of: soil and water conservation and use; plant and animal production, protection, and health; sustainable agriculture.My greatest impact will be 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 decision support system is expected to 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.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
111	5360	2020	100%

Knowledge Area
111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water;

Subject Of Investigation
5360 - Drainage and irrigation facilities and systems;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;

Keywords

microirrigation,

irrigation management,

precision irrigation,

crop models,

specialty crop

Goals / Objectives
Develop and evaluate irrigation systems, designs, technologies, and management practices that are sustainable and can increase water productivity. Improve methods of irrigation scheduling that are particularly applicable for microirrigation. Develop, evaluate, and adapt models as tools to improve system design, management, and production.

Project Methods
Sub-Objective 1a (Improved System Designs and Irrigation System Comparisons)Mobile Drip Irrigation also known as MDI will be compare to Low Elevation Spray Application (LESA) in alfalfa under a Mediterranean climate. The study will be conducted at the UC Davis Campbell Track field research facility near Davis. A precision linear move irrigation system will be used for this study.Sub-Objective 1c (Nutrient Management Schemes and Technologies for Microirrigation)High frequency low concentration fertigation (HFLC) will be compared to Low frequency high concentration fertigation (LFHC) fertigation in processing tomatoes under subsurface drip irrigation. The effect of fertigation frequency on yield and soluble solids (Brix) concentration will be determined. The experimental design will be a randomized complete block with four replicates.Sub-Objective 3a (Autonomous/Nearly Autonomous Control and/or Management Systems)A web based model driven decision support tool capable of running complex crop simulation models in the cloud will be developed to support optimization of irrigation management decision making. The web app will be GIS enabled and will be developed with only open source software.In addition, we will develop site specific irrigation management by variety management practices for almonds. Typically several varieties are planted in same orchard to achieve effect pollination but it has been observed that these varieties might have different water requirements and therefore necessitate different irrigation scheduling.

Progress 11/21/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:1. Almond and walnut growers using microirrigation (a majority of nut growers in California use this technology in orchards). I presented at both almond and walnut conferences. 2. Processing tomato growers in California. Specifically, my work is helping growers with the problem of nitrate leaching groundwater. 3. Extension specialists and farm advisors working on irrigation related issues. My research is used to support research-based extension programs in California. 4. Private industry involved in irrigation technology and management (established collaborations with Netafim and Jain Irrigation, Sensoterra B.V.). 5. Public agencies involved in water management in particular California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and Department of Water Resources (DWR) state agencies. 6. Private stakeholders interested in agricultural water management. Changes/Problems:Covid-19 interfered with our field activities during the summer months. As a result some of our monitoring instruments have not been installed due to social distancing requirements, shortage of labor, and inability to travel to research sites. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One PhD student, one postdoc and and two undergraduate students were trained. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?I conducted a training on Orchard Irrigation Management during the almond short course for growers and advisors. Presented research finding to the California Tomato Research Institute. Presented research findings at the walnut research conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue precision irrigation management research in almonds, walnuts, processing tomatoes and alfalfa. Update the FARMs web application.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Evaluated soil moisture, plant water status, and evapotranspiration methods for guiding irrigation scheduling under Zone Irrigation Management in Almonds and Walnut. We found that the cosmic ray sensors were a promising technology for block scale sending of soil moisture in almonds. The osmometers were also found to agree well with a pressure chamber for monitoring tree water status in almonds. However, the agreement was not good in walnuts due to poor conduct between the xylem and the sensors. Preliminary results also show good agreement between remotely sensed evapotranspiration and eddy covariance measurements. We have successfully launched a beta version of the FARMs web app available https://ciswma.lawr.ucdavis.edu/FARMS-BETA/farms. FARMs can be used to predict yield response to a combination of management and environmental conditions. FARMs runs the DSSAT model on the backend and provides simulation output in a user-friendly frontend user interface.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Evaluation of remote sensing-based evapotranspiration models against surface renewal in almonds, tomatoes and maize
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Saleh Taghvaeian, Allan A Andales, L Niel Allen, Isaya Kisekka, Susan A O'Shaughnessy, Dana O Porter, Ruixiu Sui, Suat Irmak, Allan Fulton, Jonathan Aguilar. 2020. Irrigation Scheduling for Agriculture in the United States: 2020. The Progress Made and the Path Forward. Transactions of the ASABE. 63(5): 1603-1618.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Jes�s Mar�a Dom�nguez-Ni�o, Gerard Arbat, Iael Raij-Hoffman, Isaya Kisekka, Joan Girona, Jaume Casades�s. 2020. Parameterization of Soil Hydraulic Parameters for HYDRUS-3D Simulation of Soil Water Dynamics in a Drip- Irrigated Orchard. Water, 12(7): 1858.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ryan T Bailey, Meagan Schipanski, Isaya Kisekka. 2020. Special issue introduction: Managing the Ogallala. Agricultural Water Management, 242(106405)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Z Xiang, RT Bailey, S Nozari, Z Husain, I Kisekka, V Sharda, P Gowda. 2020. DSSAT-MODFLOW: A new modeling framework for exploring groundwater conservation strategies in irrigated areas. Agricultural Water Management, 232(106033)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Tobias Ebong Oker, Isaya Kisekka, Aleksey Y Sheshukov, Jonathan Aguilar, Danny H Rogers,. 2019. Evaluation of Dynamic Uniformity and Application Efficiency of Mobile Drip Irrigation. Irrigation Science, 39(1): 17-35