Performing Department
Dallas-TAMU Agr Res Cntr
Non Technical Summary
Water conservation and quality are high priority issues in agriculture and society as a whole. Irrigation management issues, specifically access to high quality water, irrigation scheduling, salinity, runoff water quality, and urban surface- and stormwater management are topics of major concern to the green industry and specialty crop producers. The green industry includes ornamental plant producers, landscape and ecosystem service providers, urban farmers, and green infrastructure managers. Climate change will likely influence rainfall patterns, fresh water reserves, and the frequency and severity of drought events. Drought and flood events, competition for water resources, urban expansion into previously rural production areas, production of crops within urban boundaries, demand for lower environmental impacts, and increasing legislation at state and county levels increase the need for these sectors to conserve water, manage stormwater runoff, and use alternative water sources with lesser quality. Water quality aspects relevant to irrigation include chemical components (such as alkalinity, salinity, nitrogen and phosphorus, pesticide residues), biological components (including plant pathogens, algae, biofilm, and human food safety pathogens), and physical components (such as suspended particulates, and turbidity).Specialty crop producers are highly productive per unit area and require intensive inputs including water, fertilizer, pesticides, energy, and other resources. The waste stream from this production, which can include particulates, agrichemicals, heat, and plant diseases, could be transported by irrigation and storm runoff into containment ponds and/or off-site into groundwater or surface water (Camper et al., 1994; Hong and Moorman, 2005; Warsaw et al., 2009b; Wilson and Foos, 2006; Wilson and Boman, 2011). Irrigation water management affects nutrient uptake by crop plants and runoff of leached nutrients into local water systems (Pershey et al., 2015; Ross et al., 2002; Tyler et al., 1996; Warsaw et al., 2009b). Emerging constraints on water use and quality mean that the green industry needs to identify ways to manage water without negatively impacting marketable yields per area and per year.A multi-state, multidisciplinary research and extension group is therefore necessary to address the broad range of water quantity, quality and plant production issues in the green industry. To help solve these research and extension needs, this project has identified five principal areas of concern. These include (1) the quality of irrigation water sources, (2) irrigation management and water conservation, (3) crop production runoff management, (4) urban stormwater, and (5) soilless culture.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
90%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Regional water quality and plant health: Determine which water quality parameters limit ornamental plant production and determine how various secondary water sources in different regions of the U.S may be used in ornamental production.
Improved irrigation management: Determine the water requirements of a variety of ornamental plants and how these water requirements are affected by plant size and environmental conditions. Compare irrigation methods (e.g. overhead, spray stakes, drip irrigation, subirrigation) to determine how they affect total water use, plant growth and quality, and runoff water quality. Quantify reductions in water use, leaching, and runoff that result from more efficient irrigation techniques. Develop new and optimize existing methods to provide growers with real time information regarding the water requirements of their crops, including crop water use models and sensor networks that can be easily deployed in greenhouses and nurseries.
Substrates and nutrient management: Assess physical and chemical properties of formulated media mixes and their impact on plant health, water use efficiency, and nutrient levels in leachates for a variety of plants considered of importance to various states/regions. Expand our knowledge of how formulated media mixes affect dynamic physical properties including hydraulic conductivity, cation and anion mass flow, and plant-water buffering. Develop BMP guidelines for substrate/amendment management practices.
Runoff and recycled water management: Continue to address research and extension needs related to improving runoff management by: (1) gathering comprehensive runoff-related information from the following sectors: a) growers, b) regulatory agencies, and c) university research and extension. Quantify the relative impacts of nursery runoff on surface water resources through detailed on-site investigations. Characterize critical control points within production systems and their influence on the presence and fate of pests, pesticides, and other agrichemicals (mineral salts) in production runoff, irrigation reservoirs, and other water sources. Develop chemical, physical, and biologically-based water treatment technologies to mitigate adverse effects of pesticides, salts, and pests in recycled irrigation water. Develop BMP guidelines for water recycling programs to minimize potential for negative effects on plant health by pests, pesticides, and mineral salts in recycled irrigation water.
Project Methods
1) Assess risks associated with water quality parameters that influence plant growth and categorize their potenital impacts, 2) evaluate commercial practices and emerging technologies to best management practice to improve plant health and reduce environmental pollution, 3) quantify the impact of using alternative water sources for irrigation on plant growth and health, and 4) increase irrigation efficiency