placement of additional drip lines to enhance soil fumigation and irrigation efficiency and minimize...
DESCRIPTION
2014 National Sustainable Strawberry Initiative Project Leader MeetingTRANSCRIPT
Placement of additional drip lines to enhance soil fumigation and
irrigation efficiency and minimize environmental impacts
Oleg Daugovish, Ben Faber, Surendra Dara, Mike Cahn, Steve Koike and Husein Ajwa (Univ. of California
Cooperative Extension farm advisors and specialist)
Collaborators:
• Dole (Watsonville), Manzanita Berry Farms (Santa Maria), and Ito Bros. (Oxnard), and Solimar Farms (Camarillo)
• California Strawberry Commission
• Farm Bureau, Resource Conservation Districts, Natural Resource Conservation Service, United Water and other stakeholders
California strawberries
• $ 2.6 billion annual value in California (~90% of US)• #6 crop in California• Neighbors: urban and natural environments
Two problems: lack of water and soil pathogens
Macrophominaphaseolina
Fusarium oxysporum
Using drought tolerant plants
Taking
shower with friends
Harvesting rainwater
From United Water CD report:
Water Pumping through pipeline, Ventura County, CA
Why are sprinklers used instead of drip?
Used for other purposes: wet
soil before bed shaping,
‘settling furrows and beds’,
frost protection, fast plant
hydration during hot wind
conditions
Used for fumigation and
fertigation only
Water delivered into
planting holes from the top
aids in leaching salts
Water delivered at drip
burial depth, salts above
drip not leached
Immediate plant-water
contact aids secondary
root development
Risk of plants ‘drying out’
SPRINKLERS DRIP
Placement of drip: Deliver water to roots and move salts away
VS
X XX
X X X
6 in
12 in
F. oxysporum inoculum buried in beds prior to fumigation
Drip lines
Effect of location on F. oxysporum survivalS
pore
s p
er
gra
m o
f soil
Beds fumigated with 200 lbs/a PicClor-60
6” depth
12” depth
2013-14 NSSI project
Oxnard and Camarillo
Santa Maria
Watsonville
Drip Fumigation
• Camarillo (200 lbs /A InLine): native Fusarium oxysporum in soil: no symptoms in plants observed as of May 15
• Watsonville (300 lbs /A Piclor 60): buried inoculum – no survivorship in 2 or 4 lines per bed at 2 depth for both M. phaseolina and F. oxysporum
• Oxnard: did not fumigate with 4 lines but irrigated with 4 or 3 in season
Oxnard: irrigation affecting plant mortality due to F. oxysporum
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Surface 4 drips-only
Buried 4 drips- only
Sprinkler, then 3 drips
Oxnard, CA, Oct 28, 2014
What was % of plant establishment?98.45 surface drip, 98.6 buried drip and 98.3% in sprinkler irrigation
0.00 bulk mS/cm
0.20 bulk mS/cm
0.40 bulk mS/cm
0.60 bulk mS/cm
0.80 bulk mS/cm
1.00 bulk mS/cm
1.20 bulk mS/cm
1.40 bulk mS/cm
21-Oct 28-Oct 4-Nov 11-Nov 18-Nov 25-Nov 2-Dec 9-Dec 16-Dec 23-Dec 30-Dec 6-Jan 13-Jan 20-Jan 27-Jan 3-Feb
EC in root zone, bulk soil
sprinkler, then 3 tapes
4 tapes surface or buried
0.000 m³/m³
0.050 m³/m³
0.100 m³/m³
0.150 m³/m³
0.200 m³/m³
0.250 m³/m³
0.300 m³/m³
0.350 m³/m³
21-Oct 28-Oct 4-Nov 11-Nov 18-Nov 25-Nov 2-Dec 9-Dec 16-Dec 23-Dec 30-Dec 6-Jan 13-Jan 20-Jan 27-Jan 3-Feb
Volumetric moisture in root zone
avg buried drip
avg surface drip
avg overhead
Establishment period
4 drip surface 4 drip buried Sprinkler, then 3 drip
chloride 0.64 meq/L 0.79 meq/L 2.74 meq/L
sodium 5.89 meq/L 7.09 meq/L 9.97 meq/L
EC sat
paste
3.66 dS/m 4.21 dS/m 3.99 dS/m
sulfate 39.2 meq/L 36.3 meq/L 45.2 meq/L
4 drip surface 4 drip buried Sprinkler, then 3 drip
Nitrate -N 931 ppm 668 ppm 905 ppm
Phosphate -P 2030 ppm 2040 ppm 2450 ppm
Zinc 21.9 ppm 24.1ppm 27.7 ppm
Manganese 76 ppm 109 ppm 174 ppm
Soil Analyses 0-6 “ Nov 19
No differences in Ca, Mg, K or B, slightly heavier soil in sprinkler block
No differences in Ca, Mg, K, Fe, or Na slightly heavier soil in sprinkler block
Plant Tissue Analyses, Feb 18
Buried 4 lines = SprinklerSurface 4 lines(22% smaller)
Nov 26, 2014 canopy size
Plant dry biomass, Dec 12
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Surface 4 drips Buried 4 drips Sprinkler
g/p
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Dry biomass of new leaves
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Surface 4 drips Buried 4 drips Sprinkler
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Dry biomass of new roots
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Surface 4 drips Buried 4 drips Sprinkler
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Dry biomass of old crowns
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16-Jan 23-Jan 30-Jan 6-Feb 13-Feb 20-Feb 27-Feb 6-Mar 13-Mar 20-Mar 27-Mar
g/2
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Marketable fruit yield- Oxnard
Surface 4 drips-only
Buried 4 drips- only
Sprinkler, then 3 drips
total by Apr 19,622
10,548
8,696
Water use/acre by Nov 12 (before removal of sprinklers):
• 4-DRIP block: 11, 200 gal (by drip) + 4, 060 gal (2 sprinkler runs during Santa Ana conditions, 1st week of Nov) = 15,260 gal
• SPRINKLER block: 47, 250 gal (collected by cans)
Sprinklers for cooling plants
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minutes after end of overhead irrigation
Temperature
Air Leaf
End of sprinkler irrigation
Santa Maria and Watsonville
• 20-30% water savings (reduced sprinkler + 4 drips vs standard sprinkler)
• Similar among treatments: plant performance, soil water and salt parameters
Outreach so far:
• 3 field days (14 speakers) and 2 meetings (380 participants),
• >30 individual contacts with growers and industry stakeholders
• Electronic: web site and blog >6000 hits/month
• Ventura County Star: 2 publications, reached >0.5 mlnpeople (paper and on-line)
• Video on UCCE –Ventura web site (loaded May 25th)
• Doubling number of tapes included in UC water quality BMP guidelines publication (bi-lingual)
Prácticas Agrícolas para Proteger la Calidad del Agua
Grower responses:
• “improved fumigant distribution/wetting pattern in 4-drip beds” (Solimar Farms)
• “next year plan is to increase area with 4-drip use for establishment at least 10 times” (Ito Bros.)
• Dole: “doubling drip tape is becoming increasingly common in Central Coast” and “will help South Coats grower with salts management”
• Manzanita Berry Farms: “ 4 tapes and reduced sprinkler use” is a standard.
• Driscoll’s: Additional drip tapes and micro-sprinkler used for grower demonstrations to save water and minimize runoff (first time in summer strawberry)