crop

Root Zone Salinity Risks in the Lower Murray Districts

As a result of improved irrigation management and systems, growers in the Lower Murray (Riverland-Sunraysia) horticultural region have improved their water use efficiency (WUE) over the past two decades from about 50% to about 80%. However a negative consequence of this achievement is the emerging risk of salinity build-up in the root zone, threatening the sustainability of the region (Biswas et al. 2005a; Biswas et al. 2005b). The amount of irrigation applied must account for (more)...

LongStop

The FullStop Wetting Front Detector was designed to be a simple, inexpensive and robust device that gives a yes/no response to whether a wetting front has reached a particular depth. When searching for simplicity and low cost, tradeoffs need to be made with sensitivity; in the case of FullStop the decision was made to detect a 2 kPa strength wetting front. From a theoretical perspective, the FullStop Wetting Front Detector is not well suited to furrow irrigation, deep placement, cracking (more)...

Waterwheel Newsletter 14

Subsurface Irrigation

Australian studies show an average of 30% of applied irrigation water passes through the root zone without being used by the crops it is intended to sustain. This water either becomes groundwater recharge or is intercepted by drainage networks and contributes to waterway pollution. Subsurface drip irrigation has shown great potential for increasing crop yield and uniformity, while decreasing water use and environmental impact. Importantly, subsurface irrigation applies water directly to the (more)...