Viticulture

Long term sustainability of precision irrigation

This project aims to assess soil structural decline under precision irrigation and to suggest management strategies to avoid it. The work so far has largely been confined to drip-irrigated vineyards in the Barossa Valley.

Improving the water use efficiency of horticultural crops

The results of this project show that there is considerable scope for improving the water use efficiency of fruit production in Australia. The two year project has sought to test the partial rootzone drying (PRD) irrigation method, originally developed for grapevines, in a range of woody perennial horticultural crops. The technique requires that both wet and dry rootzones are simultaneously created. Results with grapes, citrus and pears have given (more)...

Irrigation Insights 4 - Regulated Deficit Irrigation and Partial Rootzone Drying

This information package was commissioned by the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation, a program of Land & Water Australia, the Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture and the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation to provide an overview of the background, current developments and future prospects for implementing regulated deficit irrigation and partial rootzone drying.

Measuring the effects of improving water use efficiency on root zone salinity

Since the end of 2003 a tri-state syndicate of government agencies from western NSW, Victoria and South Australia has been working on a strategy to manage this salinity hazard.

This Research Bulletin draws on some of the findings to date, focusing on results of monitoring root zone salinity and deep drainage in sprinkler and drip-irrigated citrus orchards and vineyards.

Implementing partial rootzone drying

The partial rootzone drying (PRD) method of irrigation, originally developed for grapevines, is now being used in a range of perennial tree crops in Australia and achieving some exciting results in citrus and pears, as well as grapes.

The technique requires that wet and dry rootzones are created simultaneously around each plant.

Reduction of evaporation from farm dams

Evaporation reduction from farm dams in Australia is regarded as one of the few areas where there are real water savings to be made. At this stage, there are a number of commercial evaporation reduction systems available that use either a hard or polymer cover. Currently these systems are deemed to be viable (M. Durack pers. comm., 2004) for high value crops such as table grapes but are generally not financially viable for lower value crops such as sorghum or cotton. The Department of (more)...