National Program for Sustainable Irrigation Publications

Irrigation, National & Regional Economies

The research outlined below is based on Expressions of Interest received by, and feedback from, the Sustainable Irrigation Program Management Committee.

Knowledge and tools to manage fertigation technologies

This project aimed to address knowledge gaps and test assumptions regarding the application of modern approaches to the delivery of water and dissolved mineral fertilisers to citrus trees under Australian conditions.

Knowledge Management in Cotton and Grain Irrigation

The Australian Cotton Cooperative Research Centre through this knowledge management project aimed to develop a better understanding of the knowledge pathways being used by irrigated cotton and grain growers, consultants and support agencies.

The current study focused on how cotton and grain irrigators and their consultants access information about irrigation and generate knowledge to make better irrigation decisions.

Long Term Sustainability of Precision Irrigation

This report details the research identifying the causes and the decline of soil structure under irrigation drippers in the Barossa Valley vineyards. Irrigated vineyards in Australia have seen extensive adoption of drip irrigation. At the start of this project there was concern about the sustainability of drip irrigation based on previous field observations. Drip irrigation conserves water but the concentrated nature of its application was believed to cause serious soil structural (more)...

Long Term Sustainability of Precision Irrigation - Rootzone

This case study looks at maximising water and nutrient penetration into root zones using improved irrigation scheduling.

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)...

Managing fertigation technologies in citrus orchards

With recent advances in technology irrigators can now more precisely control delivery of mineral nutrients and water to the roots of perennial tree crops. These technologies, collectively referred to as fertigation, provide the opportunity to adopt and implement highly technical management programs, such as open hydroponics, that use drip irrigation to deliver a balanced mixture of nutrients and water. This research bulletin provides an overview of a project, (more)...

Managing soil salinity in groundwater irrigated vineyards

We combined samples taken during the project with those taken a decade ago to assess whether annual cycles of saline high SAR irrigation in summer and non-saline low SAR rain in winter had caused an increase in soil sodicity and salinity. Above average winter rain in 2011 reclaimed sodic and saline soils. This indicated that any change in soil structure wrought by a decade of these cycles was not yet a significant impediment to leaching of salts and (more)...

Model for Effluent Disposal Using Land Irrigation (MEDLI) Technical Description

MEDLI® is a Windows® based computer model for designing and analysing effluent disposal systems for intensive rural industries, agri-industrial processors (e.g. abattoirs) and sewage treatment plants using land irrigation. It was developed jointly by the CRC for Waste Management and Pollution Control, the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries.