A clearer picture of the changing patterns of salt distribution in irrigated soils is being sought through an undergraduate study funded by the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation.
This is an abbreviated version of the Signposts report of the same title.
Signposts for Australian agriculture (Signposts) is a partnership between industry, government and research organisations. It provides access to economic, social and environmental data specific to an industry in order to inform policy development, strategic decision making and research priorities.
Agriculture is under pressure to demonstrate its performance credentials - in particular its environmental (more)...
Signposts for Australian agriculture (Signposts) is a partnership between industry, government and research organisations. It provides access to economic, social and environmental data specific to an industry in order to inform policy development, strateg
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 exciting results.
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National Program for Sustainable Irrigation Fact sheet 2005/2
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.
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 Natural Resources (more)...
