rootzone

Coordinating Deep Drainage Research in the Northern Darling Basin - Final Report

A key issue identified by the research community working with the cotton industry was the lack of understanding and acceptance of the concept of deep drainage. Deep drainage is defined as the part of the water (applied to the surface and as rainfall or irrigation) that moves past the rootzone. In general the existing paradigm was “cotton soils don’t leak”. However, the research community related to the Australian Cotton CRC (ACCRC) (more)...

Real -Time Drainage Fluxes From The Root Zone By Using Capacitance Probe Data

Over the years growers in the Lower Murray-Darling irrigation districts have consistently reported salinity damage to horticultural crops despite the moderate irrigation water salinity. There is also anecdotal information that after leaching the salini

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 exciting results. (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.

Irrigation Insights 2 - Subsurface Drainage Design and Management Practices in Irrigated Areas of Australia

It is widely understood that irrigation development results in deep percolation past the rootzone, which recharges the groundwater. With flood irrigation, watertables often rise at around 0.5 m a year until a new equilibrium is established where the watertable fluctuates from the soil surface to around 3 m deep. A significant part of all irrigation areas in Australia are currently in this condition or approaching such equilibrium. Irrigation areas in southeastern Australia, particularly in the Murray (more)...

Irrigation Update No. 4: Newsletter of the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation

In this issue

• Confidence in reclaimed water
• Addressing the silent time bomb - researchers look at how to combat the build up of salinity around the rootzone
• About the NPSI Knowledge base
• Open Hydroponics - A new approach to intensive orchard management

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.

NPIRD UPDATE- No.5 July 2002