crops

Sensor and control system development for autonomous site-specific irrigation

The NPSI/IAL Travel Fellowship 2010 aimed to investigate developments toward autonomous site-specific irrigation control systems. Site-specific irrigation systems offer improvements in water use efficiency and crop performance by differentially applying irrigation to the field when and where it is required.

Healthy Soils: Soil is a National Asset - Corporate Brochure

The Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms Programme is a wide-ranging, $5 million programme that covers a variety of agricultural sectors across almost all the states of Australia. The current range of agricultural industries involved in the Healthy Soils for Sustainable Farms Programme includes: • Grain and crops • Cotton • Sheep and wool • Sugar • Vegetables • Organics The scale of the projects supported (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)...

Use of reclaimed effluent water in Australian horticulture

Due to environmental and economic pressures, the volume of reclaimed water being used in Australia is increasing (Dillon 2000, Radcliffe 2003). One of the major potential, and current, uses of this water is for irrigation of horticultural crops. In recognition of this, Land and Water Australia funded the present project—Use of reclaimed water in Australian horticulture—, which is intended to position the horticultural industry to both assess and develop reuse schemes. There are two main stages. (more)...

Opportunities to breed/select/bioengineer Plant Species to Control Deep Drainage and Nutrient Leakage

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)...

Waterwheel Newsletter 14

In this issue:

• Focus on the Condamine-Balonne
• Feature on soilwater monitoring
• Reducing erosion and increasing infiltration with PAM

Waterwheel Newsletter 13

In this issue:

• Focus on Shepparton Irrigation Region
• Irrigation a risky business: Study findings
• New NPIRD projects

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.