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- Current Projects -
Updates and progress reports about ongoing CIT research project.
Animal Foriage Dairy
Selenium (Se), Boron (B) and salinity contamination of agricultural
drainage water or shallow ground water is potentially hazardous to
irrigated agriculture production in the Westside of central
California. Trace elements, such as Se, are of particular concern
because they were reported to cause toxicity in many biological
ecosystems at Kesterson Reservoir, Ca. Subsequently, soluble Se
released form irrigated agriculture soils into drainage water,
shallow water tables, or even surface runoff have been strictly
monitored for irrigated agriculture in the Westside of central
California. Since 1987 the Water Management Research Laboratory (WMRL)
has studied using salt tolerant selenium-accumulating plants as
recipients for disposing of Se-laden drainage water. The WMRL
demonstrated that plants irrigated with SE-rich effluent can reduce
the volume of the drainage water to dispose, as they importantly
extract and accumulate Se from the applied drainage water. During
the last three years, the WMRL has seriously considered the product
utilization potential of such crops by initiating a process for the
extraction of oil from canola seeds. The extracted oil has the
potential to be used an alternative source of fuel known as biofuel
when blended with diesel, while the seed by-products can be used as
Se-enriched feed meal. If growing canola as a biological recipient
for Se-laden effluent is to be widely practiced and accepted in the
Westside of central California, it is imperative that growers be
able to produce economically viable products from this green
technology. The proposed study uses canola and sunflower in crop
rotation as recipients for disposing of Se-laden drainage water, and
evaluates the impacts and the potential of producing Se-enriched
mean for supplying dairy cows their essential requirement of Se and
other nutrients.
Principal Investigator: Gary Bunuelos
Email address: gbunuelos@fresno.ars.usda.org
Closing Date:
APEP III
ARI-Crop Coefficients
Significant changes in crop production in the central
Valley are expected to occur over the next few years. Due to
economic and environmental pressures, acreage of high cash value
crops such as vegetables, trees and vines will increase while
acreage of field crop will decline. With these changes, it is
important to develop and adopt water management practices that limit
on-farm losses of water and fertilizer resources. Currently, many
growers tend to over irrigate vegetable crop because these crops are
relatively sensitive to water stress (which reduces yields) and good
information on the water requirements of many of these crops is
lacking. A project is planned to provide the necessary data to
increase irrigation efficiency, limit crop water use, and maximize
yield of vegetable crops grown on the west side of the San Joaquin
Valley. The objectives of this project are to; 1) determine water
requirements, 2) develop seasonal crop coefficients for these crops,
and 3) evaluate irrigation systems used in the production of these
crops. Irrigation management strategies that optimize timing and
placement of water and nutrients, increase crop productivity, and
limit irrigation drainage will be identified for a variety of crops
including lettuce, garlic, onion, and pepper. This project is a
continuation for the project titled “Developing new Crop
Coefficients and Water Side of the San Joaquin Valley”, that was
funded by ARI from 2000 – 2004. Results of the project will provide
important information to California farmers for selecting irrigation
systems and management strategies that increase profitability of
vegetable crops grown in the region.
Principal Investigator: Jim Ayars
Email address:
Closing Date: 6/30/08
ARI-Peach Phase II
Peaches and nectarines are economically vital to the
California agriculture industry, which produced 1.2 million tons of
fruit last year valued at $358 million. Peach trees require a
considerable amount of water to produce these high yields. It is
roughly estimated that California peach growers use nearly 95
billion gallons of water (equal to water use of 1.2 million people)
irrigation each year. Because of this high demand for water, even a
small reduction in peach water requirements could produce
considerable savings to the states water budget. In 2000, we used
CSU ARI (FY99-01) and USDA ARS funding to establish a long term
study site in Parlier, CA and evaluate irrigation management systems
and practices for increasing growth, productivity and water use
efficiency in peach. Results from the first three years of our study
indicate that young trees irrigated by non-traditional surface and
subsurface drip systems had significantly greater growth and early
production for a given amount of applied water than trees irrigated
using more traditional systems such as furrow and micro sprinklers.
The main objective of the proposed project is to continue our ARI/USDA
funded project on irrigation management practices in mature peach
trees that have reached their full–bearing potential. In order to
meet our objective, we will measure water use , yield and fruit
quality for three years on trees irrigated at various levels and
frequencies with different irrigation systems, including furrow,
micro sprinkler, surface drip, and subsurface drip. Results of this
research will provide information directly useable by growers on the
best methods of irrigating peach trees and maximizing production,
and may lead to the use of irrigation systems capable of producing
significant water savings. For example, if surface or subsurface
drip irrigation reduce crop water requirements of mature trees by
10% over conventional methods, and only 10% of the peach and
nectarine gallons of water could be conserved each year.
Principal Investigator: Jim Ayars
Email address:
Closing Date: 6/30/06
Biofilter
Excess nutrients form irrigation of crops with recycled
wastewaters from food processing and dairy operations can be a major
source of groundwater pollution. This project proposes to implement
a practical and cost-effective management practice of utilizing a
perennial, highly nutritious, Pennisetum Sp. Forage grass, commonly
known as Elephant grass, to control ground and surface water
contamination. The Elephant grass, denominated Promor A, is a luxury
feeder of nitrogen and phosphorus and has the potential to absorb
significant amounts of excess nutrients form dairy effluent and
processing wastewater used for irrigation. Preliminary tests at
California Sate University –Fresno have indicated that the grass can
absorb up to 2000 pounds per acre of nitrates in a 60 day cutting
cycle. This species can absorb up to 1500 pounds per acre of
phosphorous during the growing season. The stooling growth habit of
this grass will provide a secondary benefit through reduction of
water velocity and consequent sedimentation of water borne particles
within the barrier planting. The objective of the proposed research
is to evaluate the ability of the elephant grass to act as a
bio-filter, also referred to as a savaging crop, to alleviate the
potential for nitrate and phosphorous pollution of water supplies on
fields irrigated with industrial process wastewater and dairy
effluent. The Elephant grass will be planted on acreages which as
flood irrigated with different sources of wastewater. Water
consumption by the grass will be calculated and water movement
throughout the rooting profile will be monitored. Water and nutrient
budgets will account for all flows entering the barrier plantings
and for their final deposition. Soil water quality will be monitored
at depths of 2 and 4 feet to assess solute movement through the soil
profile and determine the role of the Elephant grass in reducing
water contamination below the root zone. The information derived
from this research is very important for the agriculture processing
industry, dairy industry and wastewater treatment facilities as
increasingly more strict discharge regulations are being implemented
by regulatory agencies
Principal Investigator: Dave Goorahoo
Email address: dgoorahoo@csufresno.edu
Closing Date: 6/30/07
Blueberry CO2
The overlal purpose fo this
experimentis to evaluate whether atmospheric CO2 enrichment is
economically feasible in blueberries in Dealno, which are raised
under a mix of open filed and plastic tunnel. Due to the lack of
basic information regarding CO2 enrichment in blueberries and to
avoid unnecessary costs and efforts, the experiment is brokein in
two parts: Collect and analyze basic data and information for CO2
enrichment in blueberries and Conduct season-long CO2 experiment and
analyze fruit yield and quality
Principal
Investigator: Shawn Ashkan
Email address:
Closing Date:
2/28/08
Brawley Nutrient Control
Soil water quality in the vadose zone will be monitored
using suction lysimeters. Theselysimeters will be installed at 2 and
4 ft levels by CIT research scientist and file technicians to assess
solute movement through the soil profile and determine the role of
Elephant grass in reducing water contamintation below the root zone.
Placement of the lysimeters will be planned to ensure that samples
collected for laboratory analysis will be representative of field
conditions.
Principal Investigator: Dave Goorahoo
Email address: dgoorahoo@csufresno.edu
Closing Date: 12/31/05
Canal Seepage
Seepage from irrigation
canals is a serious water management problem in California's San
Joaquin Valley (SJV). Seepage reduces irrigation efficiency and
contributes to elevated water losses in the region. Additionally,
its water may contain toxic substances harmful to soils and
groundwater's. Thus, it is important to identify tools that can
help detect potential leakages along canals. The goal of the
research is to investigate the applied use of electromagnetic
inductance (EM) measurements to detect potential seepage and improve
water management along irrigation canals. While the electromagnetic
induction technique (EM) has been commonly utilized for salinity
assessment, its use for seepage investigations is just developing.
However, the technique is promising since EM measurements are also
dependent on soil moisture. The project’s conducted in
collaboration with SJV irrigation districts.
Principal Investigator:
Florence Cassel
Email address:
fcasselss@csufresno.edu
Closing Date:
12/31/2007
Chemigation Education
Chemigation is defined as the application of agricultural
chemicals (fertilizer, pesticides, or other material) to soils and
plants by injection in the irrigation water. Chemigation can be an
affective and environmentally safe method of chemical application if
proper safety devices and management practices are followed. The
ability to apply chemicals from a stationary source has multiple
advantages, such as flexibility in application timing, reduced soil
compaction and plant damage from vehicle traffic, a reduction in
fuel and labor costs, and reduced operation hazards. Improved air
quality may also be an outcome of proper chemigation practices.
Chemigation also allows greater control over the deposition of
pesticides and pesticide residue, reducing the risk of movement and
contamination, increasing efficiency of pesticide applications and
making it possible to apply smaller amounts of pesticides more
frequently. The limitations include problems with application
uniformity, soil texture, soil moisture, and timing of application.
The risks of chemigation are related to water (surface and ground)
contaminations and human and wildlife exposure. One of the greatest
risks related to water is chemical backflow into the well or source
water, resulting in the contamination of ground water, ponds,
canals, streams, etc. Beginning in 2001, the DPR and CIT have
conducted chemigation equipment work shops al over California
reaching thousands of participants. The main focus of these
workshops has been chemigation equipment and water source protection
particularly groundwater, however, this new proposal will expand the
effort to educate work shop participants on proper management,
application rates and methods, potential hazards during and after
the applications of chemical, and how to avoid and deal safely with
these hazards.
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: 6/30/2007
Compound Emmisson
Dairies
The overall objectives are to enhance the understanding of
the physical, chemical, and biological drivers and processes that
lead to the formation of VOCs from dairies, and to identify
significant rate-limiting drivers/processes to develop VOC
mitigation from dairy feed and waste.
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: 6/30/2007
Dairy Air Mitigation
To be a continuation of the existing, matching
projects: the monitoring of cultural practices related to dairy
production as they affect the major components of a natural
resource, air quality in the Central Valley and California. Air
quality concerns are currently a primary limitation on the dairy
industry in the state of the matching projects are funded by state
and federal agencies and the industry to assist in developing
science-based regulation of the problem. The addition implication
of the proposed project broadens the focus to include issues related
to agricultural business, food, safety, and the public policy.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: charles@csufrenso.edu
Closing Date: 12/31/2006
Developing Manure
Develop DNDC into Manure-DNDC, simulating the
life cycle of manure for a dairy operation (production, processing
and storage, land application). Manure-DNDC willsimulate and track
the fate of manure from the animal excretion stage through the land
application phase and quantify releases of nitrogen and carbon to
air and water. Collect field data on ammonia, VOC and methane
emissions at several dairies in the Central Valley of California.
Validate Manure-DNDC estimates of ammonia and methane emissions from
each component of the dairy operation using field data collected by
this project, as well as data from UC Davis mass balance studies
conducted by Dr. Frank Mitloehner. Construct a spatial database for
Manure-DNDC applications. This will include default datasets for the
San Joaquin Valley region (soil properties, weather data, standard
management options) for the farm-scale desktop tool, and soils,
animal, crop, management, and weather data at the county-scale for
all of California for regional assessments. Perform county- and
airdistrict-level assessments with Manure-DNDC. This task
willinclude assembling necessary spatial datasets, and performing
uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. The NRC (2003) report states
that 'to ensure that reasonable and appropriate estimates of
emissions are obtained from AFOs, the measured and derived emission
values must have accompanying measures of uncertainty, including
accuracy and precision.' We will conduct a thorough uncertainty
assessment using Monte Carlo and Most Sensitive Factor approaches
for Manure-DNDC. Uncertainties generated from the modeled processes
as well as from the input data sets will be distinguished through
the sensitivity analysis, and will be incorporated into the modeled
results at farm or regional scale.
Principle Investigator: Charles Krauter
Closing date: 1/14/2007
E-mail address:
charles_krauter@csufresno.edu
Diesel Power Engine
In this proposed study, a consortium compromised of the
USDA-ARS, CSU Fresno (CSUF), Red Rock Ranch, and Panoche Drainage
District will perform a hands- on study, that will investigate
developing new resources form an otherwise known
contaminant-selenium (SE). Recent research by the USDA indicates
that a major oil producing crop-canola-can be grown and used for the
bioremediation of Se, a contaminant predominantly found in
agricultural soils and waters in the Westside of Central California.
The USDA-ARS, Red Rock Ranch, and Panoche Drainage District will
irrigate oil-yielding crops-canola, sunflower and potential
industrial mustard (on a smaller scale) with Se-laden drainage water
on field sites located in the Westside of the San Joaquin Valley.
Soils, plants, and waters will be analyzed for Se content. Seed
harvested from plants will be processed for their bio-oil by an
upgraded "horizontal oil press and extruder" recently installed
under a permanent housing structure at Red Rock Ranch. CSUF will
blend canola and otheroils-0%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% (by weight) with
diesel fuel in a four cylinder Cummings diesel engine (or reasonable
engine representative of the agricultural industry) mounted on a
SuperFlow dynamometer at their engine testing laboratory.
Investigators will evaluate performance form the use of bio-fuels
(e.g., power output, starting, fuel consumption, etc.) and the
degree of coking in injectors and cylinders. In addition, CSUF also
will measure and quantify the presence of ten major pollutants
(carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen
dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons, speciated gas-phase driven
exhaust emitted form Cummings Diesel engines. These data will be
incorporated into a computer model to study the effects of these
emissions on ozone levels. Lastly, the USDA-ARS will palletize the
seed by-products into Se-enriched forage metal after extracting the
oil from the canola seed, and provide (or market) this products to
local dairy producers; Se is an essential element for animal
nutrition. Producing canola, sunflower, and mustard oils for use in
bio-fuels and for cp-powering agricultural diesel engines may not
only improve air quality in the San Joaquin Valley, but these plants
may offer growers an economic incentive to utilize agricultural
drainage water as a resource and to reduce the volume of drainage
water requiring treatment or discharge into the San Joaquin River.
the westside of the San Joaquin Valley. Soils, plants, and waters
will be analyzed for Se content. Seed harvested from plants will be
processed for their bio-oil by an upgraded "horizontal oil press and
extruder" recently installed under a permanent housing structure at
Red Rock Ranch. CSUF will blend canola and otheroils-0%, 5%, 10%,
20% and 30% (by weight) with diesel fuel in afour cylinder Cummings
diesel engine (or resonable engine representative of the
agricultural industry) mounted on a SuperFlow dynamometer at their
engine testing laboratory. Investigators will evaluate preformance
form the use of biofules (e.g., power output, starting, fuel
consumption, etc.) and the degree of coking in injectors and
cylinders. In addition, CSUF also will measure and quantify the
presence of ten major pollutants (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide,
nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide , sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons,
speciated gas-phase driven exhaust emitted form Cummings Diesel
engines. These data will be incorporated into a computer model to
study the effects of these emissions on ozone levels. Lastly, the
USDA-ARS will pelletize the seed by-products into Se-enriched forage
metal afetr extracting the oil from the conola seed, and provide (or
market) this products tolocal dairy producers; Se is an essential
element for animal nutrition. Producing canola, sunflower, and
mustard oils for use in biofuels and for cp-powering agricultural
diesel engines may not only improve air quality in the San Jaquin
Valley, but these plants may offer growers an economic incentive to
utilize agricultural drainage water as a resource and to reduce the
volume of drainage water requiring treatment or discharge into the
San Joaquin River.
Principal Investigator: Gary Bunuelos
Email address: gbunuelos@fresno.ars.usda.org
Closing Date: 6/30/2008
Evaportraspiration
“ET”
Estimating crop evaporation (ET) and soil salinity is important to
evaluate plant water use and improve irrigation and drainage
management practices. Remote sensing satellite imagery offers a
means to rapidly and frequently determine ET over large cropping
areas. Since ET is partly influenced by the moisture content and
electrical conductivity of soil water, salinity levels in soils can
be inferred form ET calculations. An algorithm called SEBAL (Surface
Energy Balance Algorithm for Land) has been used by numerous
researchers to calculate ET form satellite images. The robustness of
SEBAL compared to other models lies in the fact that estimated ET is
independent from weather, crop, and land use information. SEBAL has
been thoroughly tested and validated across different climates and
for different vegetation surfaces over the past fifteen years in
Europe, the United States, and other regions of the world. Recently
a salinity module has been included in the SEBAL algorithm to
determine soil water potential in the root zone and infer soil
salinity. Therefore, there is a need to validate the use of this new
module in California for mapping soil salinity. This research
proposes to calculate ET on selected croplands of Fresno County and
to validate the salinity module in SEBAL algorithm to estimate soil
salinity in those croplands. The project will be conducted over a
three-year period and will provide vital data and information on the
use of remotely sensed images and SEBAL to quickly and
cost-effectively determine ET and soil salinity over large areas of
California.
Principal Investigator: Florence Cassel
email address: fcasselss@csufresno.edu
Closing Date: 6/30/2008
Ground Water Mitigation Study
Develop data from studies conducted on farms that will aid
in the adoption of management practices for mitigation of pesticide
movement to ground water. Determine the effectiveness of the
practice to mitigate contamination. Determine the ecectiveness of
the pesticide under the new management practice. Determine the
efficacy of a management practice (timing regimes of chemical
injection).
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: 1/31/2008
Irrigation Association Certification
The Irrigation Association
introduced their Certification Program in 1983. The program is
designed for irrigation professionals to demonstrate their
experience and technical competence to the industry and to
customers. Since 1993, the Center for Irrigation Technology has
developed and administered all the exams for the program. Exams are
written for agriculture, landscape/turf and golf irrigation
professionals and are administered in the United States, Canada,
Australia and Europe.
Principal Investigator: Kate
Norum
Email address:
katen@csufresno.edu
Closing Date:
IFDM Phase III
Drainage water (DW) re-use is one of several management options to
address salinity and drainage problems on the westside San Joaquin
Valley (SJV). Due to potentially high concentration of selenium in
the DW and associated risks to wildlife, the DW colleted from tile
drain systems cannot be discharged into local waterways. A
sequential DW re-use system, now called "Integrated, On Farm
Drainage Management (IFDM), has operated as a demonstration project
at Red Rock Ranch (RRR) since 1996. Although the term IFDM refers to
on farm drainage Management, sequential re-use can be employed on
regional basis as for example, at the 4000 acre San Joaquin River
Improvement Project ( SJRIP) operated by Panoche Drainage District.
We have Conducted research in the Red Rock Ranch IFDM since 1997
evaluating the performance of candidate salt tolerant forages and
halophytes for IFDM, and more recently, monitoring long-term changes
in solid chemistry and infiltration in response to irrigation with
the saline-sodic DW. The latter is critical to the sustainability of
IFDM because high levels of sodium in irrigation water and air must
be maintained in order to minimize the hazard ot wildlife o high
levels of selenium in ponded water.
Principal Investigator: Sharon Beenes
Email address: sbenes@csufresno.edu
Closing Date: 6/30/2007
Irrigation Audits by
Students
The goal of this program is to improve water use efficiency
on residential lawns by increasing awareness and educating upper
elementary student about proper irrigation practices. Student and
teachers will be provided with materials and instruction on the
project, will conduct audits an dwell then report the data collected
from their school and residences, to determine the performance of
the irrigation system. Guidelines for proper irrigation scheduling
will be provided to assist in making changes that could result in
water savings. A pre-and post-project survey will be completed by
students to measure learning (determine program success). A
follow-up survey will be sent to audit participants (parents,
friends, neighbors, or apartment managers) after the water audit has
been conducted at their sites to determine if the information has
changed their irrigation practices.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: charles@csufrenso.edu
Closing Date: 1/30/2007
Lagoon Emmissions
This study will be conducted at three dairies in the
central valley. The dairies will inclde Pet Verburg and Son in
Modesto, Hilltop Holsteins in Escalon and a dairy selected by CSU
Fresno. The firs two dairies have photorphic lagoons (red water) and
the later will be a traditional black wter lagoon. Two periods will
be sample, on in the Fall 2006 and the other in the Summer of 2007.
Flux chambers and other sampling techniques will be used.
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date:
MDCP
International trade is an important part of creating
economic opportunities for U.S. companies in the future. The ICWT
Export Development Program will fulfill the following objectives in
order to improve the competitiveness of the water technology
industry. The work plan is fully supportive and consistent with the
memorandum of understanding developed between the U.S. Department of
Commerce and California State University, Fresno (October 2003). The
MOU states in part that the International Center for Water
Technology (ICWT) with support from the U.S. Department of Commerce
will "encourage and support the growth of U.S. exports of water and
fluid science technology, equipment and services, especially among
small- and medium-sized manufacturers."
Principle Investigator: David Zoldoske
Closing Date: 9/30/2008
E-mail address:
davidzo@csufresno.edu
Ozone Particles Matter
Dairies are estimated to be a significant emissions source
of Reactive Organic Gas (ROG), an ozone precursor, and ammonia, a
PM2.5 precursor, in the San Joaquin Valley. Accurately quantifying
these emissions has been difficult due to the lack of experimental
data. In addition, these are currently very little scientific
information available to determine the most effective and feasible
methods to reduce these emissions form dairies. This project is
designed to obtain data that is needed to better estimate baseline
emissions rates and to estimate the reductions that are achievable
with some of the available technologies. The approach that will be
used to obtain the necessary data is to perform field monitoring at
a minimum of eight selected dairies to measure atmospheric levels of
the pollutants of interest. The data collected form the field
monitoring will be used with dispersion modeling to estimate
emissions rates. The eight sites will include dairies using
different types of emission mitigation strategies plus dairies using
no emission reduction technology for comparison. The data will be
used to better estimate current emissions from dairies and the
potential emissions reductions that can be achieved by using plans
(SIP). The results of this project, in combination with the results
form research sponsored by the USDA, the Air Resources Board (ARB)
and the dairy industry, will be useful in assessing the need and
feasibility of future regulatory strategies for dairies.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: charles@csufrenso.edu
Closing Date: 6/30/2008
Phase 2 Peach Trout
Most peach orchards in
California are irrigated by surface (flood) irrigation, or by
micro-spray irrigation. A few orchards use drip irrigation. This
project is designed to evaluate peach water requirements and yields
when irrigated by different irrigation methods. In the first phase
of the project, we learned that young peach trees grow faster with
less water with drip irrigation than with micro-spray irrigation.
This is because micro-sprays wet much of the soil surface and water
is lost to evaporation from the soil. We assume that the benefits of
drip irrigation will decline as the trees mature. We are testing
several configurations of drip irrigation (surface and subsurface;
one, two, or three drip lines per row) and three irrigation amounts
(predicted water requirements and 25% above and below our
prediction). We are measuring tree growth, plant water status (stem
water potential), soil water content, and peach yield. Preliminary
results indicate that we product slightly more marketable fruit, and
larger fruit, with drip irrigation than with micro-spray or furrow
irrigation.
Principal Investigator:
Tom Trout
Email address:
ttrout@fresno.ars.usda.gov
Closing Date:
6/30/2006
Pontential Mitigation Practice
Emissions
Based on current estimates, dairies are a significant
source of reactive organic gas (ROG) and ammonia emission sin the
San Joaqin Valley. Accurately quanitifyin dair emission is extremely
difficult due to the complexity of the source, with its many
dispersed biological process as well as the challenges in sampling,
analyzing and modeling the collected emmison data. Results collected
under this project will provide data that are urgenly needed by the
California Air Resources Board and Calfonia's air districts to
comply with both stat aand federal air quality regulations. At the
state level, this research will support development of livestock
facilty emissions mitigation plans required under Senate Bill 700
(Florez,2003), an dat the federal level, the research will play an
important role in developing emissions control strategies needed to
meet federal airl quality standards for the most polluted regions of
our state.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: charles@csufrenso.edu
Closing Date: 6/30/2008
Red Rock Ranch
Soil salinity mapping is important to determine the level and
distribution of salinity in fields of Red Rock Ranch (RRR) and Britz
Fram. The objective of the proposed work is to collect salinity data
in different fields of area B at RRR and four fields of the Britz
Fram and to develop soil salinity maps at different depths (0-1 ft,
1-2 ft, 2-3 ft, and average 0-3 ft). The project will be conducted
using a mobile conductivity assessment system available at the
Center fior Irrigation Technology (CIT) to conduct extended salinity
surveys. The mobile system is composed of four basic components
mounted on a Spra-Coupe tractor: (1) an EM-38 sensor (Geonics
Limited), (2) a global positioning system (GPS), (3) a computer, and
(4) a hydraulic soil sampler. The EM-38 sensor will be used to
measure soil electrical conductivity down to a depth of 3 ft. The EM
instrument will be placed in a carrier-sled attached about 10 ft
behind the Spra-Coupe tractor to avoid any EM reading interference.
Due to metallic objects. The GPS unit will provide the geographical
coordinates of each measurement point. Two digital interfaces will
connect the EM sensor and GPS receiver to an on-board computer that
will instantaneously record the EM readings along with their GPS
location. A survey and statistical software (Lesch and Rhoades,
1999) will be used to record and analyze the EM data. Researchers
and technicians at CIT have been using the mobile system and related
software for several years.
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: 1/31/07
Remote Sensing
Remote sensing techniques are becoming very useful tools
for farmers to precisely manage their production systems by taking
advantages of numerous available technologies, such as geographic
positioning system, electromagnetic induction, aerial imagery,
geographic information systems, and new computer programs. The
electromagnetic (EM) induction technique has been widely used in the
Central Valley over the past few years to monitor and diagnose soil
salinity over large areas. Aerial imagery, obtained from airplanes,
provides detailed spatial data on the variability of plant
development and can be utilized to develop vegetation and crop water
stress indices based on canopy reflectance and temperature. This
research proposes to evaluate the benefits and effectiveness of
remote sensing techniques in identifying plant health and irrigation
needs on a real-time basis, as well as determining relationships
between soil quality (salinity) and plant growth (nutrient status).
The project will be conducted over three years and will provide
vital data to extend our knowledge on the agronomic and economic
feasibility of using remote sensing techniques to improve real-time
crop and irrigation management within fields.
Principal Investigator: Florence Cassel
email address: fcasselss@csufresno.edu
Closing Date:
Sensor Testing- SWAT
In order to meet te needs of existing and future
populations and ensure that habits and ecosystems are protected,
which emphasizes careful, efficient use of water is essential in
order to achieve these objectives. The role of efficient water use
for agricultural and turf-grass production forms a critical
relationship, particularly in areas prone to periodic or prolonged
drought. The challenge to the irrigation industry is to provide
"efficient" irrigation systems for the consumer. It is true there
are many water efficient products available in the marketplace.
These devices include soil moisture sensors, matched precipitation
rate and flow control nozzles, pressure regulation and numerous
drip/micro products. However not all products are created equally,
and some require more knowledge to properly operate than the
homeowner possesses or desire. Over the past two years. The Center
for Irrigation Technology has been working closely with water
purveyors statewide and the irrigation Association as part of their
"Smart" Water Application Technology" (SWAT). A major goal of SWAT
is to develop standardized testing protocols for evaluating the
reliability, accuracy and repeatability of commercially available
soil moisture sensor. Based on beta testing of these protocols
following extensive review and revisions by industry personnel,
academics and water purveyors, the protocols are now ready for
application on commercially available moisture sensors. This project
proposes to apply standardized testing protocols on soil moisture
sensors operating on different principles. Manufactures will submit
20 of their sensors, of which 10 will be randomly selected and
subjected to tests under varying temperature and salinity conditions
for cars, medium and fine textured soils. Summary results of the
tests will include regression analysis of the moisture content
measured by the sensor versus the values calculated from the
experimental procedure. The finding from this project will
contribute to SWAT's overall mission, and in general, California's
agriculture and turf industry, of achieving exceptional water use
efficiency in irrigation practices.
Principle Investigator: David Zoldoske
E-mail address:
davidzo@csufresno.edu
Closing Date: 9/30/2008
Waterflow 07
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