Annual Report: W1128 for 2005

W1128 SAES-422: Brief Summary of meeting Minutes
 

November 02, 2005

Opening: The meeting opened at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 at the Amerisuites Hotel in Phoenix, AZ. Members introduced themselves and minutes from the 2004 meeting in Tampa, FL were discussed and approved. The Agenda was distributed and logistics for the Field Trip were finalized.

LeRoy Daugherty – distributed 2004 W1128 reports and formats for the 2005 annual report. The National Information Management and Support System (NIMSS) Website was highlighted with a paper demonstration of the site contents. The NIMSS URL for W1128 is: http://nimss.umd.edu/homepages/home.cfm?trackID=5254. The Annual Report should follow the APP D SAES-422 format for multi-state projects, which can be found for W1128 at http://nimss.umd.edu/homepages/saes.cfm?trackID=5254. Focus should be on the Accomplishments and the Impact Statements sections with emphasis on the milestones set out in the project document. Impact statements are for the current project reporting period and can include list grants, contracts and resources that came about or partially came about because of W1128 activity as this demonstrates how W1128 can be leveraged to help with other resources.

Dr. Daugherty also highlighted proposed changes in the USDA budget which calls for drastic reduction for CSREES and moving funds from formula-based to competitive grants. The recent hurricanes will probably impact budgets, e.g. reductions for agricultural research. On the up-side, there will probably be an increase in funding for priority areas such as water and natural resources research

Brad Rein – introduced himself as the first CSREES liaison from Washington; he personally picked this group. He works in the Plant Animal Systems Unit, the largest unit in CSREES. The RFA for NRI has a section for water & watersheds. Section 26.0 priorities include crops water use efficiencies and producers’ behaviors. The RFP can be found at: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/rfas/pdfs/08_nri.pdf; the deadline date is: January 19, 2006. The Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, found at http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/sbir/sbir.html, encourages working with reasonable ideas from small businesses. Projects are broken into phases: Phase I can be about $80,000 and Phase II is about $300,000. Other Websites of interest to SBIR for funding opportunities can be found at http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/sbir/sbir_interest.html
 

State Reports

1) Gary Clark – KSU: Three projects: 1) tapered drip lateral design, 2) microirrigation of popular trees with livestock lagoon waste water, and 3) chlorine dosing in diverted waste water. The report focused on the poplar tree trial. Trees are planted in large containers with capabilities to collect leachate from the bottom. The containers include tensiometers to monitor soil moisture. Trees grew better with lagoon water but there was a build up of salts in leaves. Trees irrigated with lagoon water had to receive dilute lagoon water through the season to prevent extensive salt build-up. Other observations: nitrogen increased in the leaves; SAR was up to 2.1 in June 2005; and growth was enhanced but there was a salt problem.

2) Larry Schwankl – UC-Davis: Two projects were highlighted: 1) Iron clogging of drip irrigation systems. Growers dump well water into ponds to settle out the heavy iron load. Iron levels in wells can approach 20 ppm;, iron levels in pond are 5 ppm; iron levels in delivery system can be 8 ppm at the head to 1.5 ppm at the lateral tail (lateral length = 600 feet). Free iron could have been reduced in the lateral line due to precipitation. 2) Irrigation of raisin grapes. Current harvesting process is very labor intensive. Experimenting with a new trellis system using second year wood on an alternate trellis. This opens the canopy allowing grapes to dry on the vine prior to harvesting. Mechanical harvesting under trailers is possible resulting in reduced labor costs. Research is required to find a balanced water application strategy for alternate vines with different water requirements.

3) Freddy Lamm – KSU: A paper was passed out of KSU outputs including reports, drawings and photos. The URL’s are: http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/sdi/Reports/document.htm and http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/sdi/Photos/Photos.htm. Two experiments were reported: 1) Emitter flow rate or soil water redistribution. Drip line spacing was 5 ft buried at a depth of 13 in; high flow rate emitters were spaced at 12 in; one drip line for two corn rows at 12 in. There was better lateral movement & wetting of soil surface after several rainfall events. 2) Emitter spacing & water redistribution. Prior to the experiment, grain sorghum was used to extract soil moisture. Gravimetric sampling was carried out parallel & perpendicular to the drip line. At the 2 ft. spacing, water was moving more uniformly parallel to the drip line then perpendicular to the line. At the 4-ft. spacing, water was not getting all the way between emitters.

4) Ken Shackel – UC-Davis: Current practices calculate reference evapotranspiration based on the same dataset but different calculations are used. A common method for calculating ET must be utilized by W1128. The daily step of ASAE is a standard and we will also report on a daily time step basis. The required data for reference ET calculations are: radiation, temperature, wind speed, and humidity. The output file will give Eto. The ET is based on surface area; consequently we should express our results on total surface area regardless of wet and dry areas. Snyder’s program uses Tmax and assumes maxi/mini humidity. A breakout session to follow.

5) Hank Taber – ISU: Two experiments were reported from Iowa. 1) Irrigation scheduling with bell pepper. The trial was designed to meet the daily evapotranspiration. The 2004 season was a perfect year for peppers but not so for 2005 when some very hot days caused floral abortion. The treatment was compared with a treatment in which irrigations were started when tensiometer readings reached 20 kPa. Both systems were satisfactory in 2004 but the tensiometer treatment was not as productive in 2005 due to higher water applications than required to meet ET demand. 2) This experiment dealt with nitrogen application questions of when and how much to apply. The pre-sidedressed soil nitrate test (PSNT) was used to correlate NO3-N in top 30 cm of the soil profile with the response to N applications. Target PSNT values are16-22 ppm of NO3-N. There was a response in 2004 with injections of N but not in 2005. Petiole sufficiency values can be different in different areas of the country, i.e. Florida recommendations are 1400 ppm while those in California are 900 ppm. The PSNT test does in work well or sandy soil or in areas of high rainfall. It appears to be site or year specific.

6) Tom Thomson – UofA: The university is encouraging adoption of SDI by Arizona farmers. SDI is installed on about 25,000 acres or 3-35% of total irrigated land. It is very important in melon production. Driving adoption includes: 1) increased water cost - $40.00/acre-ft. in irrigation district; 2) decreasing availability of water, drought & reallocation to tribes; and 3) improved yield & quality. High initial costs, increased management demand, and uncertainty of land ownership have limited adoption of SDI. It does not pay if current water savings is the main factor. UofA has a web site documenting a large scale demonstration at the Maricopa research center at http://cals.arizona.edu/azdrip.

7) Mick O’Neill – NMSU: Research continued on determining corn ET and nitrogen requirements under large scale SDI production systems. Irrigations were scheduled at four ET replacement rates and nitrogen was injected weekly at two N rates. Equations based on cumulated growing degree days were satisfactory for estimating water requirements. Gophers continued to plague the project to such a degree that SDI is not considered viable in the area. Work continued on surface drip irrigated hybrid poplar research initiated in 2002. Total biomass for the clone OP-367 was greater than other clones but the 2005 incremental growth for the clone 311-93 was greater than for OP-367 demonstrating the need to maintain these trials for an extended period. Future direction of the project will concentrate on surface drip irrigation with hybrid poplar for multiple products. The SDI corn research will be discontinued.

8) Dana Porter – TAMU: Several SDI projects are scattered through the state of Texas: 1) Helms Farm - recently acquired 373 acre – using 86 acres for SDI. Out reach efforts on web: http://lubbock.tamu.edu/cotton. 2) Dawson County - large scale cotton variety test; 20 acre, 8 research projects with 22 zones, individually metered, at the filters house.

Business Meeting: Review of collaborative process look at milestone of projects. Accomplishments & Impacts to be developed around milestones listed in the W1128 project document. The following are Milestone Leaders who will coordinate the annual report. MS-1, Lamm; MS-2, Clark; MS-3, Hill; MS-4, Yitayew; MS-5, Lamm; MS-6, Schwankl; MS-7, Shackel; MS-8, Tabor; MS-9, Shock. We have to keep the original project proposed in tact but we can address changes in milestone in the annual report. State summaries and intermediate results can go on the website as a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation. There were discussions about next year’s milestones; on target, must stress regional collaboration, and future meetings to include portions addressing milestones.
 

November 03, 2005

9) Ramone Arancibia – UVI: Inherited trials from predecessors. They included 1) studies on banana using tensiometers; and 2) studies on pepper using a fixed irrigation schedule. No differences were found in the banana trial which had the some amount of water but different frequency. There was too much rain & 100% viral infection in the pepper trial. UVI will change to tomato in 2006 and look at ornamentals in water catchments.

10) Mike Bartolo – CSU: Concentrating drip with high value crops. Using UPS guided tractors and other specialized equipment with automated irrigation through cost share opportunities with EQIP program and partnership with urban interests. The city of Aurora recently purchased 3,000 acre feet of Arkansas River water to exchange saline well water for good quality surface water. Mapping salinity with an EM-38. Water costs $4-6/acre-ft. Also doing drip on corn. Irrigating/furrow like the grower. Drip 3-4 times a week using watermarks to monitor soil moisture. Using a network of weather stations.

Discussion: AZ, FL, CA & HI did work or chemistry of water for specific problems but those people are retired and no one is now working on water chemistry problems. Some of the available documentation includes: KS has water quality assessment guidelines for SDI and is working on a state water quality map; CA has Chemigation guideline. There is an urgent need to organize information and URL’s for chemical guidelines. A 1-page check list of initial questions to ask the system installers should be develop and could be added as a milestone. Broaden the iron milestone for 2006 to include general checklist.

11) Ted Sammis – NMSU: Hybrid poplar clone OP-367 work was expanded to a large-scale plantation with Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI). Weed control is a major issue. NAPI has over 600 scattered center pivots with high advective influences surrounding the plantation. The objectives were to determine water use and scaling factors for hybrid poplar grown under incomplete cover. An OPEC covariance system, an inexpensive meteorological system (~ $5,000), was used. The boom is about 15 ft above the canopy and can be raised as the trees grow. The dataset is accessed remotely on a daily basis. Reference ET was compared to OPEC ET to determined crop co-efficiencies, which ranged from 0.2 to 0.6 at maximum ET. These results were similar to those found in the literature, e.g. 30% cover = 0.6 and about 70% cover = maximum ET.

Business Meeting Continued: The 2004 Minutes were read and accepted. W1128 researchers must collect and compile sections for 2005 and forward to the secretary. Committee nominated Dana Porter as new officer – passed. Next year’s meeting site was discussed and San Antonio was selected for Nov 1-3 with tour on Nov 3 to precede the Irrigation Associations meeting. Dr. Porter will act as the local coordinator.

12) Raul Sanchez – Purdue: Presently on sabbatical at Purdue. Working on hosting an international microirrigation meeting in Spain in 2007 or 2008. Dates to be decided in the spring of 2006. Time factor discussion: 2008 is more realistic than 2006 or 2007.

13) Larry Parson – UF: There are changing trends in reclaimed water use in Florida. Starting to use highly treated, reclaimed water for irrigation. Increasing population pressure for limited ground water near coast can lead overuse and salt water intrusion. Increased usage of reclaimed water in the past ten years. Agriculture is the primary user while residential is the other main user along with golf courses, and industrial power plants. Florida researchers using the ECH2O sensors connected to a Campbell datalogger to monitor moisture in sandy Florida soils. Growers are interested in low cost sensors. They seem to work well under perfect conditions but fertigation affects readings, air gaps can drastically affect the response, and there is a gradient along the length of the probe. Consequently, their reliability in the field is questionable.

Discussion: All TDR probes are sensitive to salinity (e.g. fertilizer). The Irrigas probe is good in sandy soil. The Acclima probe is low cost @ $200.

14) Paul Colaizzi – USDA-ARS: The Ogallala aquifer is the main water source for agriculture & livestock in the Texas panhandle with only 18-20 rainfall per year. Advantages of SDI in this area include better crop response under deficit irrigation. Results with grain sorghum can be found in Trans. ASAE 47 (5) 2004. Barriers to adoption include: capital investment, cracking Pullman clay soil, and increased management with permanent beds. USDA-ARS researchers are comparing SDI with LEPA using sorghum, cotton, and soybeans. They are also investigating germination rates & wetting patterns. All the USDA-ARS Bushland information is on their website at http://www.cprl.ars.usda.gov/index.htm.

15) Mahbub Alam – KSU: The main milestone for 2005 is the survey developed with extension personnel. It was carried in the summer of 2005. There are about 20,000 acres of SDI in Kansas. Research with SDI started in 1989. A major problem gleaned from the survey is poor water application due to plugging from iron slime caused by CaCO3. The return rate for the 297 forms sent out was 31%. Most users in are the 51-200 acre range and the majority of respondents were satisfied with SDI. Problems include filtration, rodents, and gophers.

16) Clint Shock – OSU: Crops include forages, grains, native plants for seed, onions, and hybrid popular (see http://www.cropinfo.net). Researchers at Malheur are working with various drip tape and bed configurations for potato with tape at 2 3 inches below the soil surface. Collaboration is ongoing with NASA to automate control systems and probes. Information about the NASA Sensor Web can be found at http://www.malag.aes.oregonstate.edu/sensorwebs/. There is lots of scatter in temperature of potato beds for different replications of the same treatment. There is a trend for nicer crops with drip than furrow. All the treatments with flat beds tended to have more and better potatoes than conventionally hilled potatoes. This makes us wonder whether the differences in the potatoes are due to the irrigation system per se or soil temperature differences.
 

Business Meeting Continued - Collaborative Efforts

Ken Shackel – ET collaborations: Penman Monteith is used as the standard; documentation is in the ET folder that Ken sent to participants - PMday.xls. Information to provide to Ken: latitude, elevation, solar radiation, max and min temperatures, relative humidity or dew point, wind speed.

A bit on nomenclature from Snyder and Eching: The symbols ETo and ETr are commonly used for equations that estimate ETref for 0.12 m tall, cool-season grass and 0.5 m tall alfalfa. The subscript ‘s’ was added to indicate that the ASCE-EWRI (2004) standardized equations were used. Strictly speaking, calculated ETos and ETrs provide estimates of a hypothetical 0.12 m and 0.5 m tall surface with specific values or equations for estimation of soil heat flux density, canopy resistance and aerodynamic resistance. However, in reality, ETos and ETrs give ETref rates that are similar to ETo and ETr, respectively. The PMday.xls application program calculates ETos and ETrs from the same daily weather data and then calculates the monthly means. Documentation for the Daily Reference Evapotranspiration (ETref) Calculator can be found in the User's Guide for PMday.xls at:
http://biomet.ucdavis.edu/evapotranspiration/PMdayXLS/PMday.htm
Obtaining data from a local weather station within thirty miles is probably satisfactory. Required data include latitude, elevation, date, solar radiation, air temperature, wind speed, and humidity. See documentation at Web site for further information.

What do we do with this? Use the spreadsheet to use for reference value. Should look at both ETos and ETrs. The UC-Davis site http://biomet.ucdavis.edu has links to the above calculator and other valuable ET information. This will be our common method to express ET date.

KSU Survey development: We have to run any survey through a committee at the respective universities (IRB). There are many issues the touch on privacy. There was a question regarding the inclusion of location data, i.e., zip code. The IRB groups at universities can help with this question and the overall survey development. KSU has a web tutorial at http://www.kwu.edu/irb/Modules.htm of what is entailed in surveys to maintain privacy & legal requirements.
November 04, 2005: Field Trip

The field trip took our group to Sundance Farms and Arizona Drip (http://www.azdrip.com/) in Arizona's Casa Grande Valley. This farm is owned and managed by Howard Wuertz. To improve irrigation efficiency, Mr. Wuertz switched to SDI over 20 years ago. Drip tape is installed deep enough to allow equipment to run over and between the lines without damage. Some tape has been in the ground for more than 8 years. They are growing cotton, wheat, barley, watermelon, broccoli, and other crops. Mr. Wuertz has also developed specialty equipment which minimizes tillage. Sundance Farms now has 2,500 acres that are irrigated with SDI.

We next visited the farm of John Chernicki. He is doing contract research on several crops. He expressed concern that the price of water, which was around $41/ac-ft, might increase thereby reducing the ability of agriculture to survive in the area.

We then visited the UofA’s Maricopa Agricultural Center. Areas of research include aquaculture (raising tilapia and other fish in ponds), cotton, irrigation, specialty crops, and entomology. Dr. Muluneh Yitayew demonstrated a bubbler system for irrigating trees. The advantage of the bubbler system is that it uses larger diameter tubing, so filtration is not needed. Dr. Tom Thompson demonstrated his large scale research project that focuses on drip irrigation and fertigation of vegetable crops.

We then visited the newly constructed USDA Agricultural Research Center housed at the Maricopa Agricultural Center facility. This USDA Center will officially open in 2006.

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