ISHS Acta Horticulturae 792: V International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops
IRRIGATION BENCHMARKING – A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE WATER USE |
| Authors: | Z. Toll, Z. J.Vargas, M. Schache |
| Keywords: | table grapes, dried vine fruit, almonds, Mallee, drip, low-level sprinkler, overhead sprinkler, furrow irrigation |
| Abstract:
Mallee irrigators currently have many drivers to improve their irrigation performance including working within irrigation allocation, improving productivity, saving resources and minimising environmental impact. Irrigation benchmarking is being utilised by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, supported by the Mallee Catchment Management Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment, as a tool for growers to conduct self-assessments of their irrigation performance over time and also allowing comparison of their performance with other participants. This enables growers to adopt irrigation technologies and management as appropriate to achieve their goals of becoming more efficient irrigators. Four seasons worth of data (2001-2005) have been collected for table grapes and dried vine fruit and three seasons for almonds. Some examples of the relationships that have evolved from the project include evidence that dried vine fruit irrigators using some type of soil moisture monitoring tool on average applied 6.1 ML/ha and yielded 6.9 t/ha, while those that relied on experience applied on average 8.5 ML/ha and yielded 6.0 t/ha. Drip irrigated table grapes averaged a crop production per ML of 3.6 t/ML and low-level sprinklers 3.1 t/ML. | |
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