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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306131
Title: Subsurface drip irrigation in California - here to stay?

Author
item Ayars, James
item FULTON, ALAN - University Of California
item TAYLOR, BROCK - Consultant

Submitted to: Agricultural Water Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2014
Publication Date: 1/1/2015
Citation: Ayars, J.E., Fulton, A., Taylor, B. 2015. Subsurface drip irrigation in California - here to stay? Agricultural Water Management. 157:39-47.

Interpretive Summary: Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) has been used in California for over 30 years. Adoption occurred first in high value annual row crops. Over the years as drip irrigation materials, installation equipment, and irrigation scheduling tools have evolved, SDI has gained wide acceptance and is now being used in perennial crops as well on a limited basis. We discuss the early research in SDI and provide examples of the current commercial practices in both annual and perennial crops. These examples demonstrate how the research findings were implemented in production agriculture. SDI is being implemented throughout the world and these examples of implementation in production agriculture will be of interest in countries adopting the technology. Significant benefits are demonstrated in terms of increased yield, improved crop quality, reduction in applied water and reduced agronomic costs for weed control, fertilization, and tillage. Improved water management is crucial for a sustainable future and SDI will be one tool that is available to improve water productivity.

Technical Abstract: Irrigation is the principal user of water in California with nearly 70% of the developed water being used by agriculture. The principal irrigation methods in the past have been surface methods, e.g. flood, furrow, which are generally considered to be inefficient. Surface irrigation is used on annual crops, e.g. vegetables, cotton, as well as perennial crops, e.g. fruit and nut trees. However, environmental water requirements and drought have significantly reduced the available water supply and have caused farmers to consider more efficient irrigation methods. This has resulted in an interest in replacing surface irrigation with pressurized systems, e.g. sprinklers and micro-irrigation, surface and subsurface drip, micro-sprays. There has been a steady increase in the use of drip irrigation particularly in annual vegetable and field crops in California as a result of the limited water availability. We analyzed the implementation of subsurface drip (SDI) in commercial agriculture with respect to results and findings from SDI research in California. Approximately 60% of processing tomatoes are grown using SDI along with strawberries and lettuce. The grower experience paralleled research results in that yields have been achieved on a commercial scale that are comparable to research results. Over time commercial operators have adopted the practice of higher frequency irrigation that was demonstrated in research. There has been adoption of SDI on alfalfa with good results and this will probably continue. SDI was tested in prune, almond, walnut, and pistachio orchard by commercial operators with mixed success. The prune growers have adopted the technology with benefits of increase yield and reduced cost of production from less tractor work and reduced cost of weed control. Adoption in almond is still being evaluated by the grower. There were significant issues with the adoption in walnut and pistachio and these crops will probably not adopt SDI but will stay with micro-sprays and micro-sprinklers. It is apparent that SDI will be a significant component of irrigated agriculture in the future.