Location: Water Management Research
Project Number: 2034-21500-001-005-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Apr 1, 2025
End Date: Mar 31, 2027
Objective:
To support Co-PI maintain and add treatments in young almond orchard field research trial at UC-ANR KARE using the proposed experimental design, manage the field plots for alfalfa and oat forage production and almonds (yield and quality) with oat following terminated alley cropped forage alfalfa, measure canopy size and plant stress using drone areal imagery and analysis. Evaluate tree growth, orchard micro climate, trunk circumference, leaf N, and variations in leaf macro- and micro- nutrients and host field days to disseminate project results to growers locally, at regional and national conferences.
Approach:
Field trial will be conducted and maintained using an established 2.5 years old almond orchard with research plots to include (i) alley cropped oat following terminated alfalfa/GM alley crop with supplementary, limited flood irrigation, (ii) terminated alley cropped alfalfa with no supplementary flood treatment (to examine alfalfa's legacy effect on almond yield and nutritional quality) (iii) almond with bare alleys + supplementary, limited flood irrigation (iv) control, almond with bare alleys no supplementary flood irrigation treatments arranged in a randomized block design with three replications. Over two years, two harvests will be collected for oat yield and forage quality analysis and determination. Each year almond yield and nut quality will be determined. Tree growth, and nutrition will be monitored to determine if alley cropped oat and terminated alley cropped alfalfa/GM; and/or flooded alleys with supplementary irrigation enhance tree growth, health and root systems, yield and nut nutritional quality. Estimation of canopy size, vegetation indices, and canopy temperature for almond and alley cropped oats using drone-based methods will be done. Tree nitrogen will be quantified using leaf tissue analyses.
Cooperator PI will oversee drone areal imagery and image analysis in accordance with project plans. Senior Research Associate will work under Cooperator PI’s supervision to conduct analyses, communicate with the project team, synthesize results, and disseminate project outcomes at field days and conferences.