Location: Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity Research Unit
Project Number: 2036-61000-019-015-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Dec 1, 2024
End Date: Apr 30, 2026
Objective:
California and the other Colorado River Basin Compound members face stark challenges due to water scarcity with increasing pressure on agricultural water users. Efficient irrigation is mandatory to manage scarce water resources. To address this challenge, accurate estimates of crop water evapotranspiration (ETc) support growers in optimizing on-field water use and efficiency in sugarbeet and other key crops grown in Imperial Valley. Sugarbeets are primarily a winter crop, which reduces the potential water demand compared with a summer crop. Sugarbeets can also scavenge nitrogen from the soil and grow in higher soil salinity than other crops. This study proposes using the eddy covariance method, as ground truth, for estimating and comparing ETc data with open-source satellite models. We also aim to evaluate consumptive water use, efficiency, and crop productivity under multiple irrigation systems. The ultimate goal is inform the decision-making process of the California of Beet Growers Association with up to date information about the efficiency of differing irrigation methods. This agreement is to support the salinity and soil monitoring aspects of this grant.
Approach:
Conduct pre- and post- season surveys of all three fields with EM-38 (Scudiero et al., 2017) and gamma ray sampling (Scudiero et al, 2023 – under review). ESAP software will be used to direct soil sampling at each field to translate apparent electrical conducitivity into extract electrical conductivity useful for agronomic and irrigation management. Soil textures will be analyzed for samples and related to gamma ray surveys to map variations in textures across the field. Analysis of pre- and post-season electrical conductivity will be used to evaluate the impact of irrigation method on salinity control and to assess potential water savings though a reduction in leaching fraction.
