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Animal
Foriage Dairy |
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Selenium (Se),
Boron (B) and salinity contamination of agricultural
drainage water or shallow ground water is potentially
hazardous to irrigated agriculture production in the
Westside of central California. Trace elements, such as
Se, are of particular concern because they were reported
to cause toxicity in many biological ecosystems at
Kesterson Reservoir, Ca. Subsequently, soluble Se released
form irrigated agriculture soils into drainage water,
shallow water tables, or even surface runoff have been
strictly monitored for irrigated agriculture in the
Westside of central California. Since 1987 the Water
Management Research Laboratory (WMRL) has studied using
salt tolerant selenium-accumulating plants as recipients
for disposing of Se-laden drainage water. The WMRL
demonstrated that plants irrigated with SE-rich effluent
can reduce the volume of the drainage water to dispose, as
they importantly extract and accumulate Se from the
applied drainage water. During the last three years, the
WMRL has seriously considered the product utilization
potential of such crops by initiating a process for the
extraction of oil from canola seeds. The extracted oil has
the potential to be used an alternative source of fuel
known as biofuel when blended with diesel, while the seed
by-products can be used as Se-enriched feed meal. If
growing canola as a biological recipient for Se-laden
effluent is to be widely practiced and accepted in the
Westside of central California, it is imperative that
growers be able to produce economically viable products
from this green technology. The proposed study uses canola
and sunflower in crop rotation as recipients for disposing
of Se-laden drainage water, and evaluates the impacts and
the potential of producing Se-enriched mean for supplying
dairy cows their essential requirement of Se and other
nutrients.
Principal Investigator: Gary Bunuelos
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: |
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APEP III |
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ARI-Crop Coefficients |
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Significant
changes in crop production in the central Valley are
expected to occur over the next few years. Due to economic
and environmental pressures, acreage of high cash value
crops such as vegetables, trees and vines will increase
while acreage of field crop will decline. With these
changes, it is important to develop and adopt water
management practices that limit on-farm losses of water
and fertilizer resources. Currently, many growers tend to
over irrigate vegetable crop because these crops are
relatively sensitive to water stress (which reduces
yields) and good information on the water requirements of
many of these crops is lacking. A project is planned to
provide the necessary data to increase irrigation
efficiency, limit crop water use, and maximize yield of
vegetable crops grown on the west side of the San Joaquin
Valley. The objectives of this project are to; 1)
determine water requirements, 2) develop seasonal crop
coefficients for these crops, and 3) evaluate irrigation
systems used in the production of these crops. Irrigation
management strategies that optimize timing and placement
of water and nutrients, increase crop productivity, and
limit irrigation drainage will be identified for a variety
of crops including lettuce, garlic, onion, and pepper.
This project is a continuation for the project titled
“Developing new Crop Coefficients and Water Side of the
San Joaquin Valley”, that was funded by ARI from 2000 –
2004. Results of the project will provide important
information to California farmers for selecting irrigation
systems and management strategies that increase
profitability of vegetable crops grown in the region.
Principal Investigator: Jim Ayars
Email address:
Closing Date: 6/30/08 |
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ARI-Peach Phase II |
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Peaches and nectarines are economically vital to the
California agriculture industry, which produced 1.2
million tons of fruit last year valued at $358 million.
Peach trees require a considerable amount of water to
produce these high yields. It is roughly estimated that
California peach growers use nearly 95 billion gallons of
water (equal to water use of 1.2 million people)
irrigation each year. Because of this high demand for
water, even a small reduction in peach water requirements
could produce considerable savings to the states water
budget. In 2000, we used CSU ARI (FY99-01) and USDA ARS
funding to establish a long term study site in Parlier, CA
and evaluate irrigation management systems and practices
for increasing growth, productivity and water use
efficiency in peach. Results from the first three years of
our study indicate that young trees irrigated by
non-traditional surface and subsurface drip systems had
significantly greater growth and early production for a
given amount of applied water than trees irrigated using
more traditional systems such as furrow and micro
sprinklers. The main objective of the proposed project is
to continue our ARI/USDA funded project on irrigation
management practices in mature peach trees that have
reached their full–bearing potential. In order to meet our
objective, we will measure water use , yield and fruit
quality for three years on trees irrigated at various
levels and frequencies with different irrigation systems,
including furrow, micro sprinkler, surface drip, and
subsurface drip. Results of this research will provide
information directly useable by growers on the best
methods of irrigating peach trees and maximizing
production, and may lead to the use of irrigation systems
capable of producing significant water savings. For
example, if surface or subsurface drip irrigation reduce
crop water requirements of mature trees by 10% over
conventional methods, and only 10% of the peach and
nectarine gallons of water could be conserved each year.
Principal Investigator: Jim Ayars
Email address:
Closing Date: 6/30/06 |
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Biofilter |
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Excess nutrients form irrigation of crops with recycled
wastewaters from food processing and dairy operations can
be a major source of groundwater pollution. This project
proposes to implement a practical and cost-effective
management practice of utilizing a perennial, highly
nutritious, Pennisetum Sp. Forage grass, commonly known as
Elephant grass, to control ground and surface water
contamination. The Elephant grass, denominated Promor A,
is a luxury feeder of nitrogen and phosphorus and has the
potential to absorb significant amounts of excess
nutrients form dairy effluent and processing wastewater
used for irrigation. Preliminary tests at California Sate
University –Fresno have indicated that the grass can
absorb up to 2000 pounds per acre of nitrates in a 60 day
cutting cycle. This species can absorb up to 1500 pounds
per acre of phosphorous during the growing season. The
stooling growth habit of this grass will provide a
secondary benefit through reduction of water velocity and
consequent sedimentation of water borne particles within
the barrier planting. The objective of the proposed
research is to evaluate the ability of the elephant grass
to act as a bio-filter, also referred to as a savaging
crop, to alleviate the potential for nitrate and
phosphorous pollution of water supplies on fields
irrigated with industrial process wastewater and dairy
effluent. The Elephant grass will be planted on acreages
which as flood irrigated with different sources of
wastewater. Water consumption by the grass will be
calculated and water movement throughout the rooting
profile will be monitored. Water and nutrient budgets will
account for all flows entering the barrier plantings and
for their final deposition. Soil water quality will be
monitored at depths of 2 and 4 feet to assess solute
movement through the soil profile and determine the role
of the Elephant grass in reducing water contamination
below the root zone. The information derived from this
research is very important for the agriculture processing
industry, dairy industry and wastewater treatment
facilities as increasingly more strict discharge
regulations are being implemented by regulatory agencies
Principal Investigator: Dave Goorahoo
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 6/30/07 |
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Blueberry CO2 |
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The overlal purpose fo this experimentis to evaluate
whether atmospheric CO2 enrichment is economically
feasible in blueberries in Dealno, which are raised under
a mix of open filed and plastic tunnel. Due to the lack of
basic information regarding CO2 enrichment in blueberries
and to avoid unnecessary costs and efforts, the experiment
is brokein in two parts: Collect and analyze basic data
and information for CO2 enrichment in blueberries and
Conduct season-long CO2 experiment and analyze fruit yield
and quality
Principal Investigator:
Shawn Ashkan
Email address:
Closing Date:
2/28/08 |
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Brawley Nutrient Control |
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Soil water quality in the
vadose zone will be monitored using suction lysimeters.
Theselysimeters will be installed at 2 and 4 ft levels by
CIT research scientist and file technicians to assess
solute movement through the soil profile and determine the
role of Elephant grass in reducing water contamintation
below the root zone. Placement of the lysimeters will be
planned to ensure that samples collected for laboratory
analysis will be representative of field conditions.
Principal Investigator: Dave Goorahoo
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 12/31/05 |
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Canal Seepage |
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Seepage from irrigation canals is a serious water management problem in California’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV). Seepage reduces irrigation efficiency and contributes to elevated water losses in the region. Additionally, its water may contain toxic substances harmful to soils and groundwater’s. Thus, it is important to identify tools that can help detect potential leakages along canals. The goal of the research is to investigate the applied use of electromagnetic inductance (EM) measurements to detect potential seepage and improve water management along irrigation canals. While the electromagnetic induction technique (EM) has been commonly utilized for salinity assessment, its use for seepage investigations is just developing. However, the technique is promising since EM measurements are also dependent on soil moisture. The project’s conducted in collaboration with SJV irrigation districts.
Principal Investigator: Florence Cassel
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 12/31/2007 |
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Chemigation Education |
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Chemigation is
defined as the application of agricultural chemicals
(fertilizer, pesticides, or other material) to soils and
plants by injection in the irrigation water. Chemigation
can be an affective and environmentally safe method of
chemical application if proper safety devices and
management practices are followed. The ability to apply
chemicals from a stationary source has multiple
advantages, such as flexibility in application timing,
reduced soil compaction and plant damage from vehicle
traffic, a reduction in fuel and labor costs, and reduced
operation hazards. Improved air quality may also be an
outcome of proper chemigation practices. Chemigation also
allows greater control over the deposition of pesticides
and pesticide residue, reducing the risk of movement and
contamination, increasing efficiency of pesticide
applications and making it possible to apply smaller
amounts of pesticides more frequently. The limitations
include problems with application uniformity, soil
texture, soil moisture, and timing of application. The
risks of chemigation are related to water (surface and
ground) contaminations and human and wildlife exposure.
One of the greatest risks related to water is chemical
backflow into the well or source water, resulting in the
contamination of ground water, ponds, canals, streams,
etc. Beginning in 2001, the DPR and CIT have conducted
chemigation equipment work shops al over California
reaching thousands of participants. The main focus of
these workshops has been chemigation equipment and water
source protection particularly groundwater, however, this
new proposal will expand the effort to educate work shop
participants on proper management, application rates and
methods, potential hazards during and after the
applications of chemical, and how to avoid and deal safely
with these hazards.
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: 6/30/2007 |
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Compound
Emmisson Dairies |
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The overall
objectives are to enhance the understanding of the
physical, chemical, and biological drivers and processes
that lead to the formation of VOCs from dairies, and to
identify significant rate-limiting drivers/processes to
develop VOC mitigation from dairy feed and waste.
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: 6/30/2007 |
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Dairy Air
Mitigation |
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To be a
continuation of the existing, matching projects: the
monitoring of cultural practices related to dairy
production as they affect the major components of a
natural resource, air quality in the Central Valley and
California. Air quality concerns are currently a
primary limitation on the dairy industry in the state of
the matching projects are funded by state and federal
agencies and the industry to assist in developing
science-based regulation of the problem. The
addition implication of the proposed project broadens the
focus to include issues related to agricultural business,
food, safety, and the public policy.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 12/31/2006 |
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Developing Manure |
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Pollutant and
nutrient release to air and water from animal feeding
operations (AFOs) are important scientific, economic and
regulatory issues. AFOs generate large quantities of
manure; this manure is both a significant direct source of
air and water pollution emissions, and by-product that
must be disposed of, or, preferably utilized as an
economically beneficial resource. Assessing the
environmental impact of manure management is difficult do
to high variability in the quality and quantity of animal
waste, and in the numerous factors affecting the
biochemical transformations of manure during storage and
filed application. Measurement programs are essential but
must be supplemented by process-oriented modeling that
incorporates mass balance constraints to extrapolate in
both space and time (NRC, 2003), as well as basic
biochemical and geochemical reactions to track the
transformation of manure from feeding lots to field
applications. We propose to modify an existing
process-oriented biochemical model that will simulate
carbon and nitrogen biochemical and geo chemical cycling
in a dairy operations in California, tracking the manure
life cycle (production, storage/processing, filed
application) and determining the fate of manure C and N (viotilized,
incorporated into soils or vegetation, lost via leaching0,
to develop spatially explicit databases necessary for
model estimation of ammonia and CH4 emissions at farm and
county scale for California, and collect VOC, NH3, and CH4
emissions data from several dairies in California to
improve the existing emission databases and for model
validation. The resulting model will be disseminated to
research, industry and regulatory communities through our
collaboration with the chair of the air module of the
California Dairy Quality Assurance Program.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 1/30/2007 |
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Diesel Power Engine |
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In this
proposed study, a consortium compromised of the USDA-ARS,
CSU Fresno (CSUF), Red Rock Ranch, and Panoche Drainage
District will perform a hands- on study, that will
investigate developing new resources form an otherwise
known contaminant-selenium (SE). Recent research by the
USDA indicates that a major oil producing crop-canola-can
be grown and used for the bioremediation of Se, a
contaminant predominantly found in agricultural soils and
waters in the Westside of Central California. The USDA-ARS,
Red Rock Ranch, and Panoche Drainage District will
irrigate oil-yielding crops-canola, sunflower and
potential industrial mustard (on a smaller scale) with
Se-laden drainage water on field sites located in the
Westside of the San Joaquin Valley. Soils, plants, and
waters will be analyzed for Se content. Seed harvested
from plants will be processed for their bio-oil by an
upgraded "horizontal oil press and extruder" recently
installed under a permanent housing structure at Red Rock
Ranch. CSUF will blend canola and otheroils-0%, 5%, 10%,
20% and 30% (by weight) with diesel fuel in a four
cylinder Cummings diesel engine (or reasonable engine
representative of the agricultural industry) mounted on a
SuperFlow dynamometer at their engine testing laboratory.
Investigators will evaluate performance form the use of
bio-fuels (e.g., power output, starting, fuel consumption,
etc.) and the degree of coking in injectors and cylinders.
In addition, CSUF also will measure and quantify the
presence of ten major pollutants (carbon monoxide, carbon
dioxide, nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur
dioxide, hydrocarbons, speciated gas-phase driven exhaust
emitted form Cummings Diesel engines. These data will be
incorporated into a computer model to study the effects of
these emissions on ozone levels. Lastly, the USDA-ARS will
palletize the seed by-products into Se-enriched forage
metal after extracting the oil from the canola seed, and
provide (or market) this products to local dairy
producers; Se is an essential element for animal
nutrition. Producing canola, sunflower, and mustard oils
for use in bio-fuels and for cp-powering agricultural
diesel engines may not only improve air quality in the San
Joaquin Valley, but these plants may offer growers an
economic incentive to utilize agricultural drainage water
as a resource and to reduce the volume of drainage water
requiring treatment or discharge into the San Joaquin
River. the westside of the San Joaquin Valley. Soils,
plants, and waters will be analyzed for Se content. Seed
harvested from plants will be processed for their bio-oil
by an upgraded "horizontal oil press and extruder"
recently installed under a permanent housing structure at
Red Rock Ranch. CSUF will blend canola and otheroils-0%,
5%, 10%, 20% and 30% (by weight) with diesel fuel in afour
cylinder Cummings diesel engine (or resonable engine
representative of the agricultural industry) mounted on a
SuperFlow dynamometer at their engine testing laboratory.
Investigators will evaluate preformance form the use of
biofules (e.g., power output, starting, fuel consumption,
etc.) and the degree of coking in injectors and cylinders.
In addition, CSUF also will measure and quantify the
presence of ten major pollutants (carbon monoxide, carbon
dioxide, nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide , sulfur
dioxide, hydrocarbons, speciated gas-phase driven exhaust
emitted form Cummings Diesel engines. These data will be
incorporated into a computer model to study the effects of
these emissions on ozone levels. Lastly, the USDA-ARS will
pelletize the seed by-products into Se-enriched forage
metal afetr extracting the oil from the conola seed, and
provide (or market) this products tolocal dairy producers;
Se is an essential element for animal nutrition. Producing
canola, sunflower, and mustard oils for use in biofuels
and for cp-powering agricultural diesel engines may not
only improve air quality in the San Jaquin Valley, but
these plants may offer growers an economic incentive to
utilize agricultural drainage water as a resource and to
reduce the volume of drainage water requiring treatment or
discharge into the San Joaquin River.
Principal Investigator: Gary Bunuelos
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 6/30/2008 |
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Evaportranspiration "ET" |
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Estimating crop
evaporation (ET) and soil salinity is important to
evaluate plant water use and improve irrigation and
drainage management practices. Remote sensing satellite
imagery offers a means to rapidly and frequently determine
ET over large cropping areas. Since ET is partly
influenced by the moisture content and electrical
conductivity of soil water, salinity levels in soils can
be inferred form ET calculations. An algorithm called
SEBAL (Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land) has been
used by numerous researchers to calculate ET form
satellite images. The robustness of SEBAL compared to
other models lies in the fact that estimated ET is
independent from weather, crop, and land use information.
SEBAL has been thoroughly tested and validated across
different climates and for different vegetation surfaces
over the past fifteen years in Europe, the United States,
and other regions of the world. Recently a salinity module
has been included in the SEBAL algorithm to determine soil
water potential in the root zone and infer soil salinity.
Therefore, there is a need to validate the use of this new
module in California for mapping soil salinity. This
research proposes to calculate ET on selected croplands of
Fresno County and to validate the salinity module in SEBAL
algorithm to estimate soil salinity in those croplands.
The project will be conducted over a three-year period and
will provide vital data and information on the use of
remotely sensed images and SEBAL to quickly and
cost-effectively determine ET and soil salinity over large
areas of California.
Principal Investigator: Florence Cassel
email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 6/30/2008 |
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Ground Water Mitigation Study |
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Develop data
from studies conducted on farms that will aid in the
adoption of management practices for mitigation of
pesticide movement to ground water. Determine the
effectiveness of the practice to mitigate contamination.
Determine the ecectiveness of the pesticide under the new
management practice. Determine the efficacy of a
management practice (timing regimes of chemical
injection).
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: 1/31/2008 |
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IA Certification |
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The Irrigation Association introduced their Certification Program in 1983. The program is designed for irrigation professionals to demonstrate their experience and technical competence to the industry and to customers. Since 1993, the Center for Irrigation Technology has developed and administered all the exams for the program. Exams are written for agriculture, landscape/turf and golf irrigation professionals and are administered in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.
Principal Investigator: Kate Norum
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: |
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IFDM
Phase III |
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Drainage water
(DW) re-use is one of several management options to
address salinity and drainage problems on the westside San
Joaquin Valley (SJV). Due to potentially high
concentration of selenium in the DW and associated risks
to wildlife, the DW colleted from tile drain systems
cannot be discharged into local waterways. A sequential DW
re-use system, now called "Integrated, On Farm Drainage
Management (IFDM), has operated as a demonstration project
at Red Rock Ranch (RRR) since 1996. Although the term IFDM
refers to on farm drainage Management, sequential re-use
can be employed on regional basis as for example, at the
4000 acre San Joaquin River Improvement Project ( SJRIP)
operated by Panoche Drainage District. We have Conducted
research in the Red Rock Ranch IFDM since 1997 evaluating
the performance of candidate salt tolerant forages and
halophytes for IFDM, and more recently, monitoring
long-term changes in solid chemistry and infiltration in
response to irrigation with the saline-sodic DW. The
latter is critical to the sustainability of IFDM because
high levels of sodium in irrigation water and air must be
maintained in order to minimize the hazard ot wildlife o
high levels of selenium in ponded water.
Principal Investigator: Sharon Beenes
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 6/30/2007 |
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irrigation Audits by Students |
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The goal of
this program is to improve water use efficiency on
residential lawns by increasing awareness and educating
upper elementary student about proper irrigation
practices. Student and teachers will be provided with
materials and instruction on the project, will conduct
audits an dwell then report the data collected from their
school and residences, to determine the performance of the
irrigation system. Guidelines for proper irrigation
scheduling will be provided to assist in making changes
that could result in water savings. A pre-and post-project
survey will be completed by students to measure learning
(determine program success). A follow-up survey will be
sent to audit participants (parents, friends, neighbors,
or apartment managers) after the water audit has been
conducted at their sites to determine if the information
has changed their irrigation practices.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 1/30/2007 |
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Lagoon Emmissions |
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This study will
be conducted at three dairies in the central valley. The
dairies will inclde Pet Verburg and Son in Modesto,
Hilltop Holsteins in Escalon and a dairy selected by CSU
Fresno. The firs two dairies have photorphic lagoons (red
water) and the later will be a traditional black wter
lagoon. Two periods will be sample, on in the Fall 2006
and the other in the Summer of 2007. Flux chambers and
other sampling techniques will be used.
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: |
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MDCP |
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International
trade is an important part of creating economic
opportunities for U.S. companies in the future. The ICWT
Export Development Program will fulfill the following
objectives in order to improve the competitiveness of the
water technology industry. The work plan is fully
supportive and consistent with the memorandum of
understanding developed between the U.S. Department of
Commerce and California State University, Fresno (October
2003). The MOU states in part that the International
Center for Water Technology (ICWT) with support from the
U.S. Department of Commerce will "encourage and support
the growth of U.S. exports of water and fluid science
technology, equipment and services, especially among
small- and medium-sized manufacturers."
Principle Investigator: David Zoldoske
Closing Date: 9/30/2008
E-mail address:
[email protected] |
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Ozone Particles Matter |
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Dairies are
estimated to be a significant emissions source of Reactive
Organic Gas (ROG), an ozone precursor, and ammonia, a
PM2.5 precursor, in the San Joaquin Valley. Accurately
quantifying these emissions has been difficult due to the
lack of experimental data. In addition, these are
currently very little scientific information available to
determine the most effective and feasible methods to
reduce these emissions form dairies. This project is
designed to obtain data that is needed to better estimate
baseline emissions rates and to estimate the reductions
that are achievable with some of the available
technologies. The approach that will be used to obtain the
necessary data is to perform field monitoring at a minimum
of eight selected dairies to measure atmospheric levels of
the pollutants of interest. The data collected form the
field monitoring will be used with dispersion modeling to
estimate emissions rates. The eight sites will include
dairies using different types of emission mitigation
strategies plus dairies using no emission reduction
technology for comparison. The data will be used to better
estimate current emissions from dairies and the potential
emissions reductions that can be achieved by using plans
(SIP). The results of this project, in combination with
the results form research sponsored by the USDA, the Air
Resources Board (ARB) and the dairy industry, will be
useful in assessing the need and feasibility of future
regulatory strategies for dairies.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 6/30/2008 |
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Phase 2 Peach Trout |
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Most peach orchards in California are irrigated by surface (flood) irrigation, or by micro-spray irrigation. A few orchards use drip irrigation. This project is designed to evaluate peach water requirements and yields when irrigated by different irrigation methods. In the first phase of the project, we learned that young peach trees grow faster with less water with drip irrigation than with micro-spray irrigation. This is because micro-sprays wet much of the soil surface and water is lost to evaporation from the soil. We assume that the benefits of drip irrigation will decline as the trees mature. We are testing several configurations of drip irrigation (surface and subsurface; one, two, or three drip lines per row) and three irrigation amounts (predicted water requirements and 25% above and below our prediction). We are measuring tree growth, plant water status (stem water potential), soil water content, and peach yield. Preliminary results indicate that we product slightly more marketable fruit, and larger fruit, with drip irrigation than with micro-spray or furrow irrigation.
Principal Investigator: Tom Trout
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 6/30/2006 |
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Pontential Mitigation Practice Emissions |
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Based on
current estimates, dairies are a significant source of
reactive organic gas (ROG) and ammonia emission sin the
San Joaqin Valley. Accurately quanitifyin dair emission is
extremely difficult due to the complexity of the source,
with its many dispersed biological process as well as the
challenges in sampling, analyzing and modeling the
collected emmison data. Results collected under this
project will provide data that are urgenly needed by the
California Air Resources Board and Calfonia’s air
districts to comply with both stat aand federal air
quality regulations. At the state level, this research
will support development of livestock facilty emissions
mitigation plans required under Senate Bill 700
(Florez,2003), an dat the federal level, the research will
play an important role in developing emissions control
strategies needed to meet federal airl quality standards
for the most polluted regions of our state.
Principal Investigator: Charles Krauter
Email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: 6/30/2008 |
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Red Rock Ranch |
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Soil salinity
mapping is important to determine the level and
distribution of salinity in fields of Red Rock Ranch (RRR)
and Britz Fram. The objective of the proposed work is to
collect salinity data in different fields of area B at RRR
and four fields of the Britz Fram and to develop soil
salinity maps at different depths (0-1 ft, 1-2 ft, 2-3 ft,
and average 0-3 ft). The project will be conducted using a
mobile conductivity assessment system available at the
Center fior Irrigation Technology (CIT) to conduct
extended salinity surveys. The mobile system is composed
of four basic components mounted on a Spra-Coupe tractor:
(1) an EM-38 sensor (Geonics Limited), (2) a global
positioning system (GPS), (3) a computer, and (4) a
hydraulic soil sampler. The EM-38 sensor will be used to
measure soil electrical conductivity down to a depth of 3
ft. The EM instrument will be placed in a carrier-sled
attached about 10 ft behind the Spra-Coupe tractor to
avoid any EM reading interference. Due to metallic
objects. The GPS unit will provide the geographical
coordinates of each measurement point. Two digital
interfaces will connect the EM sensor and GPS receiver to
an on-board computer that will instantaneously record the
EM readings along with their GPS location. A survey and
statistical software (Lesch and Rhoades, 1999) will be
used to record and analyze the EM data. Researchers and
technicians at CIT have been using the mobile system and
related software for several years.
Principal Investigator:
Email address:
Closing Date: 1/31/07 |
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Remote Sensing |
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Remote sensing
techniques are becoming very useful tools for farmers to
precisely manage their production systems by taking
advantages of numerous available technologies, such as
geographic positioning system, electromagnetic induction,
aerial imagery, geographic information systems, and new
computer programs. The electromagnetic (EM) induction
technique has been widely used in the Central Valley over
the past few years to monitor and diagnose soil salinity
over large areas. Aerial imagery, obtained from airplanes,
provides detailed spatial data on the variability of plant
development and can be utilized to develop vegetation and
crop water stress indices based on canopy reflectance and
temperature. This research proposes to evaluate the
benefits and effectiveness of remote sensing techniques in
identifying plant health and irrigation needs on a
real-time basis, as well as determining relationships
between soil quality (salinity) and plant growth (nutrient
status). The project will be conducted over three years
and will provide vital data to extend our knowledge on the
agronomic and economic feasibility of using remote sensing
techniques to improve real-time crop and irrigation
management within fields.
Principal Investigator: Florence Cassel
email address: [email protected]
Closing Date: |
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Sensor Testing-SWAT |
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In order to
meet te needs of existing and future populations and
ensure that habits and ecosystems are protected, which
emphasizes careful, efficient use of water is essential in
order to achieve these objectives. The role of efficient
water use for agricultural and turf-grass production forms
a critical relationship, particularly in areas prone to
periodic or prolonged drought. The challenge to the
irrigation industry is to provide "efficient" irrigation
systems for the consumer. It is true there are many water
efficient products available in the marketplace. These
devices include soil moisture sensors, matched
precipitation rate and flow control nozzles, pressure
regulation and numerous drip/micro products. However not
all products are created equally, and some require more
knowledge to properly operate than the homeowner possesses
or desire. Over the past two years. The Center for
Irrigation Technology has been working closely with water
purveyors statewide and the irrigation Association as part
of their "Smart" Water Application Technology" (SWAT). A
major goal of SWAT is to develop standardized testing
protocols for evaluating the reliability, accuracy and
repeatability of commercially available soil moisture
sensor. Based on beta testing of these protocols following
extensive review and revisions by industry personnel,
academics and water purveyors, the protocols are now ready
for application on commercially available moisture
sensors. This project proposes to apply standardized
testing protocols on soil moisture sensors operating on
different principles. Manufactures will submit 20 of their
sensors, of which 10 will be randomly selected and
subjected to tests under varying temperature and salinity
conditions for cars, medium and fine textured soils.
Summary results of the tests will include regression
analysis of the moisture content measured by the sensor
versus the values calculated from the experimental
procedure. The finding from this project will contribute
to SWAT’s overall mission, and in general, California’s
agriculture and turf industry, of achieving exceptional
water use efficiency in irrigation practices.
Principle Investigator: David Zoldoske
E-mail address:
[email protected]
Closing Date: 9/30/2008 |
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Waterflow 07 |
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| The International Center
for
Water Technology
California State University, Fresno
5370 N Chestnut Ave. – MS/OF 18
Fresno, CA 93740-8021
Phone: (559) 278-2066
Fax: (559) 278-6033
E-Mail: [email protected]
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