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Water Management
Root zone salinity
Maintaining soils productivity under increasingly intensive viticultural practices will be a high priority for industry. SARDI pioneered the science of regulated deficit irrigation for the Australian wine industry, however, the trade-off from applying highly efficient irrigation is the potential to build up of salinity within the root zone. SARDI has developed unique expertise in rootzone salinity management to help counteract the trend including monitoring tools and effective salt-leaching strategies. In concert with the Tri-State salinity team, tools and technologies are being road tested with irrigation communities in the Murray Darling Basin region where the impact of salinity is expected to be most severe. The SARDI viticulture rootzone environment focus aligns with the proposed direction of the Wine Industry Cluster (external link) partners. SARDI, collaborating with cluster partners and industry, is exploring unique technologies to improve soil physical conditions in both new and established vineyards through the use of recycled organic materials. These technologies will help grapegrowers reduce their irrigation requirement and make their vineyards more resilient to climate change.
- Recommendations for managing overhead irrigation of grapevines where saline conditions are expected during the irrigation season are included in the article Overhead irrigation management for improved grapevine yield and quality under saline conditions
- In most circumstances irrigation water is the major source of salt in the rootzone soils of irrigated vineyards. Most types of salt in river water are highly soluble and remain dissolved when irrigation water percolates into the soil. Vineyard Irrigation: Interactions between irrigation, salinity, leaching efficiency, salinity tolerance and sustainability (.PDF 239.4KB) discusses the role of salt tolerance in sustaining irrigation.
- Action by irrigators can influence river salinity and the concentration in the vine, with injurious effects on grapevine growth. Managing salinity in Riverland grapevines discusses strategies to keep the concentration of salt in the soil water to a minimum.
- A technique with the potential to significantly reduce vine water use, reduce canopy vigour, maintain crop yields and fruit quality when compared with normal irrigation methods, The influence of partial rootzone drying on grape quality, was presented at the SA Viticulture Technical Conference in 1997.
Abstracts
- Distribution of grapevine roots and soil salt under drip and full-cover microjet irrigation systems
- The effect of transient waterlogging on the growth, leaf gas exchange, and mineral composition of potted Sultana grapevines.
- Soil water depletion rates under large grapevines
- Grape must composition depends on irrigation management
- Irrigation of grapevines with saline water at different growth stages. I. Effects on soil salinity and sodicity, vegetative growth and yield
- The relative effects of waterlogging and salinity on the growth of potted vines
- Separating the effects of foliar and root salt uptake on growth and mineral composition of four grapevine cultivars on their own-roots and on Ramsey rootstock
- Grapevine response to transient soil salinisation
Additional information about SARDI research projects covering salinity management can be found in the Water Resources & Irrigated Crops section of this website.
