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Salinity Management

Salinity management projects have been involved with developing strategies for minimum yield loss from irrigation induced salinity.

Tri-State Salinity Project: Salinity Impact on Lower Murray Horticulture

Duration: July 2003–June 2006 (COMPLETED)
Project leader: Dr Tapas Biswas (for further information contact Assoc Prof Jim Cox 08 830309334)
Budget: A$1.2 million
Main funders: Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC), Land & Water Australia - National Program for Sustainable Irrigation (NPSI) and River Murray Catchment Water Management Board (RMCWMB) 
Collaborators: Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation (DWLBC), Rural Solutions SA Irrigated Crop Management Service (RSSA-ICMS), Victoria Department of Primary Industries, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and CSIRO-Merbein
Objective: To develop a root-zone salinity management strategy for grape and citrus, precision-irrigated with moderate salinity water
Outputs: Toolkits for detecting root-zone salt leaching and developing strategies for low salinity horticulture

 

Managing Horticulture in a Saline Environment

Duration: July 2004–June 2008
Project leader: Mr Rob Stevens
Budget: A$550 000 cash
Main funders: Cash from Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation (DWLBC) and Centre for Natural Resource Management (CNRM) 
Collaborators: Riverlink Advisory Network
Objectives:
  • Reduce yield losses in vegetables associated with saline irrigation which wets foliage
  • Identify causes of post salinity yield losses in perennial crops which are greater than those during saline irrigation and persist long after salts leached from soils, levels of toxic ions in tissue have returned to pre-salinity values and saline irrigation induced soil sodicity has been remediated
  • Identify rootstocks which support root exploration of lower root zone soils high in boron.
Outputs: Survival strategies for Riverland horticulture at times of saline slugs in the River Murray

 

Tri-State Salinity Phase 3: Application and knowledge transfer of outcomes, including nutrient transport

Managing water and solute in the root-zone and developing strategies for healthy root-zones

Duration: July 2005–June 2009 (COMPLETED)
Project leader:

Dr Tapas Biswas (for further information contact Assoc Prof Jim Cox 08 83039334)
Budget: A$850 000 cash
Main funders: Cash from Centre for Natural Resource Management (CNRM), Land & Water Australia - National Program for Sustainable Irrigation (NPSI) and Grape and Wine Research Development Corporation (GWRDC) 
Collaborators: Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation (DWLBC), Rural Solutions SA Irrigated Crop Management Service (RSSA-ICMS), Victoria Department of Primary Industries, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
Objective: To test the method of root-zone salinity hazard assessment on a district scale for citrus in the Riverland, wine-grapes at Langhorne Creek and McLaren Vale
Outputs: A road-tested system for root-zone salinity management for precision irrigation of horticultural crops in Riverland, Lower Lakes and groundwater-based districts