Microsprinklers wet larger soil volume; boost almond yield, tree growth

• Main Authors: Larry J. Schwankl, John Edstrom, Jan Hopmans, Luis Andreu, Kouman S. Koumanov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources 1999-03-01
• Series: California Agriculture
• Online Access: http://calag.ucanr.edu/archive/?article=ca.v053n02p39

In the Arbuckle area of the Sacramento Valley, a 22-acre orchard was planted in 1990 with four almond varieties (‘Nonpareil’, ‘Butte’, ‘Carmel’ and ‘Monterey’). The orchard was irrigated with three types of microirrigation — surface drip, subsurface drip and microsprinklers. The orchard soils are 3 to 4 feet of gravelly, loamy sand overlaying a restricting clay layer. The coarse-textured soil with its low water-holding capacity allows little lateral movement of water from the microirrigation emission device. Under these soil conditions, microsprinkler-irrigated trees produced larger almond yields and showed greater tree growth. In addition, irrigation system evaluations show that all three microirrigation systems provide excellent irrigation uniformity levels after 8 years of operation with only routine maintenance.