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Two years of testing new sustainable land management technologies

Author: Anatoly Zeiliguer

 

 

The Novy study site (51°82’ N, 47°03’ E) is located at Marksovsky District (29,103km²) of Saratov Region (Oblast) in the Russian Federation. This region is situated in the southeast of the Eastern European “Great Russian Plain” in the Lower part of Volga River, Nighnee Povolzhie.

 

 

Major soil degradation problems:
  • rise in groundwater due to over-irrigation;
  • secondary soil salinization caused by groundwater rise;
  • heterogeneity in soil properties causes irrigation water to have a negative impact on water erosion, overland flow, seepage.
Two SLM technologies at local and regional scales are proposed:
  • drip irrigation of vegetables instead of furrow irrigation;
  • precision irrigation of forage instead of overhead sprinkler irrigation (which uses excessive amounts of water).

 

2009 Growing vegetables, Technology, Experimental plot, Results, Stakeholders

 

 

Furrow irrigation of vegetables provides:
1) unproductive use of irrigating water;
2) sharp increase in sub-surface/ground waters;
3) over watering of root layer of soil;
4) pollution of the sub-soil/ground waters by chemicals;
5) occurrence of water erosion and leaching of nutrients.
Drip irrigation of vegetables provides:
1) significant minimization of irrigating doses;
2) easy adaptation of irrigation regime to water demand;
3) stopping of water leaching to ground water;
4) decrease of ecological risks for surrounding area.

 

2009 Growing vegetables, Technology, Experimental plot, Results, Stakeholders

 

 

Precision irrigation is a promising SLM technology for large fields or areas.
Its implementation needs a synergy of :
  • mechanised irrigation engine able spatially differentiate the application of water;
  • geo-database of land-soil-groundwater properties;
  • spatially distributed monitoring of soil moisture and plant water stress.

 

 

More details ...

Read the full Site Implementation Plan

Field experiments poster: Novy, Russia [2.34MB]

»Field experiments: design and implementation in all study sites

 

 

 
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Acknowledgement

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The DESIRE project was 
co-funded by the
European Commission,
Global Change and
Ecosystem.
DESIRE brought together the expertise of
26 international research institutes
and non-governmental organisations.
This website does not necessarily
represent the opinion of the
European Commission. The European
Commission is not responsible for
any use that might be made of the
information contained herein.

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