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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.
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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).
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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.
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