Deep Root Irrigation Assessment

With a target of reducing applied water, and thus resulting in pump energy savings, a new irrigation technique, Deep Root Irrigation (DRI), was tested in comparison to a conventional dual-line surface drip irrigation system (inline drip emitters) in a young almond orchard on the University Agricultural Laboratory (UAL) at California State University, Fresno. This study was conducted on a total of 229 trees, comprised of Supareil and Nonpareil varieties, of which 95 trees were irrigated with the DRI technique as the treatment group, and the remaining 134 trees with dual line surface drip irrigation as the control group. Overall, from this study it can be established that DRI is a promising technique of irrigating almond orchards with the potential of up to 25 percent water savings and corresponding energy savings with minor compromises to crop growth and yield, especially for the Nonpareil almond variety.