- Author: Ben Faber
To see more and register for this free seminar series, go to:
Flyer PDF: //ucanr.edu/sites/Climate_Resilient_Agriculture/files/348824.pdf
Agenda PDF: //ucanr.edu/sites/Climate_Resilient_Agriculture/files/348822.pdf
- Author: Ben Faber
Introduction to Groundwater, Watersheds, and Groundwater Sustainability Plans - An Online Shortcourse
Thursday, May 6, 13, 20, 27, and June 3 (15 hours)
9:00am – 12:00pm PDT (GMT -07:00) and Q&A 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
Understanding groundwater and watersheds and how we monitor, assess, and sustainably manage these resources is critical and integral to California Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) and other water management programs. Private citizens, professionals, decision makers, executives, agency employees, and stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and in a wide variety of private, non-profit, and government responsibilities are increasingly engaged in the sustainable management and assessment of groundwater and surface water. This online short course will review the fundamental principles of groundwater and watershed hydrology, water budgets, water quality, and water law and regulation in an intuitive, highly accessible fashion. Through real world examples, participants learn about the most common tools for measuring, monitoring, and assessing groundwater and surface water resources. We then review the key steps and elements of planning for groundwater sustainability.
Registration: https://registration.ucdavis.edu
Fees: $100/$60 (includes textbook)
Reduced fees ($60) are available to members of California Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (board, staff, advisory committees), to California state employees, and to participants of the WEF Water 101 Workshop, April 22-23, 2021 of the GRA Groundwater Sustainability Planning Summit, June 9-10, 2021.
For reduced fee coupons and questions please contact: GroundwaterUCD@gmail.com
Offered by the University of California, Davis and UC ANR.
Cooperating Organizations: Groundwater Resources Association, Water Education Foundation
/h3>- Author: Brad Hanson and O. Adewale Osipitan
Article also published in California Weed Science Society Journal (March 2021 issue)
-Brad
Glyphosate is one of the most commonly used herbicides in orchard crops in California both in terms of treated acres and amount of active ingredient applied. Weed managers are generally familiar with the attributes of glyphosate as a postemergence herbicide. Duke and Powles (2008) published an article in Pest Management Science entitled “Glyphosate: a once-in-a-century-herbicide”. Suffice to say, it's a pretty useful herbicide, if that's your thing. It has also been the subject of several controversies in the past couple of decades.
One of those controversies was a source of frequent extension questions from California farmers and Pest Control Advisors about 10 years ago. In the late 2000's there were several researcher articles from work done in glyphosate-tolerant soybeans that suggested there might be some nontarget impacts of glyphosate on crop nutrient status, plant disease interaction, and microbial community effects. In California tree crops concern generally focused around whether glyphosate in the soil could chelate micronutrients and lead to nutrient deficiencies and/or if repeated use could cause enough glyphosate to accumulate in soil and have direct impacts on the trees.
In a 2012 review article on the impacts of glyphosate in the soil environment, Duke et al. suggested that “significant effects of glyphosate on soil mineral content is unlikely” and there is no clear negative trend in orchard productivity data in California even after decades of glyphosate use. However, because this was a concern for the California orchard crop industries, we conducted a long-term research project from 2013 to 2020 to help address the issue in representative orchard crops.
If you're REALLY interested, the full report was published in summer 2020 as an open-access article in the journal Weed Technology which can be accessed HERE.
If you're only a LITTLE interested, here is the essence of the project conduct at the UC Davis Plant Sciences Field Facility in Davis, CA:
- Crops (three crops were considered separate experiments):
- Almond (Nonpareil on Lovell)
- Prune (Improved French on Lovell)
- Cherry (Coral on Emla-Colt)
- Planting site:
- At planting, all tree sites were excavated with a 36-inch diameter augur to a 2-ft depth
- Half were refilled with the native silty clay loam soil
- Half were refilled with Delhi sandy loam
- Glyphosate treatments:
- From 2014 to 2019, treatments were applied 3 times per season (~between Apr-Nov)
- Rates were 0, 1, 2, or 4 lb ae/A equivalents (Roundup PowerMAX plus ammonium sulfate). Applied to an area of about 6x6 ft around each tree
- In 2014, trunks were protected with cartons, but no trunk protection in 2015-19
- Drench
- In the first two years of treatment (2014 and 2015) there was a split-plot factor in which half of the trees had a small berm built up around the base of the tree and were “drenched” with water to simulate a 1-inch irrigation immediately after each application (intended to increase leaching into the relatively small tree root zone and crown area).
- Evaluations
- In the first year of treatment (2014) leaf samples were collected 14 days after each glyphosate application and assayed for shikimate accumulation (which would indicate direct herbicidal effects of glyphosate).
- In the first two years of treatment, relative chlorophyll content was measured in leaves from each tree 30 days after each glyphosate application (which could indicate either direct glyphosate effects or indirect effects of micronutrient limitations).
- Trunk diameter measurements were made before the first application in 2014 and during the winter after each subsequent season to evaluate relative tree growth.
- After the 6th year of treatment, leaf samples were collected in the fall from each tree but combined over soil type and drench subplots. The nutrient status of these leaf samples was determined by the UC Davis Analytical Lab using appropriate techniques.
- So, to recap, the worst case scenario had:
- Very coarse soil in the planting site of bare root almond, cherry, and prune nursery trees.
- In the first two years, some plots had a simulated acre-inch of irrigation immediately following each glyphosate application.
- The highest rate treatment of 4 lb ae/A glyphosate applied 18 times over a six year period. That's 114 fl oz/A of Roundup PowerMAX at each application. Over the course of the experiment that's 72 lb ae/A glyphosate or 16 gallons of Roundup PowerMAX. It's a lot!
- Results:
- Shikimate levels were similar among treated and non-treated trees with no clear dose-response or soil-related parameters. This suggests little or no direct effect of glyphosate on these tree crops via root uptake even at fairly extreme rates over multiple years.
- Chlorophyll content mostly indicated no differences among treatments. Where there were statistically significant main effects or interactions, there was no consistent pattern with regard to glyphosate rate, coarse soils, and post-treatment drench, which suggests they may be due to random variation or experimental artifacts.
- Leaf nutrient analysis after 6 years of treatment did not provide evidence of negative impacts on crop nutrient status.
- Trunk diameter increase over six growing seasons was not negatively impacted by glyphosate treatments (Figure).
- Observationally, over the six year period, there was no evidence of treatment-related trunk cankers, trunk or limb malformations or unusual die-back.
Scientists will always remind you that you “can't prove a negative”, and that remains true. However, we think these data suggest that it is probably not easy or common for almond, cherry, or prunes to be negatively impacted by glyphosate residues in the soil either due to direct herbicide effects or to micronutrient deficiencies.
Acknowledgments:
This work was initially supported by the Almond Board of California, the California Dried Plum Board and with nursery stock provided by Sierra Gold Nurseries. Over time, the experiments were maintained with general program support from the crop protection industry, orchard commodity groups, and agricultural input suppliers. We gratefully thank our colleagues who contributed to this long-term project along the way.
References:
Duke SO, Powles SB (2008) Mini-review. Glyphosate: a once-in-a-century herbicide. Pest Manag Sci 64:319–325
Duke SO, Lydon J, Koskinen WC, Moorman TB, Chaney RL, Hammerschmidt R (2012) Glyphosate effects on plant mineral nutrition, crop rhizosphere microbiota, and plant disease in glyphosate-resistant crops. J Agric Food Chem 60:10375–10397
Osipitan OA, Yildiz-Kutman B, Watkins S, Brown PH, Hanson BD (2020). Impacts of repeated glyphosate use on growth of orchard crops. Weed Technol. doi: 10.1017/wet.2020.85 (available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/weed-technology/article/impacts-of-repeated-glyphosate-use-on-growth-of-orchard-crops/26697F334626A587765C75C2B0F76A3D)
This blog originally appeard in the UC Weed Science Blog
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=46316
- Author: Ben Faber
California Avocado Growers Seminars Series 2021
Scheduled Dates and Topics
April 14
Seminar/Webinar Topic
Virtual Avocado Field Day at Cal Poly
A big thank you to our Speakers
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- Author: Ben Faber
Agriculture develops a new variety of lemon, which offers greater yield and adaptation for the benefit of producers in Colima and Michoacán
Experts from the Fruit Research Program of the National Institute for Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIFAP) generated the LISE, a citrus fruit that offers better attributes and increases the diversity in quality lemons.
It's interesting how in this age of ACP and HLB, conventional citrus varieties are being developed and released. There's a lot more breeding done to find HLB resistant/tolerant selections. Maybe the idea here, is that "lemons" have a tendency towards more resistance than sweet oranges. Not as much as finger limes, but maybe this does so well in Colima that it would be hard not to plant it.
It stands out because its skin is thin, with a smooth surface, leaves of a darker green color than Colimex, contains three to five seeds, has a soft yellowish-green pulp and has nine to 12 segments and between 44 to 48 percent of acid juice.
- Experts from the Fruit Research Program of the National Institute for Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIFAP) generated the LISE, a citrus fruit that offers better attributes and increases the diversity in quality lemons.
- It stands out because its skin is thin, with a smooth surface, leaves of a darker green color than Colimex, contains three to five seeds, has a soft yellowish-green pulp and has nine to 12 segments and between 44 to 48 percent of acid juice.
As part of the actions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to promote and strengthen citrus producers in Mexico, the National Institute for Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIFAP) developed the LISE variety, a Mexican lemon with high yield. better characteristics and high adaptation to producing areas in Colima and Michoacán.
Specialists from the Research Program in Fruit Trees of the Tecomán Experimental Field of INIFAP selected lemon plants with outstanding agronomic qualities and generated the "Lise", a variety that has better attributes and increases the diversity in quality citrus fruits, indicated the Institute.
The federal agency highlighted that the lemon tree blooms several times a year, with greater intensity from January to March, and is characterized by its flower buds having short petals, its fruit production extends throughout the year and its richest harvests are They get from May to September.
The skin of LISE is thin with a smooth surface, has darker green leaves than Colimex, contains three to five seeds, is soft pulp, has nine to 12 segments and produces between 44 to 48 percent juice. acid.
This new variety is the result of two cycles of selection carried out on a natural variant that did not develop thorns, through natural crosses that take into account the selections in commercial Mexican lemon plantations in Colima, explained INIFAP.
He pointed out that, according to the records of the Institute's specialists, a year yields greater than 35 tons per hectare are obtained without the presence of the citrus disease: Huanglongbing (HLB).
INIFAP specialists recommend, for practicality and economy, planting it in the rainy season in loamy soils and establishing it at a distance of six by four meters, pruning it annually, removing suckers (vegetative shoots) from the stem every three or four months and pointing the branches. long and slightly branched every six months to obtain more compact crowns.
INIFAP - a decentralized body of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - has a technological package with which it is expected that producers will obtain better yields and provides training to transfer knowledge on different varieties of lemon.