Posts Tagged: nitrate
San Joaquin Valley residents learn more about groundwater nitrate problem
Creedon spoke yesterday at a conference arranged by Fresno State's International Center for Water Technology. Also on the panel was Thomas Harter, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources at UC Davis, who described his recently released research report on nitrates in Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley groundwater.
The conference featured panels and speakers on many of California's water issues, including underground water banking and Southern California's quest for new water sources, Grossi reported. However, no issue was bigger than Harter's study, he said.
Earlier Thursday, Harter and his research team presented details of the report to an audience of about 150 at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Two local television stations, ABC affiliate Channel 30 and CBS affiliate Channel 47, provided their viewers with live reports from the scene.
UC, CSU team up on agricultural, environmental research projects
Leadership of California’s higher education systems made the funding available to jointly address issues in agriculture, natural resources and human sciences. Project criteria include collaborative research, teaching, or course development; development of student internship opportunities; and workshops, conferences, and symposia. Eight projects totaling more than $79,500 were selected from 30 proposals submitted.
“These research projects will help leverage limited resources to produce quick results on important issues in California,” said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. “They are also building stronger connections among researchers throughout the state and providing hands-on learning opportunities for students.”
Researchers involved in this year’s projects are from UC Davis, UC Berkeley and California State University campuses at Chico, Fresno, Humboldt, Pomona, Sonoma, San Marcos and San Luis Obispo. The awarded projects, with principal investigators, are listed below:
- “Estimating residential water demand functions in urban California regions” — Economists from UC Berkeley and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will estimate residential water demand of municipalities and water companies that serve 19 million people in the Bay Area and Southern California. (Maximilian Auffhammer, Stephen Hamilton)
- “Reintroduced mammals and plant invaders as key drivers of ecosystem processes in coastal and interior grasslands” — Researchers from Sonoma State University and UC Davis will study how reintroducing tule elk and reducing invasive Harding grass affects the availability of soil nutrients and the composition of plant communities. (Caroline Christian, J. Hall Cushman, Valerie Eviner)
- “Genetics of plant defense responses to pesticides and spider mites on grapes” — Scientists from UC Davis and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will conduct laboratory, greenhouse and field studies to learn more about factors affecting grapevine response to spider mites, including cultivar resistance, drought impact and pesticide exposure. (Michael Costello, Richard Karban, Andrew Walker, Jeffrey Wong)
- “Defining the functions of polyphenol oxidase in walnut” — Through genetic analysis, researchers at CSU San Marcos and UC Davis seek to learn more about an enzyme involved in the postharvest browning of cut or bruised fruit. (Matthew Escobar, Monica Britton, Abhaya Dandekar)
- “Modeling the costs of hazardous fuel reduction thinning treatments and removal of woody biomass for energy” — Researchers from Humboldt State University, UC Davis, and the U.S. Forest Service will develop a model to estimate the costs of removing hazardous wildland fuels with different equipment and systems over a wide range of forest stand, site and road conditions. (Han-Sup Han, Bruce Hartsough)
- “Restoration of pollinator communities and pollination function in riparian habitats” — Researchers from California State University, Chico, and UC Davis will characterize native pollinator communities at restored riparian habitats within the Central Valley and test whether successful restoration of pollinator communities also leads to restoration of pollination. (Christopher Ivey, Neal Williams)
- “Estimating alfalfa’s impact on regional nitrogen budgets and nitrate leaching losses in the Central Valley of California” — Researchers from California State University, Fresno, and UC Davis will collect alfalfa and non-legume plants from irrigated fields and also identify San Joaquin Valley farm sites for a multi-year study of alfalfa’s impact on regional nitrogen budgets, groundwater nitrate leaching, and nitrogen requirements of rotation crops. (Bruce Roberts, Stuart Pettygrove, Daniel Putnam)
- “Community and ecosystem response to elevated nitrogen in managed grassland ecosystems” — Restoration ecologists from Cal Poly Pomona and UC Berkeley will investigate how elevated nitrogen levels affect competition among native and exotic plant species with regard to fuel characteristics at UC’s South Coast Research and Extension Center. (Erin Questad, Katharine Suding)
Reports on project outcomes are expected in December 2012.
Pump-and-fertilize a potential solution to groundwater nitrate
By itself, pump-and-fertilize won't be enough, said Thomas Harter, the lead author of the report, Addressing Nitrate in California's Drinking Water. It won't work in areas where there is too much salt in the groundwater, for example. Also, more fresh water must be allowed to seep into the underground aquifer. The fresh water will replace the tainted water and refill underground areas that have been overpumped in the past.
Dare to be different: Think beyond tomatoes, peppers
Laura Christman, Redding Record-Searchlight
When planning a summer garden, try some unusual vegetables, like heat-tolerant greens and odd tubers, the article suggests.
"Most people love tomatoes and a good sweet pepper, but that's not the be-all, end-all of summer nutritional health," said Sean Kriletich, a gardening expert with University of California Cooperative Extension Sierra Central.
Mixing things up in the garden yields different flavors, more nutrition, additional colors, textures and beneficial insects.
Working to achieve healthy crops while limiting nitrate in water
UC Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station researchers are working with growers on fertilizer management, irrigation efficiency and other farming practices to provide options for protecting groundwater, which serves as a primary drinking water source for many rural communities. The following are some examples of ANR research and extension projects under way. The scientists’ names are hyperlinked to their contact information.
Quick nitrate test guides fertilizer management
Michael Cahn and Richard Smith, UC Cooperative Extension advisors in Monterey County, and Tim Hartz, UCCE specialist in the department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, have developed a quick test to measure soil nitrate in the field so growers can match fertilizer rates with plant needs. The test has reduced nitrogen-loading rates by an average of 70 pounds per acre in lettuce. On-farm demonstration trials have shown that by testing the soil, growers can reduce their fertilizer use by about 30 percent. Major growers in Monterey County, who manage a significant number of vegetable acres in the Salinas Valley, have begun using the quick nitrate test in their operations. For more information read the summary article on p. 5 and fine tuning article on p. 12 of Crop Notes.
Assessing plant nutrient status
Leaf sampling is a common method of determining when a nut tree has a nutrient deficiency. Patrick H. Brown, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis and Agricultural Experiment Station pomologist, and his colleagues are studying other ways of assessing plant nutrient status to help almond and pistachio growers manage fertilizer applications with more precision. For more information, see Crop Nutrient Status and Demand.
NBOT aids dairies in nutrient planning
The Nitrogen Budget Optimization Tool (NBOT) is a planning tool being developed for dairies by David Crohn, professor and UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Sciences at UC Riverside. NBOT is an algorithm that uses a daily time step to represent crop nitrogen demand, nitrogen mineralization and losses from leaching, denitrification and ammonia volatilization. Typical nitrogen application charts tell how much nitrogen a crop needs during the growing season, but they do not say when the crop will need it. With NBOT, dairy operators input information about the crop they are growing, how much they expect to harvest and when they can apply manures. NBOT’s output gives an idealized management strategy that helps dairy operators decide what they should do all year round.
N-Ledger software addresses nitrogen management
A software program under development by a team headed by Marsha Campbell Mathews, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Stanislaus County, will help dairy operators and other farmers improve nitrogen management by calculating when nitrogen applied in manure is expected to be released from organic form into a form that the crops can use. Nitrogen applications are tracked, release rates are estimated and adjusted for expected losses, and the calculated total is compared to the expected daily crop need for nitrogen. The program helps the user choose an application strategy that will meet the crop’s needs and result in the least possible amount of nitrate in the soil during periods when it is vulnerable to leaching or other losses. For more information, see the UC Cooperative Extension in Stanislaus County Manure Nutrient Management website.
Adjusting field length can reduce irrigation levels
In his research on how dairy operators can reduce water applications to their crops, Larry Schwankl, UC Cooperative Extension specialist at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, has found that allowing less water to percolate will reduce impacts on groundwater. With shorter furrows, water applied per acre was cut nearly in half. In addition, manure water is often added to fresh water as part of dairy irrigation and fertigation practices, so being able to reduce the applied water also significantly reduces the amount of nitrogen applied. For more information, see Schwankl's Irrigation Management website.
UC helps dairy industry manage nitrogen on the farm
It is common practice for dairy operators to use cattle manure as fertilizer for their silage crops. UC Cooperative Extension advisors throughout California routinely provide reliable information to dairy operators and consultants so they can efficiently manage nitrogen on the farm and comply with pending state regulations. This information includes how to install and calibrate flow meters, how to measure nitrogen levels in manure ponds, how much nitrogen crops need and when they need it, and how to properly sample the crops that are harvested to know how much nitrogen is being removed. “We’ve developed protocols to ensure accurate information gathering, and we can share these with the dairy industry,” said Carol Frate, UCCE advisor in Tulare County. For more information, contact a UC Cooperative Extension dairy advisor.
To see other ANR projects and publications aimed at limiting nitrate leaching, please visit http://ucanr.edu/News/Healthy_crops,_safe_water.
Nitrate report covered extensively in news media
Drinking water risk in the Central Valley
KGET - TV, Bakersfield
Canella statement on report about nitrates in drinking water
Sen. Anthony Canella, The Merced Sun-Star
Project assesses management of nitrate on farms
Kate Campbell, AgAlert
UC nitrate report prompts calls for action
Central Valley Business Times
Nitrate pollution beginning to affect Salinas water quality
Larry Parsons, The Monterey County Herald
Nitrates in California drinking water, study finds
Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle
Groundwater nitate contamination grows in California farm areas
Bettina Boxall, The Los Angeles Times
Study: Drinking water at risk from California agriculture
Donna Jones, The San Jose Mercury News
Widespread nitrate contamination reported
United Press International
UC study: Cropland threatens drinking water for 250,000 in Valley
Mark Grossi, The Fresno Bee
(Also in the Sacramento Bee and Modesto Bee)
Report: Calif. nitrate contamination spreading
Gosia Wozniacka, Associated Press
Study Cites Risk For Farm Belt Drinking Water
Sasha Kocha, The California Report
Viewpoints: Risks, costs will rise from contamination of drinking water
Thomas Harter and Jay Lund, UC Davis, The Sacramento Bee
(Also in the Modesto Bee)
Farming communities facing crisis over nitrate pollution, study says
Stett Holbrook, Food & Environment Reporting Network, MSNBC
Report: Nitrate from Fertilizer Polluting Drinking Water in Ag Regions
Lon Abbott, Public News Service