Subsurface drip fertigation is being studied in the lab after two years of field experiments on durum and pinto bean crops
Subsurface drip irrigation systems have been installed on about 2,700 acres in Alberta, and research is underway into fertilizer application through subsurface drip systems.
Rezvan Karimi Dehkordi, research associate in the irrigation science department at Lethbridge College, has completed two years of in-field experiments on durum and pinto beans conducted near Lomond, Alta.
Now she is studying subsurface drip fertigation in the college’s soil laboratory and plans further research this summer in the irrigation demonstration farm that the college acquired last year when the provincial agriculture department began dismantling its research capacity.
Read Also
Volunteers help exotic animal farm rebuild
Exotic animal farm loses beloved camel and pony to huge hail storm that gripped the Brooks, Alta. area as a community member starts a fundraiser to help the family recover from the financial and emotional damage.
Corn, hemp and canola crops are on her radar for future research.
“We don’t have a good data source in southern Alberta and basically Canada. All our data is from the U.S. and so we need to validate all the information that we need for southern Alberta,” Dehkordi said in an interview.
Subsurface fertigation is a method of applying water and water-soluble fertilizer to plants’ root zones so both water and nutrients can be readily used by crops. It also reduces evaporation losses and the risk of fertilizer runoff.
It involves the use of pipes that are trenched into fields at a depth of 10 to 12 inches. Water and fertilizer are then applied through small nozzles underground.
Dehkordi’s research used the method on durum in 2019 and on pinto beans in 2020, with different fertilizer applications and frequency. The durum showed a yield increase of 1.5 times the check plot, while little difference was seen in pinto bean yields, likely because it was a wetter year.
In a news release about Dehkordi’s Lomond-area work, landowner Matthew Wiens said it validated some of his own observations.
“Instead of just getting a yield result at the end, we could watch how the fertigation was affecting the plants throughout the season so in the end we’re starting to better pinpoint the timing of the fertigation and when is it the most helpful within that plant’s growth cycle,” said Wiens.
Dehkordi said installation of subsurface drip irrigation is more expensive than installing the more common pivot irrigation systems, “but it’s going to last 25 years and basically you can trade off the cost with higher yield.”
By dividing the system into various zones within a field, farmers can apply different rates of water and fertilizer based on field conditions and plant needs.
Dehkordi is now doing lab research involving clay soil and sandy soil, at different fertigation timings and rates, to learn optimum methods for managing fertigation in different soil types.
