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The objectives of this study were to evaluate the leaching, degradation, uptake, and mass balance of indaziflam, as well as its potential to produce phytotoxicity effects on young pecan trees. Pecan trees were planted in pots with homogeneous porous media (sandy loam soil), preferential flow channels open to the soil surface, and shallow tillage at the soil surface. Pots were treated with indaziflam at two application rates of 25 and 50 g a.i./ha in 2014 and 2015. Each pecan tree was irrigated with 7 L of water every 2 weeks during the growing season. An irrigation volume of 2 L was used to maximize indaziflam retention time in the soil from Dec. 2015 until the end of the trees’ dormant stage. In 2014, leachate samples were collected after each irrigation for quantifying indaziflam mobility. Soil samples were collected at depths of 0 to 12 and 12 to 24 cm after 45, 90, and 135 days of indaziflam application, and leaf samples were collected at the end of the growing season to quantify mobility and uptake. Indaziflam was detected in leachate samples, and the leaf indaziflam content increased with increasing application rate. Indaziflam and its breakdown products were detected at both sampling depths. Mass recovery and half-life values for indaziflam in the soil ranged from 38% to 68% and 63 to 99 days, respectively. No phytotoxicity effects were observed from increasing application rate and retention time of indaziflam in the soil. Most of the applied indaziflam was retained in the soil at shallow depth.

Water scarcity is a major problem for crop production around the world including Southwestern United States and growers are increasingly using groundwater for agriculture in Southern New Mexico. Most of the groundwater in New Mexico is brackish and continuous long-term use could lead to salt accumulation in the soil. Reverse osmosis (RO) can desalinate brackish groundwater (BGW), however, environmentally safe disposal of RO concentrate is costly. This greenhouse study evaluated the effects of BGW and RO concentrate at various growth stages of two chile pepper cultivars, NuMex Joe E. Parker and NuMex Sandia Select. Five salinity treatments were applied to plants, three of them used saline waters of 0.6 (control), 4.0 (BGW), and 8.0 dS/m (RO) throughout the growing season, whereas the other two changed waters of 4.0 and 8.0 dS/m to waters of 2.0 and 6.0 dS/m from the beginning of the flowering stage. Number of flowers, days to flowering, relative plant heights, relative fresh biomass, fruit yields, photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductivity (g _S), and actual evapotranspiration (ETa) significantly decreased with increasing irrigation water salinity levels. Concentrations of Mg²⁺, Na⁺, and Cl⁻ in plants increased with increasing water salinity levels. Changing to irrigation with reduced salinity waters of 2.0 and 6.0 dS/m at the flowering stage initiated reproductive development more rapidly and alleviated the adverse influence of salinity on the number of flowers of chile pepper, plant height, Pn, as well as fresh shoot and fruit weight than that with continuous irrigation with electrical conductivity (EC) of 4.0 dS/m and 8.0 dS/m beyond the flowering stage. Irrigation that practices a change from high salinity to lower salinity at the flowering stage can optimize the use of saline irrigation water for growing chile peppers.

Diurnal and temporal patterns of stem water potential (ψ_stem) and leaf water potential (ψ_leaf) were determined during June to Sept. 2010 and 2011 at lower (2.5 m tree height), mid- (4.6 m), and upper (7.6 m) canopy positions for two flood-irrigated, mature pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] orchards near Las Cruces, NM. Diurnal measurements of ψ_stem and ψ_leaf at three canopy heights were correlated under both dry and wet soil conditions. However, although soil water contents at Site 2 (silty clay loam texture) remained higher compared with Site 1 (sandy loam), ψ_stem and ψ_leaf values, particularly under dry soil conditions at Site 2, were consistently lower, showing the effect of clayey soil texture on pecan water stress. Diurnal patterns of ψ_stem and ψ_leaf indicated that measurements of ψ_stem and ψ_leaf should be made close to early afternoon (between 1400 and 1500 hr Mountain Standard Time) to evaluate mature pecan water stress, which also corresponded to maximum climatic stress conditions. Midday ψ_stem and ψ_leaf measured at three canopy heights over several irrigation cycles during the 2010 season were correlated with one another, midday soil water content at different depths, and atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Multiple regression analysis [between midday ψ_stem or ψ_leaf and midday θ_avg (soil water content at 0 to 40 cm), air temperature (T_md), and relative humidity (RH_md)] during the 2010 season revealed that two-parameter regression models [ψ_stem or ψ_leaf = f (midday θ_avg and T_md)] were the most significant for the interpretation of midday ψ_stem or ψ_leaf at both sites. Using the two-parameter model, predictions of ψ_stem and ψ_leaf measured on the both shaded and sunlit sides of trees at three canopy heights for 2011 showed good agreement between measured and predicted ψ_stem and ψ_leaf (R ² ranged from 0.70 to 0.98). Two-parameter models derived in an earlier study generally underpredicted ψ_stem both in 2010 and 2011, which further supported the importance of the time of midday ψ_stem and ψ_leaf measurements suggested in this study.

Appropriate soil management practices and correct use of agrochemicals for crop protection are essential to alleviate stresses that affect the quality and yield of pecans [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch]. A greenhouse study was conducted to evaluate the effect of soil surface manipulation and indaziflam application on evapotranspiration (ET) and gas exchange parameters of pecan trees, and phytotoxicity effects of indaziflam on pecan trees. Trees were planted in large pots with a homogeneous porous media (HM), including the controls (C), preferential flow channels open at the soil surface (PF), and preferential flow channels with surface soil manually tilled to 5 cm depth [shallow tillage (ST)]. Trees with HM, PF, and ST were treated with 50 g a.i./ha of indaziflam in 2014 and 2015, whereas an application rate of 150 g a.i./ha was used for trees with HM and ST in 2016. All trees were irrigated about every 14 days with 7 L of water in 2014 and 2015, and 5 L in 2016. A water balance analysis determined the ET in different treatments in 2014 and 2015. Gas exchange parameters were measured before and after irrigation in 2015 and 2016. Photosynthetic rates in C, HM, PF, and ST were consistently significantly lower before than after irrigation. PF and ST did not decrease the available water content of the soil because there was no significant difference in the volume of effluent, ET, and gas exchange parameters among the treatments. No herbicide injury symptoms and no influence on gas exchange parameters and ET were observed after using both application rates of indaziflam.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are fueling global climate change, with methane and nitrous oxide being the primary agricultural gases emitted. It has been shown that N₂O emissions correlate to moisture content fluctuations; however, emissions from agricultural fields in the semiarid regions of the Southwest where rewetting events occur regularly are not well established. The scope of this study was to quantify GHG emissions in correlation to soil moisture fluctuations and fertilizer application. The study was conducted continuously in two pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] orchards between Aug. 2010 and Aug. 2011 on a sandy loam soil (La Mancha) and a silty clay loam soil (Leyendecker), both under normal management practices. The small chamber technique was used to measure GHGs. Emissions varied greatly throughout the year. The largest flux of CO₂ at La Mancha and Leyendecker both occurred during a drying event immediately following an irrigation event: 84,642.49 μg·m⁻²·h⁻¹ and 30,338.24 μg·m⁻²·h⁻¹, respectively. The net CH₄ flux at Leyendecker and La Mancha was close to zero with the largest emissions occurring during wetting events. Results showed that N₂O emissions were maintained near the baseline except for the few days following an irrigation event. The largest emission peak at La Mancha occurred after irrigation and nitrogen application: 322.06 μg·m⁻²·h⁻¹. The largest emission peaks of 26.37 and 1.13 μg·m⁻²·h⁻¹ at Leyendecker and La Mancha, respectively, occurred after irrigation, nitrogen application, and tillage. Nitrogen application was the driving factor affecting N₂O emissions at La Mancha, whereas soil moisture content was the driving factor at Leyendecker. Emission factors (EFs) at La Mancha and Leyendecker were 0.49% and 0.05%, respectively. A thorough accounting of GHG emissions is necessary for budgeting and identifying mitigation policy.

Salinity responses and salinity-related suppression of budbreak of drip-irrigated pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] seedlings under different irrigation water salinity (EC_IRR) levels were investigated in the pot-in-pot system. The 1-year-old pecan seedlings of rootstock ‘Riverside’ grafted with ‘Western Schley’ scions were transplanted in pots filled with sandy loam soil and grown for 2 years under the same amount of irrigation water but four irrigation EC_IRR treatment levels consisting of 1.4 dS·m⁻¹ (control), and three qualities of irrigation water obtained by using a solution of calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and sodium chloride (NaCl) in a ratio of 2:1 (by weight) to reach the EC_IRR levels of 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 dS·m⁻¹, respectively. The leachate electrical conductivity (EC_d) was highly correlated with soil salinity (EC_1:1) and was significantly higher when the irrigation EC_IRR treatment levels increased from 1.4 (control) to 7.5 dS·m⁻¹. However, both EC_d and EC_1:1 remained nearly constant within the same irrigation EC_IRR treatment level during both years. Increasing salinity in irrigation water, particularly the EC_IRR levels of 5.5 and 7.5 dS·m⁻¹, showed significantly low seedling height and stem diameter growth and delayed or even inhibited budbreak in the seedlings. The EC_1:1 that inhibited seedling heights, stem diameters, and budbreak was somewhere between 0.89 and 2.71 dS·m⁻¹ (or EC_IRR between 1.4 and 3.5 dS·m⁻¹ and EC_d between 2.10 and 4.86 dS·m⁻¹), providing that soil water content was not a limiting factor in the root zone and irrigation water was uniformly distributed in the confined root zone to obtain uniform salt leaching. The visual symptoms of leaf scorch for irrigation EC_IRR levels of 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 dS·m⁻¹ also indicated that somewhere between 0.89 and 2.71 dS·m⁻¹ of the EC_1:1, salt injury started to occur. Increasing salinity in irrigation water significantly increased chloride (Cl^–) accumulation but reduced nitrogen (N) content in the scorched leaves, particularly under the irrigation EC_IRR levels of 5.5 and 7.5 dS·m⁻¹. Leaf scorch symptoms in pecan seedlings were likely associated with Cl^– toxicity. No pecan seedlings under the irrigation EC_IRR treatment levels of 5.5 and 7.5 dS·m⁻¹ survived to the end of the 2-year growing period. Thus, threshold EC_1:1 was somewhere between 0.89 and 2.71 dS·m⁻¹ beyond which plant injury increases with increasing EC_1:1 threatening the survival of pecan seedlings.

Water saving, productivity, and quality of the chile pepper were evaluated under three irrigation treatments. Three drip irrigation treatments used were 1) control, where water was applied at the surface using two drip emitters; 2) partial root-zone drying vertically (PRD_v), where subsurface irrigation was applied at 20 cm depth from soil surface; and 3) partial root-zone drying compartment (PRD_c), where roots were divided into two compartments and irrigation was applied to one of the compartments on every alternate-day cycle for 15 days. Continuous measurements of soil water content were carried out during the growing seasons of 2013 and 2014, respectively. During both growing seasons, the stomatal conductance (g _S) and net photosynthetic rates (P_n) were similar among all treatments including the control. In both PRD treatments, a higher rooting depth and root length density (RLD) than the control likely compensated for the water stress in dry soil zones by taking up more water from the water available parts of the root-soil system. In PRD_c and PRD_v treatments, 30% less water was applied than control without significant changes to plant stress expressed by stem water potential, plant height, capsaicinoid concentration, and yield. The increased irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) demonstrated water saving potential of both PRD techniques for chile pepper production in water-limited arid environments.