scholarly journals Hybrid Bermudagrass and Tall Fescue Turfgrass Irrigation in Central California: I. Assessment of Visual Quality, Soil Moisture and Performance of an ET-Based Smart Controller

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1666
Author(s):  
Amir Haghverdi ◽  
Maggie Reiter ◽  
Anish Sapkota ◽  
Amninder Singh

Research-based information regarding the accuracy and reliability of smart irrigation controllers for autonomous landscape irrigation water conservation is limited in central California. A two-year irrigation research trial (2018–2019) was conducted in Parlier, California, to study the response of hybrid bermudagrass and tall fescue to varying irrigation scenarios (irrigation levels and irrigation frequency) autonomously applied using a Weathermatic ET-based smart controller. The response of turfgrass species to the irrigation treatments was visually assessed and rated. In addition, turfgrass water response functions (TWRFs) were developed to estimate the impact of irrigation scenarios on the turfgrass species based on long-term mean reference evapotranspiration (ETo) data. The Weathermatic controller overestimated ETo between 5and 7% in 2018 and between 5 and 8% in 2019 compared with California Irrigation Management Information System values. The controller closely followed programmed watering-days restrictions across treatments in 2018 and 2019 and adjusted the watering-days based on ETo demand when no restriction was applied. The low half distribution uniformity and precipitation rate of the irrigation system were 0.78 and 28 mm h−1, respectively. The catch-cans method substantially underestimated the precipitation rate of the irrigation system and caused over-irrigation by the smart controller. No water-saving and turfgrass quality improvement was observed owing to restricting irrigation frequency (watering days). For the hybrid bermudagrass, the visual rating (VR) for 101% ETo treatment stayed above the minimum acceptable value of six during the trial. For tall fescue, the 108% ETo level with 3 d wk−1 frequency kept the VR values in the acceptable range in 2018 except for a short period in mid-trial. The TWRF provided a good fit to experimental data with r values of 0.79 and 0.75 for tall fescue and hybrid bermudagrass, respectively. The estimated VR values by TWRF suggested 70–80% ETo as the minimum irrigation application to maintain the acceptable hybrid bermudagrass quality in central California during the high water demand months (i.e., May to August) based on long-term mean ETo data. The TWRF estimations suggest that 100% ETo would be sufficient to maintain the tall fescue quality for only 55 days. This might be an overestimation impacted by the relatively small tall fescue VR data in 2019 owing to minimal fertilizer applications and should be further investigated in the future.

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1733
Author(s):  
Amir Haghverdi ◽  
Maggie Reiter ◽  
Amninder Singh ◽  
Anish Sapkota

As the drought conditions persist in California and water continues to become less available, the development of methods to reduce water inputs is extremely important. Therefore, improving irrigation water use efficiency and developing water conservation strategies is crucial for maintaining urban green infrastructure. This two-year field irrigation project (2018–2019) focused on the application of optical and thermal remote sensing for turfgrass irrigation management in central California. We monitored the response of hybrid bermudagrass and tall fescue to varying irrigation treatments, including irrigation levels (percentages of reference evapotranspiration, ETo) and irrigation frequency. The ground-based remote sensing data included NDVI and canopy temperature, which was subsequently used to calculate the crop water stress index (CWSI). The measurements were done within two hours of solar noon under cloud-free conditions. The NDVI and canopy temperature data were collected 21 times in 2018 and 10 times in 2019. For the tall fescue, a strong relationship was observed between NDVI and visual rating (VR) values in both 2018 (r = 0.92) and 2019 (r = 0.83). For the hybrid bermudagrass, there was no correlation in 2018 and a moderate correlation (r = 0.72) in 2019. There was a moderate correlation of 0.64 and 0.88 in 2018 and 2019 between tall fescue canopy minus air temperature difference (dt) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) for the lower CWSI baseline. The correlation between hybrid bermudagrass dt and VPD for the lower baseline was 0.69 in 2018 and 0.64 in 2019. Irrigation levels significantly impacted tall fescue canopy temperature but showed no significant effect on hybrid bermudagrass canopy temperature. For the same irrigation levels, increasing irrigation frequency slightly but consistently decreased canopy temperature without compromising the turfgrass quality. The empirical CWSI values violated the minimum expected value (of 0) 38% of the time. Our results suggest NDVI thresholds of 0.6–0.65 for tall fescue and 0.5 for hybrid bermudagrass to maintain acceptable quality in the central California region. Further investigation is needed to verify the thresholds obtained in this study, particularly for hybrid bermudagrass, as the recommendation is only based on 2019 data. No CWSI threshold was determined to maintain turf quality in the acceptable range because of the high variability of CWSI values over time and their low correlation with VR values.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bouasone Sengsourivong ◽  
Masaru Ichihashi

This study estimates the impact of irrigation on household sticky rice productivity in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) by applying propensity score matching (PSM) and the difference-in-differences (DID) method. This paper utilizes panel data from the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey (LECS) from 2003 to 2013. The results show that the average sales value and total production of sticky rice for irrigated households is greater than those for non-irrigated households by around 36 to 38% per season. Moreover, irrigated households experience improved sticky rice productivity of approximately 2.44 tons per hectare, per season, compared to non-irrigated households. In particular, compared to households with access to irrigation in one period of the surveys, households with access to irrigation in two periods of the surveys have nearly double the sticky rice productivity. Therefore, long-term access to irrigation is more effective for sticky rice productivity. However, we cannot find any evidence to support the impact of irrigation on household consumption. Some policy implications that can be derived from this research are that farmers should be intensively promoted to make the most use of irrigation, development of irrigation system is highly needed, and to ensure effectiveness of irrigation utilization local farmer involvement in monitoring procedure of irrigation is necessary.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-455
Author(s):  
Thomas Henry Marek ◽  
Dana Porter ◽  
Terry A. Howell ◽  
Gary W. Marek ◽  
David Brauer

Highlights Irrigation scheduling using accurate ET network data can conserve energy and water. ET networks can be a valuable, cost effective, and feasible management tool in water policy. The Texas High Plains ET Network saved irrigated producers an estimated $US 22M dollars annually. ET network benefits and use extend beyond the agricultural sector. Abstract . Evapotranspiration (ET) networks have been developed and used to support weather and related ET information needs of U.S. agricultural production for nearly half a century, but many networks have been affected by inherent problems associated with sustaining operations. Consequently, these challenges have led to the discontinuation of network service in many cases. Most ET networks have been impacted by inadequate financial support compounded by inadequate public awareness and understanding of their usefulness and value in irrigation management, water conservation and water planning, and policy activities. Data accuracy is vital to usefulness, yet network data quality is often degraded when limited resources result in reduced equipment maintenance and data QA/QC. A discussion of ET network requirements and associated costs is presented. Estimates of the value and pumping reduction using the Texas High Plains ET networks are presented documenting the improvements of crop water use estimates and the impact associated with these improvements on irrigation groundwater withdrawal. Keywords: ET network, Evapotranspiration network, Irrigation scheduling, Irrigation value, Water management tools, Water savings.


Blood ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 104 (11) ◽  
pp. 5293-5293
Author(s):  
Cesare Perotti ◽  
Paola Isernia ◽  
Claudia Del Fante ◽  
Gianluca Viarengo ◽  
Daniela Bressan ◽  
...  

Abstract Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) is an effective, relatively new technique, FDA approved for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, employed as second-third line treatment in patients affected with GVHD not or poorely responsive to standard immunosuppressive drugs. Both aGVHD and cGVHD are the major complications after stem cell transplantation (till to 50% and 80% of the patients, respectively). Corticosteroids, cyclosporine, micofenolate, tacrolimus and various experimental monoclonal antibodies (anti CD40 ligand, anti TNFα etc) are the drugs employed to control GVHD and are burdened with important short and long term side effects. Recently we revised our data about 102 pts (children and adults) treated by ECP in our Institution. The overall response was 75%, permitting to taper or suspend the immunosuppressive therapy (IST) in 67.6% of the pts. The economical and social impact (cost analysis and quality of life) of ECP vs standard IST was calculated basing on the National Price List and on Short Form Quality of Life (QoL) Scoring System. The cost of ECP comprehensive of the leukapheresis procedure, waste matherials and dedicated personnel was estimated as 684.51 Euro/procedure. On the other side, when the solely costs of the most common IST drugs (corticosteroids, cyclosporine) were considered for 5 months of treatment, an evident and obvious economical advantage emerged (120,3 E). On the contrary, when the costs of hospitalisation and day hospital regimen derived from the most common side effects related to the solely use of IST were included in our cost analysis studies, an economical advantage for long term ECP treatment (calculated on 16 procedures) was demonstrated (14952.16 E vs 17553 E). Moreover, when the “real life implication” calculated on the QoL parameters were considered, the advantages were more evident. In conclusion, the tie of respecting strictly an imposed program of budget calculated on the short period may exert an inhibitory effect in introducing new diagnostic or therapeutic procedures ignoring that the improvement or the cure of the patient has always a positive economical counterpart, expecially when the impact of a new technology is considered in a long term view.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Gornostal

On the basis of many years of research conducted at the Aley River irrigation system and generalization of literary materials, the impact of irrigation on soil fertility, composition and properties of chernozemic, meadow chernozemic and chernozemic meadow soils, their water and salt regime, and crop productivity has been established. A comprehensive assessment of the long-term impact of irrigation on the change in the hydrophysical and chemical properties of soils and the ecological and reclamation state of the irrigated area is given. The influence of long-term irrigation on the nature and direction of the dynamics of groundwater and salt levels in soils is revealed. The water and salt balance of soils has been compiled, depending on the characteristics and duration of irrigation. It is proved that in conditions of insufficient drainage of the territory, non-compliance with scientifically grounded irrigation regimes, rational irrigation techniques, violation of agricultural technology and crop rotation during long-term irrigation leads to the deterioration of some properties of soils, their salinization and alkalination. Regularities and changes in soil-amelioration conditions during prolonged irrigation of land have been established.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravena Melo Ribeiro da Silva ◽  
Ana Cláudia de Brito Câmara ◽  
Ellen Karla Chaves Vieira Koga ◽  
Iza Maria Fraga Lobo ◽  
Wellington Barros da Silva

Abstract Background: Antimicrobials are among the most prescribed drugs in ICUs, where the use of these drugs is approximately 10 times greater than that of other wards. Even so, it is observed that between 30 to 60% of antimicrobial prescriptions performed in these units are unnecessary or inadequate. Thus, surveillance of antimicrobial prescription is a first and essential step to identify potential overuse or misuse, which could be the target of interventions for antimicrobial administration.Methods: This is an observational, analytical, and prospective study conducted in two adult intensive care units (ICU 1 = surgical and ICU 2 = clinic), with 27 beds each. The study period was divided into pre-intervention (January to June 2019) and post-intervention (July to December 2019).Results: Overall, in the pre- and post-intervention period, 91.4% and 90.0%, respectively, of patients received at least one antimicrobial agent. The most frequently prescribed antimicrobial classes were carbapenems (PRE = 26.0% vs POST = 24.9%; p = 0.245) followed by glycopeptides (PRE = 21.0% vs POST = 18.6%; p = 0.056). Overall, there was a significant reduction in the duration of therapy (PRE = 727 LOT / 1000pd vs POST = 680 LOT / 1000pd; p = 0.028). The highest rates regarding the time of use of antimicrobials were observed for carbapenems, followed by glycopeptides, with significant reductions in the time of exposure of glycopeptides (PRE = 284 DOT / 1000pd vs POST = 234 DOT / 1000pd; p = 0.014) and polymyxin B (PRE = 121 DOT / 1000pd vs POST = 88 DOT / 1000pd; p = 0.029), and significant increases for penicillins (PRE = 25 DOT / 1000pd vs POST = 45 DOT / 1000pd; p = 0.009), and tigecycline ( PRE = 3 DOT / 1000pd vs POST = 27 DOT / 1000pd; p = 0.046).Conclusions: In general, the intervention of infectologists in intensive care units had a limited impact on the results evaluated. This may be due to the short period analyzed. Therefore, it is important to monitor the impact of these changes in the long term, drawing a more accurate assessment of the effectiveness of an intervention, with the implementation of active feedback.


2022 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung In Um ◽  
Uy Dong Sohn ◽  
Sun-Young Jung ◽  
Seung-Hun You ◽  
Changone Kim ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The pharmaceutical industry is heavily regulated. Partly for this reason, new drugs generally take over 10 years from the product development stage to market entry. Although regulations affect the pharmaceutical industry over a long period, previous studies investigating the impact of new regulatory policies have usually focused on the short period before and after implementing that policy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine whether and how significantly regulatory policies affect long-term innovation in the pharmaceutical industry in Korea. Methods This study focused on three significant regulatory policies: the introduction of the product patent system, changes in the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) system, and the Drug Expenditure Rationalization Plan (DERP). The study used interrupted time series (ITS) analysis to investigate the long-term impacts of the policies before and after implementation. Results Our results show that introducing the product patent system in 1987 significantly increased the number of Korean patent applications. The effect of the revised GMP policies was also statistically significant, both before and after implementation and between pre-emptive companies and non-pre-emptive ones. However, due to the companies' negotiations with the regulatory authorities or the regulatory system that links drug approval and price evaluation, the DERP did not significantly delay new drug registration in Korea. Conclusion This study showed that the policies of the product patent system, GMP policies, and DERP regulations have significantly encouraged pharmaceutical companies to strive to meet regulatory requirements and promote innovation in Korea. The study suggests that it is necessary for companies to pre-emptively respond to systemic changes in development and production strategies to deal with regulatory changes and achieve sustainable growth. Also, our study results indicate that since government policies motivate the innovative system of the pharmaceutical industry, governmental authorities, when formulating pharmaceutical policies, need to consider the impact on the long-term innovation of the industry.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 2816
Author(s):  
Israt Jahan ◽  
Mohammad Anwarul Abedin ◽  
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam ◽  
Mahmud Hossain ◽  
Tahsina Sharmin Hoque ◽  
...  

Globally, the risk of arsenic (As) contamination in soil and rice is well documented across the globe. In Bangladesh, drinking water and rice are two major exposure pathways of As to humans. Therefore, the efficiency of recent technologies to reduce rice As and associated human health risks still need to be deeply investigated. In this direction, a pot experiment was performed to investigate the impact of soil As and agronomic irrigation management on rice (cv. BRRI dhan28) growth, yield, As accumulation, and finally, health risks to humans from consuming rice. Treatment combinations were made with three levels of As (0, 20, and 40 mg kg−1) having two irrigation procedures, including alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and traditional continuous flooding (CF). According to the findings, As pollution in the soil lowered the yield contributing features and rice yield, including panicle length, filled grains per panicle, sterile grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, and straw yield. AWD water management significantly improved the growth performance and productivity of rice. Grain yield was increased by 13% in AWD compared to CF. Rice grain and straw As concentrations were increased to 0.56 mg kg−1 and 15.10 mg kg−1, respectively, in soil with 40 mg kg−1 As and CF water management. AWD treatment significantly reduced grain and straw As contents by 16% and 28%, respectively. Increased grain, straw, and total As uptake was noticed with higher soil As concentrations. The study also found that rising soil As raised non-carcinogenic risks (HQ > 1) and carcinogenic risks (CR > 1.010–4) while AWD lowered health risks compared to CF. Thus, rice farming using AWD irrigation could be a viable and long-term solution for reducing As contamination in rice and associated human health hazards.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Kristine Samoy-Pascual ◽  
Sudhir Yadav ◽  
Gio Evangelista ◽  
Mary Ann Burac ◽  
Marvelin Rafael ◽  
...  

Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) is a well-known low-cost water-saving and climate change adaptation and mitigation technique for irrigated rice. However, its adoption rate has been low despite the decade of dissemination in Asia, especially in the Philippines. Using cross-sectional farm-level survey data, this study empirically explored factors shaping AWD adoption in a gravity surface irrigation system. We used regression-based approaches to examine the factors influencing farmers’ adoption of AWD and its impact on yield. Results showed that the majority of the AWD adopters were farmers who practiced enforced rotational irrigation (RI) scheduling within their irrigators’ association (IA). With the current irrigation management system, the probability of AWD implementation increases when farmers do not interfere with the irrigation schedule (otherwise they opt to go with flooding). Interestingly, the awareness factor did not play a significant role in the farmers’ adoption due to the RI setup. However, the perception of water management as an effective weed control method was positively significant, suggesting that farmers are likely to adopt AWD if weeds are not a major issue in their field. Furthermore, the impact on grain yields did not differ with AWD. Thus, given the RI scheduling already in place within the IA, we recommend fine-tuning this setup following the recommended safe AWD at the IA scale.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandam Victoria Devi

The demand of water by various competing sectors, such as industry, power, drinking and irrigation, is increasing while the supply of available fresh water remains the same. This calls for efficient use of water in all sectors especially irrigation, which consumes the highest amount of water in India. Due to recurrence of drought and flood India suffered from famine, so after the Independence the government has rigorously pursued the construction of irrigation dams to increase agricultural production and meet the increasing demand of food. Construction of dams was given priority than management of irrigation projects. But due to a large gap between irrigation potential created and irrigation potential utilized, there was a paradigm shift in the irrigation sector. As a result, the concept of participatory irrigation management (PIM) was widely spread through seminars, National Water Policies and specific irrigation Command Area Development (CAD) programme. The first National Water Policy in 1987 and the subsequent policies had provisions for involvement of farmers in irrigation management for efficient use of irrigation water. Many states in India implemented PIM Act under the policy. It also applies to the northeastern region (NE region) of India. This region has a traditional irrigation system such as bamboo drip irrigation in Meghalaya, water conservation among the Apatanis of Arunachal Pradesh, zabo system of Nagaland and dong irrigation among the Bodos of Assam which are traditionally managed by the farmers. This article examines the farmers’ participation in irrigation management in the NE region. It attempts to highlight the changes of PIM policies, involvement of farmers or the Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) in irrigation management, constraints and suggest ways to strengthen them for efficient use of irrigation water in the NE region of India.


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