TEMPORAL PERSISTENCE OF SPATIAL SOIL-WATER PATTERNS UNDER TRICKLE IRRIGATION

Trickle irrigation of perennial crops results in local wetting near trees and vines. Methods to measure soil-water content or storage within the root zone generally require intensive instrumentation to characterize spatial patterns of soil water adequately. The goals of this research were to determine if spatial patterns of soil-water storage under trickle irrigation are temporally presistent which may make it feasible to use less intense sampling to characterize total storage. Soil-water storage from the 0 to 1.5 m soil depth was measured at 23 sites on one side of trickle-irrigated almond trees using a neutron probe over three years in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Measurements were made on two trees in each of five different irrigation treatments. The persistence of spatial patterns with time was evaluated using Spearman rank correlation and relative differences from mean values. Spatial patterns were different for each tree and irrigation treatment but remained fairly persistent with time during a season. In many cases, temporal changes in soil-water storage were adequately estimated from a single location. Single sampling locations identified during one year gave estimates of mean storage during the following year with some increase in error. However, use of the same sampling locations for more than two years increased the error in storage estimates. Soil-water content or storage in trickle-irrigated orchards may be monitored by intense sampling during the early part of the irrigation season in order to identify locations giving mean soil-water storage. Only these locations may then be sampled to monitor changes in soil water.