Water Quality Effects on Eucalyptus ET

by Allen Dong, Univ of California, Davis, United States,
Kenneth Tanji, Univ of California, Davis, United States,
Steve Grattan, Univ of California, Davis, United States,
Fawzi Karajeh, Univ of California, Davis, United States,
Marc Parlange, Univ of California, Davis, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Irrigation and Drainage: Saving a Threatened Resource?In Search of Solutions

Abstract:

The researchers are testing established methods for measuring evapotranspiration (ET) from a 6-year old plantation of Eucalyptus camaldulensis containing about 3,000 trees per ha in a saline soil environment using the Bowen ratio-energy balance method, the sensible heat eddy correlation-energy balance method, and a modified Priestley-Taylor model. The eddy correlation technique using a 1-D sonic anemometer in conjunction with a fast response Krypton hygrometer was also used during the end of the 1991 season. Accurate ET measurements from eucalyptus in this 9.43 ha plantation are difficult due to the long and narrow field configuration. The literature reports crop coefficients between 1.2 to 1.5 for a full-cover of unstressed trees while our best measurements are only 0.83 of the reference ET measured at a nearby weather station. We attribute our low coefficient value to a salinity stress, and possibly boron that has accumulated in the tree root zone from saline drainage water that was used to meet tree water needs. This practice is one of the potential strategies that growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, California, are considering to reduce drainage volume.

Subject Headings: Salt water | Water quality | Trees | Drainage | Evapotranspiration | Eddy (fluid dynamics) | Water reclamation | California | United States

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