Managing soil salinity in groundwater irrigated vineyards

Product Information

We combined samples taken during the project with those taken a decade ago to assess whether annual cycles of saline high SAR irrigation in summer and non-saline low SAR rain in winter had caused an increase in soil sodicity and salinity. Above average winter rain in 2011 reclaimed sodic and saline soils. This indicated that any change in soil structure wrought by a decade of these cycles was not yet a significant impediment to leaching of salts and displacement of sodium from the clay exchange sites.

Over 200 growers have attended our presentations at workshops and seminars. Presentations at conferences and steering committee meetings have reached over another 100 growers. A large corporate winery (not involved as a collaborator in the current project) is working with SARDI to pilot rainfall re-direction in vineyards in SE Australia.