Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers AGROMETEOROLOGICAL SUPPORT OF FRUIT PRODUCTION: APPLICATION IN SW SLOVENIA Andreja Sušnik*, Iztok Matajc*, Ivan Kodrič** *Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia **Agricultural Advisory Service Nova Gorica N ovember, 2004

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Table of contents 1. Status of fruit-growing in Slovenia 2. Natural features in SW Slovenia - Vipava region 3. Irrigation programme in SW Slovenia 4. Slovenian Agrometeorological Information System – SAgMIS 5. SAgMIS & water use by irrigated peach trees in SW Slovenia

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Status of agriculture in Slovenia  ha utilized agricultural area in 2003  small parcels of agricultural land - on average 5.6 ha of land area/farm

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Status of fruit growing in Slovenia  10 fruit –growing areas in Slovenia  2-3 % of all agricultural land  extensive rural orchards prevail  contributing 3-5 % to the gross value of agricultural production  share of intensive orchard plantations is increasing for 20 % since 1991  5230 ha plantations in 2003 Source: Statistical Office Slovenia, 2004

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Natural features in Vipava valley Vipava valley ( photo: Kmetijstvo Vipava)  ha of land with average altitude 200 m  ha agricultural land, River Vipava,  artificial lake Vogršček 3.7 mill. m 3 of water

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Climatic features in Vipava valley  mediterranean climate features  yearly temperature 12-13°C, July 20.9°C, January 2.9 °C  740 mm of rain in the vegetation period (1600 mm yearly)  the driest month is February  289 days > 5° C,  211 days >10 ° C

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Irrigation in Slovenia – plan for SW  irrigation is not traditional agricultural practice in Slovenia; first irrigation systems were established in 1978  Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food in 2004 performed updated Feasibility study of National Irrigation Programme (NIP) from 1995  in 5 years cca ha should be established  7 % of proposed irrigated area representing orchard plantations Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, 2004

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Irrigation systems in Vipava valley – case study  1200 ha in operational phase  1. phase NIP proposes 2920 ha in Vipava valley  on 37.7 % fruit production is carried out  irrigation equipment specific regarding plant (combination with frost protection) Source: Kmetijstvo Vipava Meteorological station Bilje

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Slovenian Agrometeorological Information System –SAgMIS dataflow  EARS substantially improved SAgMIS over past ten years  emphasis on weather forecasts includance  irrigation forecast model IRRFIB  ALADIN model + ECMWF  mobile version in test phase

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 SAgMIS products  cumulative water balance for period  irrigation forecast model IRRFIB  ALADIN model + ECMWF WB 24 & 48 hours forecast

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 SAgMIS outputs: irrigation support model IRRFIB model output for peach tree on loamy sand soil Photo: Ivan Kodrič

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Water use by peach trees – regional study  the experiment was conducted with mature peach trees (Prunus persica L.) cv. Redhaven in Vipava valley using IRRFIB forecast model during irrigation period in the years from 1996 to 2004 on 300 ha  tree repartition in the orchard in Bilje is 2 m between the peach-trees in the row and 4 m between the tree rows =1250 peach-trees per hectare  1. step continuous monitoring of soil water content and water use by peach trees  2. step the application of SAgMIS system forecasts in the regulated irrigation

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Irrigation system methodology  each year irrigation started 40 to 50 days after full blossom of Redhaven peach trees  the latest date of full blossoming was in 1996 on April 11; the earliest date was on March 18 in 1997 when all peach orchards were hardly affected by severe spring frost (- 7 °C)  normal occurences of full blossoms between 1996 and 2004 were from March 27 to April 5  irrigation water applications ended in August 20 all the years just a week to ten days after fruit picking  irrigation forecasts were given all 9 years on the weekly basis and warnings for water applications were transmitted 4 days in advance; irrigation suspensions for water economization were also given 4 days before forecasted precipitation

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Irrigation system methodology  drip irrigation - daily recover of reference evapotranspiration with exclusion of water application for 2 days after precipitation > 10 mm and for 3 days after the daily amount of 20 mm of rain or more  2 sprinkler systems water applications:  applications of 30 mm of water after forecasted and occasionally measured soil water content achieved 50 % of soil water depletion  amount of water applied each time when it was forecasted, replenished the soil water reservoir up to field capacity (Fc)

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Irrigation techniques  3 different irrigation techniques have been applied during the period of 9 years from 1996 to 2004:  surface drip irrigation and  surface drip irrigation system included drippers at the distance of 50 cm along the tree lines in that way that each tree was irrigated with a pair of drippers  two classic sprinkler irrigation systems  classic sprinkler irrigation system with sprinklers above the trees installed in the triangle system 20 m x 20 m  one part of the orchard was irrigated with 30 mm of water each time it was forecasted  other part of the orchard was irrigated with the amounts of water to replenish the rooting profile up to field capacity (Fc)

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Water use by peach trees

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Results of irrigation water needs  controlled and guided irrigation of fruit orchards in Vipava valley:  960 m 3 of irrigation water for drip irrigation systems  1600 m 3 of irrigation water for sprinkler systems  the results are comparable with net average standard 1147 m 3 /ha/year for peach trees in submediterranean region Photo: Ivan Kodrič

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Benefits by SAgMIS use  potential benefit of forecasted sprinkler irrigation treatments showed that 17.7 % of irrigation water was spared during nine years investigation period  to m 3 of yearly average sprinkler irrigation water benefit on 300 ha irrigated peach orchards in lower Vipava valley  water consumption was by drip irrigation 38 % lower that of sprinkler irrigation with 30 mm water application and 44 % lower than sprinkler irrigation with Fc water applications

Geneva, SwitzerlandWMO/COST 718 ET meeting on Weather, Climate and Farmers N ovember, 2004 Conclusions: advantages and strenghts  application of SAgMIS system in close cooperation with Meteorological Forecast Office for different irrigation techniques showed the possibility of economization of irrigation water in the region on average up to 20 % yearly (drip irrigation even doubled)  SAgMIS forecast enable real-time, optimal irrigation water supply and no unnecessary water loss in subsoil, increase of crop productivity and reduce of drought risk  extension of the system over the fruit growing regions would require more complex weather and crop modelling, stronger and wider cooperation among end- users, extensions agricultural services and data providers in other regions of the country and among neighbouring countries and establishement of educative process