4d.Progress report.
This report serves to document research conducted under a specific cooperative agreement between ARS and the Center for Community Development, Nazareth, Israel (see CRIS 4001-22310-002-47S,). Funding is provided under a reimbursable agreement with the Department of State (see CRIS 4001-22310-002-44R) and work is in partnership with the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) (see CRIS 4001-22310-002-48S) and Jordan’s Ministry of Agriculture (see CRIS 4001-22310-002-46S.) Water scarcity and competing demands for water have become one of the key barriers to sustainable agriculture production in the Middle East. Under the direction of Drs. Tom Trout and James Ayars, ARS Water Management Research Laboratory, Parlier, CA, and Dr. Steven Evett, ARS Soil and Water Management Research Unit, Bushland, TX, the Middle Eastern co-operators will work to establish the technological and human infrastructure required to achieve long-term sustained water conservation in the Middle East and the U.S.

As part of the Irrigation Management Information System (IMIS) project, an Israeli researcher is visiting ARS for one year. The Israeli visiting researcher is Mr. Ron Seligmann, an Irrigation, Water Management, and Crop Production Engineer with the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Mr. Seligmann is working at the USDA-ARS-Water Management Research Lab in Parlier, California with the ARS scientists and Visiting Researchers (VRs) from Jordan and the Palestinian Authority on the multilateral US-Middle East IMIS project, from the November 15, 2004 through November 15, 2005.

Mr. Ron Seligmann and other VRs are engaged in pepper irrigation evaluations, located at of the ARS location in Parlier, CA. Trials compare 3 irrigation systems (furrow, drip and subsurface drip), each irrigating at 50, 75, 100 and 125% water. Crop irrigation coefficients in consideration with climatic data, evaporation-transpiration data and plant coverage were derived. Concentrating on the surface drip irrigation treatments, Mr. Seligmann is also deriving stress coefficients that can be used when feasible irrigation interval is limited (as might happen in the Mediterranean). Water consumption via soil water measurements and plant stress indicators via infrared camera will be examined. As nutrition plays an important role in small volume irrigation systems (e.g. drip), Mr. Seligmann is planning to use percolate collectors placed under ground to enable adjustment of fertilizer application according to plant need. A greenhouse pot trial with Pepper plants will be conducted at the Parlier station using weighing lysimeters with high-resolution reading. Calcium nutrition will be integrated into both field and greenhouse trials and its effect on plant performance will be studied.

In Israel, IMIS project cooperators installed two weather stations in the northern part of the country and the Israeli partners conducted two irrigation trials on almonds and cucumber at these two IMIS sites. The cucumber trial began in May and was completed at the end of July 2004. The IMIS cucumber experiment was conducted in Tamra region, a city in Western Galilee. The trial compared different irrigation treatments with meteorological data. The final intent is to supply farmers of the Tamra region with tools to determine required quantities of water for pickling cucumbers (“industrial cucumbers”) in the spring and summer months based on data provided by the meteorological station. The station transmits the data – soil and ambient temperatures, relative humidity, radiation, wind velocity and direction, precipitation, relative air humidity and the leaf surface dew– to the MIGAL Research Center where daily evapotranspiration is calculated according to the Penman-Monteith formula. To calibrate the station and find the appropriate coefficients for use, it is necessary to conduct a three-year evalutaion in Tamra. The evaluation is in its second year.

The IMIS almond project is located in Iksal, the Amiq Yezrael Valley. The project compares different irrigation treatments, and is blocked, randomized and replicated. Plots consist of five trees in a row, with only the middle three trees used for measurements. Using the nearby IMIS weather station and crop water use information, the effect of municipal effluent water on almond production is determined.

Overall progress in this program includes increased scientific cooperation amongst American, Israeli, creation of an agricultural weather station network with an internet site (www.merimis.org), improved knowledge of crop water use for several crops in the region, and positive plans for future collaboration on the pressing water issues of the region.