Irrigation research at Lethbridge College gets $420K grant
LETHBRIDGE, AB – A team of researchers at Lethbridge College will be looking into new ways of measuring available field water.
Dr. Willemijn Appels, the college’s Mueller Applied Research Chair in Irrigation Science, says they plan to use microwave radiometer technology to create maps of the water in the soil that is available to plants and translate that data to adjust how much water is added through irrigation.
“This technique gives us a map of the moisture in an entire area, instead of just a point observation you get when you install something in the ground. It gives promise that you can adjust your irrigation water management to match what is already present in the ground, and actually adjust while the pivot is moving because the sensor is located on top of the pivot.”
“Ideally, in the future, the sensors would be used to estimate soil moisture conditions just ahead of the sprinklers. Then after doing some calculations the amount of water the sprinklers put on would be adjusted while the pivot is moving.”
