Rio Grande Basin Initiative

2006-07 Deliverables

Task 4 Extension
Principal Investigator(s): Juan Enciso

We mutually agree for Dr. Juan Enciso to deliver the following during the period of June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007, using funds from the Rio Grande Basin Initiative (Year 5):

  1. Demonstrate furrow irrigation versus drip irrigation for sorghum (first year) in Cameron County, and demonstrate furrow versus subsurface drip irrigation for melons in Starr County (two demonstrations). Evaluate yield, quality and water used.
  2. Evaluate yield, quality and water used with SDI irrigation systems with onions and evaluate the potential to conserve water (two demonstrations) in Starr and Hidalgo County.
  3. Basin irrigation will be compared with the traditional method of furrow irrigation for corn in Cameron County.
  4. A yield response function will be evaluated for furrow irrigation of cotton in Hidalgo County. Different number of irrigation events will be studied as a conservation method.
  5. Citrus irrigation water requirement guidelines will be generated for three farmers. Uniformity tests and irrigation scheduling programs will be generated for four farms in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and they will be compared with actual data.
  6. Vegetable production (melons and onions) will be irrigated with SDI to evaluate the yield response to different water amounts (2nd year). The experiment will be conducted at the Weslaco Experiment Station. The experiment consists of four treatments and four replications.
  7. The citrus water requirements will be determined for grapefruits and oranges in several farms irrigated with drip, microsprinkler irrigation and flood irrigation (2nd year). The farms will be located at Rio Farms and at the Citrus Center. Project support is with the TWDB Demonstration Initiative and the Rio Grande Basin Initiative. Write an Extension publication on this topic.
  8. Irrigation strategies such as reducing the number of irrigations and irrigating during critical growth stages will be evaluated at the Weslaco Experiment Station. Yield response to water will be studied for cotton (1st year), sorghum (1st year), soybeans (2nd year) and cotton (2nd year).
  9. Write an Extension publication on management of irrigation systems.
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