Proceedings of the Tenth Annual fERTILIZER RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROGRAM CONFERENCE November 19,2002 EdisonAgTAC Tulare, California Sponsored by: California Department of Food and Agriculture California Plant Health Association California Certified Crop Adviser Program Proceedings edited by Dr. Stephen Beam, and Debbie Scott. To order additional copies ofthis publication, contact: California Department of Food and Agriculture Fertilizer Research and Education Program 1220 N Street, Room A-472 Sacramento, CA 95814 Telephone: (916) 653-5340 Fax: (916) 653-2407 Web site: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/frep E-mail: [email protected] Publication Design: NeoDesign Sacramento, CA Printing: Citadel Press Sacramento, CA Note: Project summaries in this publication are the results of projects in progress or recently completed and have not been subject to independent scientific review. The California Department of Food and Agriculture mal(es no warranty, express or implied, and assumes no legal liability for the information in this publication. Development and Demonstmtion ofNitrogen Best TABLE OF CONTENTS Management Practices for Sweet Corn in the Low Desert Jose L. Aguiar, Keith Mayberry, Marita Cantwell-de-trejo I. BRIEF UPDATES and Charles Sanchez ............................. 45 Potassium Responses in California Rice Fields as Fertilizer Research and Education Program Affected by Straw Management Practices Stephen W. Beam . 5 Chris van Kessel, William Horwath, John K. Williams, II. ONGOING PROJECT Eric Byous and Grace Jones ........................ 52 SUMMARIES Long-te1m Rice Straw Incmporation: Does it Impact Maximum Yield? Chris van Kessel and William Horwath .............. 55 FRUIT, NUT AND VINE CROPS Field Evaluations and Refinement ofNew Nitmgen The Effect ofNutrient Deficiencies on Stone Management Guidelines for Upland Cotton: Plant Fruit Production and Quality Mapping, Soil and Plant Tissue Tests R. Scott Johnson. 7 Robert Hutmacher, Robert Travis, William Rains, Nitmgen Management in Citrus under Bruce Roberts, Mark Keeley, Raul Delgado Low-Volume Irrigation and Felix Fritschi ................................ 57 Mary Lu Arpaia and Lanny J. Lund ................. 11 Location ofPotassium- Fixing Soils in the San joaquin Development ofNitrogen Best Management Practices Valley and a New, Practical Soil Potassium Test Procedure for the ''Hass" Avocado Miraya Murashkina-Meese, Stuart Pettygrove and Carol]. Lovatt .................................. 16 Randal Southard ................................ 61 Seasonal Patterns ofNutrient Uptake and Partitioning Improving the Diagnostic Capabilities for Detecting as a Function ofCrop Load ofthe 'Hass'Avocado Molybdenum Deficiency in Alfalfa and Avoiding Toxic Richard Rosecrance and Carol Lovatt . 19 Concentrations in Animals Roland Meyer .................................. 63 VEGETABLE CROPS Development ofa Leaf Color Chart for California Efficient Inigation for Reduced Non-Point Source Rice Varieties Pollution from Low Desert Vegetables. Randall G. Mutters .............................. 66 Charles Sanchez, Dawit Zerrihun and Khaled Bali ...... 23 Effects ofConservation Tillage on Nutlient Losses to Evaluation ofSlow Release Fertilizers for Cool Runoffin Alternative and Conventional Fmming Systems Season Vegetable Production in the Salinas Valley Leisa Huyck, Jeff Mitchell, William Horwath and Richard Smith and Tim Hartz...................... 25 Wes Wallender ................................. 68 Effect ofDifferent Rates ofNitrogen and Potassium on HORTICULTURAL CROPS Drip Inigated Beaurega1d Sweet Potatoes Scott Stoddard.................................. 28 Development ofFertilization and Irrigation Practices for Commercial Nurmies Reducing Fertilizer Needs ofPotato with New Va1ieties Richard Evans .................................. 71 and New Clonal Strains ofExisting Varieties Ronald Voss ................................... 33 Precision Horticulture: Technology Development and Research and Management Applications Efficient Phosphorus Management in Cool Season Patrick Brown and Nacer Bellaloui .................. 75 Vegetable Production Tim Hartz ..................................... 40 Minimizing Niti"Ogen Runoffand Improving Niti'Ogen Use Efficiency in Containe1ized WOody Ornamentals FIELD CROPS through Management ofNitl'ttte and Ammonium-Nit~·ogen Donald Merhaut ................................ 78 Fertilization Technologies for Conservation Tillage Production Systems in California Development ofBest Management Practices for Fertilizing Jeffrey Mitchell and William Horwath ............... 43 Lawns to Optimize Plant Pnfmmance and Nitrogen Uptake While Reducing the Potential for Nitl'ttte Leaching Robert Green, Laosheng Wu and David Burger ........ 80 PRECISION AGRICULTURE Ammonia Emission Related to Nitrogen Fertilizer Application Practices Site-Specific variable Rate Fertilizer Application in Charles F. Krauter .............................. 105 Rice and Sugar Beets Richard Plant, Stuart Pettygrove, Randall Mutters Long-Thm Nitrate Leaching below the Rootzone in and Stephen Kaffka. 84 California Tir:e Fruit Orchards Thomas Harter, Jan Hopmans and William Horwath .. 108 Site-Specific variable Rate Fertilizer Nitrogen Application in Cotton Development ofLime Recommendations for Richard Plant, Robert Hutmacher, Robert Travis, California Soils William Rains and Karen Klonsky ................. 89 Robert Miller, Janice Kotuby-Amacher and Nat Dellavalle ................................. Ill Precision A?Jiculture in California: Developing Analytical Methods to Assess Underlying Cause and Development ofan Educational Handbook on Effect ofWithin-Fie!d Yield variability Fertigation for Grape Growers Chris van Kessel, Jan-William van Groenigen, Glenn T. McGourty ............................ 113 Randall Mutters and William Horwath. 92 Teach the Teachers: Garden-Based Education about Field Deployment and Evaluation ofConventional and Fertility and Fertilizers Precision Application Systems for Liquid and Anhydrous Peggy Sears Perry. 115 Fertilizer in Sacramento valley Cropping Systems California Certified Crop Adviser Program Ken Giles . 94 Danielle Blacet, Lora Edwards, Hank Giclas and Marilyn Martin ................................ 117 IRRIGATION AND FERTIGATION California State Fair Fa1m Up?Jnde Project A?Jicultural Baseline Monitoring and BMP Implementation: Michael Bradley, Joe Brengle and Teresa Winovitch .... 119 Steps towards Meeting TMDL Compliance Deadlines within the Newport Bay/ San Diego Creek Watershed III. COMPLETED PROJECTS ..... 121 Laosheng Wu and John Kabashima. 96 Crop Nitrate Availability and Nitrate Leaching under IV. PEER--REVIEWED Micro-In·igation for Different Fertigation Strategies PUBLICATIONS RESULTING Blaine Hanson and Jan Hopmans .................. 101 FROM CDFA FREP­ 124 EDUCATIONAL AND OTHERS SPONSORED PROJECTS ..... Nitrogen Mineralization Rate ofBiosolids Compost V. SPEAKER/PROJECT Timothy K. Hartz .............................. 102 LEADER CONTACT INFORMATION ................ 128 • Nutrient interactions with growth regulators, plant pests fERTILIZER RESEARCH and disease. AND EDUCATION • The integrated use of commercial fertilizers with cover crops or agricultural composts to improve crop yield or PROGRAM quality and to minimize nutrient losses in ground or sur­ face water. Stephen Beam • Development and distribution of educational products Fertilizer Research and Education Program and public information. California Department ofFood and Agriculture Sacramento, CA PROJECT FUNDING ANALYSIS (916) 654-0574 This publication includes summaries and results to date of all sbeam @cdfa. ca.gov projects that are currently receiving funds. Section III lists completed projects. See Section N of these proceedings for Since 1990, the California Department of Food and Agri­ a list of articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Figures culture's Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) 1-2 below show where the cumulative program resources has advanced its mission to promote the environmentally have been distributed in terms of geographic location, and discipline for FREP funded projects. Figure 1 shows that sound and agronomic use and handling of commercial fertil­ izers. A primary objective is to improve the use efficiency of 59% of the funding to date has been conducted in, or has commercial fertilizing materials to benefit crop production primary relevance to, the Central Valley. This is in line with and quality while minimizing nitrogen losses to the environ­ current agricultural production for the state. The Central Coast has also received a significant portion of research ment. FREP strives for excellence by supporting high quality research and education endeavors that have gone through a funds. These have mostly been focused on fertility manage­ rigorous statewide competitive process, including indepen­ ment of cool-season vegetables in Monterey County and dent peer review. From 1990-2002, FREP has supported points south. A substantial number of projects have had over 100 research and education projects for a total of nearly statewide relevance, while smaller portions have been di­ $6 million in funding. FREP activities are funded entirely rected at the desert and south coast areas. from a mill tax on the sale of commercial fertilizers in the State of California, which currently generates close to $1 Desert Central Coast million per year for project funding and program support. Statewide 3% FREP's current funding priorities include: • Research on crop nutrient uptal(e