1. Michael Cutting 1, Tony Hoare 2, Tapas Biswas 3 1 South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board 2 Hoare Viticulture 3 Murray-Darling Basin Authority Learning on the Run: Adaptive Salinity Management in the South Australian Lower Murray Region Irrigation Australia Limited Conference - Adelaide, 2012

2. Presentation Overview Study Area Finniss River Murray Mouth Rootzone salinity management study commenced in 2006/07 as a collaboration between the South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI) and the SA Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board Water quality was an on-going issue for low yield wine grapes Since study started significant changes have occurred over the years: water source, water availability, water quality, water taking rules The presentation will highlight the value that on-going measuring and monitoring can assist on-farm decision making

3. Project Area (Regional) & Objectives Study Area Finniss River Hindmarsh Island River Murray 1.How much salt stays within the root-zone from summer irrigation and what is its distribution? 2.How does winter rainfall move salts within the profile?

4. Project Area (Vineyard) & Statistics Project Vineyard Finniss River Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon Planting Year: 2002 Water Source: Finniss River/River Murray Irrigation System: Conventional Drip Flow Rate: 1.6L/hr Emitter Spacing: 0.5m Row Spacing: 3m Plant Spacing: 1.5m Application Rate: 1.1mm/hr Soil Type: Sandy Clay Loam over friable clay with occasional carbonate deposits

5. Ceramic cup PVC conduit Extraction tube Rootzone Salinity Monitoring with SoluSAMPLER™ ™ Sentek TriSCAN™ (www.sentek.com.au) 0.3m 0.6m 0.9m Rootzone Salinity Monitoring

6. The Finniss River: Flow vs. Salinity 30/05/2007 01/06/2007 System responds quickly to rainfall in the Eastern Mt Lofty Ranges – implications for salinity management! The Finniss River Flow

7. Irrigation Water Salinity – 2006/07 (Finniss River)

8. Big winter rain event Winter Leaching Irrigation Window >Drip: water salinity = 5.5 dS/m Grape threshold salinity Summer Leaching Irrigation Big summer rain event Rootzone Salinity - 2006/07

9. 2007/08 - 2010/11: Dry Growing…not by choice!! March 2008 Finniss River Impact of 2008 Heat Wave

10. Rootzone Salinity 2007/08 – 2010/11 (No Irrigation) High levels of residual salts still observed in 2007/08

11. Rootzone Salinity - 2011/12 Irrigation water now sourced from River Murray pipeline ~200EC (0.2 dS/m) 259.2mm of rain since 1 May 2012

12. Rootzone Salinity Trend: 2006/07 – 2011/12 V. Poor WQ – + 6dS/m No irrigation: 4 x seasons Irrigation resumed ~ 0.2 dS/m Average rootzone salinity = 1dS/m Average rootzone salinity = 10.9dS/m

13. Lessons & Conclusions Monitoring and managing root zone salinity is CRITICAL! Summer leaching irrigation largely ineffective in displacing salts beyond the rootzone Very low leaching efficiency if water quality is poor Winter rainfall holds the key for salt displacement Leaching irrigation in winter can leach more salts with less water Appears that salinity tolerance is enhanced and greater ability to exclude salt under reduced yield production regime

14. Acknowledgements SA MDB NRM Board Mr. Tony Brooks (Vineyard Owner) - Strangers Reach Vineyard, Finniss SA SENTEK Sensor Technologies Ltd Mr. Tim Pitt (SARDI) Peter Zurcher (ex UniSA)