RESEARCH
Research showed that the nutrient concentration, especially nitrogen, for all plant parts (leaves, stems and fruit) did not change significantly based on the amount of fertilizer used.
TRADITIONALLY, IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT RELIED SOLELY ON RAINFALL, WHICH IS NOT ALWAYS PREDICTABLE.
“Once the plant fulfills the amount of nutrients it needs, it stops taking them in,” said Chavez, adding that he recommends that growers use half of the previously recommended amount of fertilizer while monitoring plant nutrients yearly to help be more cost-effective. He noted that a 50% savings in fertilizer can make a big difference for growers trying to keep orchard operating costs down.
Currently, Chavez and his team are working on long- term studies in the same areas to estimate whether an overall reduction of 50% in fertilizer will affect the orchard growth and production in the long-term compared with standard fertilization. They are also collaborating with George Vellidis, PhD, at the UGA Tifton campus to design a peach irrigation app, which Chavez hopes to make available to growers
32 Irrigation TODAY | Summer 2021
by the end of this year. The app was created with funding from the Georgia Specialty Block Grant, the Georgia Agricultural Commission of Peaches and the Georgia Peach Council. It has been tested for the last two years in mature and new orchards, and it is currently being tested with a grower collaborator prior to release.
Beyond irrigation and fertilization studies, Chavez and his research team are working on breeding a new peach cultivar for Georgia. The team is installing greenhouses on the UGA Griffin campus, which will allow the trees to grow normally while they control the growing conditions regardless of weather. This is especially important when cross breeding peach cultivars, as a freeze can destroy the crop, which can be devastating to a breeding program. The greenhouses will allow Chavez’s program to secure breeding populations year after year.
Ashley N. Biles is an administrative associate for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia. This article was originally published in CAES Newswire.
▶ For more information, visit
https://site.caes.uga.edu/chavezlab.
irrigationtoday.org
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