NESPAL > Biotechnology and Plant Breeding > Research Projects
| Animal Production and Water Quality in the Suwanee River Watersheds The Suwannee River is a major water resource in the southeast. The river originates in Georgia's Coastal Plain and flows through north Florida before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The Georgia headwaters, or Upper Suwannee, consists of two distinct areas. The eastern headwaters are primarily in the Okeefenokee Swamp, a region with wide expanses of swampland. The western headwaters include the Alapaha, Little and Withlacoochee (ALW) Rivers. In Georgia the Suwannee extends into 21 counties with a drainage of 2.6 million acres. Agriculture is the dominant land use. Although water quality in the basin is thought to be good generally, there are a number of stream segments that do not or only partially meet designated uses because of low dissolved oxygen and the presence of fecal coliform bacteria. READ MORE |
| Assessing the Water Quality Impact of Precision Farming Best Management Practices One of the Consortium's major objectives is to evaluate whether precision agricultural practices reduce runoff and leaching losses of fertilizer and herbicides to surface and ground waters. Beginning in the fall of 2000 a series of similar experiments on plot, field, and small watershed scales were initiated in each of the different regions represented by each member of the consortium to evaluate in a definitive manner the effect of precision applications of nitrogen and/or herbicides on surface and ground water quality. In Georgia, we are concentrating on the small watershed scale experiments. READ MORE |
| Integrated Resource Management of the Suwannee River Basin The Suwannee River is a National treasure with diverse wildlife, plants, land use, and hydrology. However, this major interstate basin has come under pressure from development, drought, and competing water uses. Decisions concerning management of interstate basins depend on high quality information on water, land, and human resources in the basins. Without dependable long-term information, stakeholders in the basins cannot make informed decisions about integrated resource management. READ MORE |
| Irrigation Technology and Management NESPAL programs must be built upon a solid foundation of discovery and technology enhancement. Agriculture water use for irrigation is predicated upon alleviating yield reducing water stress in crops using economically sound water application technologies. Irrigation in the humid areas like the Southeast US was once thought to be a means to make up for the deficit rainfall during drought seasons to protect normal yields. Labor limitation imposed by portable pipe and towable traveler systems and water supplies limited to on-farm ponds effectively established that notion, one that still persists outside of the farm community. READ MORE |
| Landscape Approach to Protecting Water Quality in the Southeastern Coastal Plain The Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain of Georgia region is experiencing rapid growth in animal confinement facilities, primarily in the poultry sector. This project is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, five-year study initiated during February 1996 to provide the knowledge base for the integration of increased animal production into the regional agricultural system without sacrificing water quality. READ MORE |
| People and Water Water runs under and over us, through our communities, and through our bodies. Water's serene and majestic places recharge our souls. Its pools and baths cleanse and refresh. Its lakes, rivers, and oceans employ, relax, and feed. Its pure springs and taps sustain our bodies. Our very nature as humans creates a deeply personal stake in the water that surrounds us. READ MORE |
| Variable Rate Irrigation Variable-Rate Irrigation (VRI), also called site specific or precision irrigation, is a relatively new concept in agriculture. Variable-rate irrigation is a tool of Precision Agriculture that involves the delivery of irrigation water in optimum amounts over an entire field. Very few fields are uniform - most have variable topographic and soil conditions with corresponding soil water variations. Most center-pivot irrigation systems currently in use apply a constant rate of water and the ability to vary application rates over an entire field has not been possible with current systems. READ MORE |
