The University of Girona (UdG) is studying a new irrigation system promoted by a Girona nursery that allows saving up to 50% of water.
It has been developed by Vivers Planas de Púbol (Baix Empordà) with the Barcelona company VISReg. Combine the drop by drop with a textile hose that goes around the trunk of the trees and recreates a constant drizzle, because it is impregnated with water and exudes it little by little.
"This allows us to irrigate with much lower flow rates and distribute the water more evenly," says the nursery's owner, Joaquim Planas.
Now the UdG Irrigation Engineering and Management research group is launching a trial that has two phases: quantifying the water and fertilizer savings of the new system and ensuring that it does not affect the growth or quality of the ornamental plant.
The new irrigation system is a hybridization between the traditional drip and exuding hoses.
The Púbol nursery applies it for trees and ornamental plants that they grow in containers (large plastic pots). In each one there are one or two drippers connected to a textile hose, which makes a link and surrounds the trunk of the trees or the stems.
When the tap is turned on, the water does not fall directly onto the ground (as happens with drip). It impregnates the entire hose, which when wet exudes it little by little towards the substrate. To get an idea of how it works, Joaquim Planas makes a simile with rain.
"The best thing for a plant is to water it constantly and as slowly as possible; and what this system does, precisely, is imitate the effect of a drizzle, of a sirimiri that spreads over the entire surface of the container" , specifies the owner of the nursery.
Joaquim Planas explains that the new system (baptized VISReg) distributes water better and allows us to be "much more efficient with irrigation." In fact, from the outset, both the Púbol nurseries and the company calculate that it saves between 33% and 50% of the water used with traditional drip irrigation.
But not only that. As a result, the amount of fertilizer and fertilizer is also reduced and it is not necessary to distribute different drippers over the entire surface of the container. Just one or two that are connected to the exuding sleeve is enough.
Flats also specify that, unlike those existing until now (made of plastic or rubber), the VISReg sleeve also resists inclement weather better. "The others were very damaged by UVA rays and ended up cracking or disintegrating; but this one, being textile, has a very long useful life, which can reach up to ten years, and is not altered by the sun or the weather." "explains the owner of the nurseries.
The VISReg system began to be developed three years ago. And now, after it has been implemented apart from the Púbol nursery, the laboratory will take the leap because it will focus on a scientific trial to verify its effectiveness. A dozen researchers will participate.
The study will be carried out by the UdG Engineering and Irrigation Management research group, which is part of the Department of Chemical, Agricultural Engineering and Agri-Food Technology of the University.
Doctor and professor of Agriculture Gerard Arbat, who leads the research, explains that the study will have two phases. The first, which will be done without plants, will begin this January. Different containers with substrate will be taken, the conditions of a greenhouse will be recreated and, for three weeks, the VISReg system will be compared with the traditional drop by drop and with a third irrigation method (in this case, integrating drip in a tube in ring shape).
Gerard Arbat specifies that the different records, which will be recorded periodically, will not only allow us to quantify the exact water savings achieved with the VISReg. "We will also be able to see if the exudation link distributes it more uniformly throughout the substrate," explains the UdG researcher.
In this part of the test, it will also be analyzed whether the soil retains more nutrients (because if the water stays all inside the container, and does not end up draining through the base, it is prevented from washing them away.
After these first results, the UdG trial will enter a second phase in which plants will be incorporated. In this case, the study will last for months or even a year, because the entire growth cycle will be recreated (from the moment the plant enters the nursery until it leaves).
"Apart from saving water, the nursery wants to produce plants, and do so with the quality standards they need," says Arbat. Therefore, in this second phase, the scientific study will focus on ensuring that the VISReg system does not affect the growth or quality of the plant.
"The trial will focus on knowing if the water reduction allowed by the exuding link has no effects on the development or aesthetics of the plant," says the UdG researcher.
"A priori, with the tests that have been carried out in the nursery, nothing of this kind has been seen to happen, but it must be certified," adds Arbat.
The intention of Vivers Planas is to progressively extend the use of the VISReg system, and that in a year and a half or two it will already be implemented on 100% of the nursery surface.
The Púbol nursery has been applying systems for some time to reduce the water it uses for irrigation. Good proof is that, as its owner states, with the same amount they had in 2015, they now irrigate an area that triples that of then (because of the 35 hectares that the nursery had, it has now increased by more than 100).
The general director of VISReg, Emili Sabadell, explains that the UdG study is of great interest to them, because it should allow "accreditation" of what has already been seen with the tests that have been carried out in the nursery. "It will allow us to account for the savings in water and fertilizers, but also to see the performance of the new system and the growth capacity of the plant," Sabadell says.
Pending the results of the UdG trial, Emili Sabadell explains that VISReg has already begun to be marketed in collaboration with Vivers Planas. "We started doing it in Spain, in Italy, in Turkey and in countries like Azerbaijan; but we are going little by little, because we must be able to demonstrate their performance, which is what we are achieving now," he concludes.
"We are at a critical moment and all those measures that help save water are very welcome," emphasizes the UdG researcher, in reference to the VISReg system. "In addition, we must take into account that optimizing water, in turn, also allows us to reduce fertilizers and the amount of nitrogen; and this is beneficial for the environment," adds Gerard Arbat.
