I got a nice DM yesterday asking why irrigate chickpeas (they& #39;re usually dryland) & how do growers determine when their crops need water, we water for a couple of reasons....

2/ Photosynthesis is the process by which plants make energy to grow, it requires https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌞" title="Sonne mit Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Sonne mit Gesicht">, https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen"> & carbon dioxide. This year without sufficient rainfall for a good soil moisture profile the fields were watered up prior to planting to ensure good germination, otherwise dry patches https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👀" title="Augen" aria-label="Emoji: Augen">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten">

3/ For plants to able to efficiently transfer nutrients through the plant or to absorb nutrients from the soil or air they need to be able to access sufficient water from their root system.

4/ #Transpiration is the process where water moves up the stem of a plant from root to leaf when water is lost due to evaporation occurring at the leaves. This continual flow of water & nutrients keeps the plant’s cells firm, if the cells become short of water the plant will wilt

5/ The https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen"> used for #chickpeas (or any crop) can be different each season as there is a https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="#️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Raute" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Raute"> of determining factors which can change https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌿" title="Kräuter" aria-label="Emoji: Kräuter"> #water use, these includehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌡" title="Thermometer" aria-label="Emoji: Thermometer">temp, relative humidity while the crop is growing (especially at peak flowering & podding)https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💨" title="Staubwolke" aria-label="Emoji: Staubwolke">wind & soil moisture #moist

6/ All of those factors above determine when a plant needs https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen"> #Chickpeas really dislike #waterlogging, especially when flowering & pod filling so being on raised beds under irrigation on these heavy cracking clay soils is pretty darn handy at minimising that.

7/ Most #chickpeas are only semi irrigated, (reduces risk of water logging & diseases) short sharp irrigations of approx 8 hours with good removal via tail drains. Scheduling the timing of irrigation is when plant water available capacity from the soil is around 35-40% depletion.

8/ It& #39;s really important on these really heavy cracking clay soils that they don& #39;t completely dry outhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen"> as you can really easily damage/snap off the #chickpea roots as the soil crackshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌿" title="Kräuter" aria-label="Emoji: Kräuter">which adds stress to the plant & can https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬆️" title="Pfeil nach oben" aria-label="Emoji: Pfeil nach oben">risk of diseases.

9/ The daily https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen">use from the #chickpeas will vary throughout the season depending on the crop stage & the other factors I mentioned in tweets above, as the plants get bigger their ability to uptake moisture from the soil increases, especially on these large #troppo chickpeashttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😜" title="Winking face with tongue" aria-label="Emoji: Winking face with tongue">

10/ Soil moisture monitoring ishttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥇" title="Goldmedaille" aria-label="Emoji: Goldmedaille">
it tells us how much https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen">thehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌿" title="Kräuter" aria-label="Emoji: Kräuter">is using & how deep into the soil profile the #water is being extracted from via the plant& #39;s root system,(reliable forecasting https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙄" title="Gesicht mit rollenden Augen" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit rollenden Augen">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧐" title="Gesicht mit Monokel" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit Monokel">) & ET (evapotranspiration) rates are useful toolshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👍" title="Thumbs up" aria-label="Emoji: Thumbs up">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👍" title="Thumbs up" aria-label="Emoji: Thumbs up"> any questions ask away!

11/ in many instances, rainfall does not come at the most optimal times (or at all) during the https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌿" title="Kräuter" aria-label="Emoji: Kräuter">growing season in many regions. There are some key critical periods when they need to be able access moisture from the soil. ie germination, flowering, fruit setting & fruit fill

12/ being able to have access tohttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen"> at these key times adds value to the plants by increasing both the quality & production of their fruithttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🍍" title="Ananas" aria-label="Emoji: Ananas">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🍇" title="Weintrauben" aria-label="Emoji: Weintrauben">grainhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌾" title="Reisgetreide" aria-label="Emoji: Reisgetreide">nutshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌰" title="Kastanie" aria-label="Emoji: Kastanie">legumeshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥜" title="Erdnüsse" aria-label="Emoji: Erdnüsse">drupehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥥" title="Kokosnuss" aria-label="Emoji: Kokosnuss">pomehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🍎" title="Roter Apfel" aria-label="Emoji: Roter Apfel">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌱" title="Setzling" aria-label="Emoji: Setzling">pasture & that timing is as critically important as the timing of harvest to minimise https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🌿" title="Kräuter" aria-label="Emoji: Kräuter">stress.

13/ Flowering plants come in 3 basic types.
1. Annuals (grow & flower once for a single season)
2. Biennials (grow for 2 seasons, flower & die the 2nd year)
3. Perennials (grows for many years & flower repeatedly)
Sometimes we grow perennials as a annual to minimise riskhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧐" title="Gesicht mit Monokel" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit Monokel">! eghttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten">

14/ In https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇦🇺" title="Flagge von Australien" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Australien"> irrigation used in ag requires a water licence, https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen">is meteredhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💧" title="Tröpfchen" aria-label="Emoji: Tröpfchen">measured & paid for, farmers only receive water allocation when it& #39;s available in a system. On farm we also monitor & measure soil moisture, plant uptake & crop stage to apply timely & efficient irrigation.

15/ Regardless of the type of irrigated crop, these factors above are extremely important. The value (cost) of the https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💦" title="Schweißtropfen" aria-label="Emoji: Schweißtropfen"> & the crop market value (minus input costs to grow) & expected yields also determine whether its economically viable to utilise irrigationhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😊" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit lächelnden Augen" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit lächelnden Augen">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👍" title="Thumbs up" aria-label="Emoji: Thumbs up">

@threadreaderapp please unwrap