Tuesday, November 14, 2006
171-8

Evaluating the performance of water conditioning devices on turf quality irrigated with saline water.

Bernd Leinauer and Marcel Barrick. Ext Plant Sci Dept Box 30003, New Mexico State Univ, New Mexico State Univ, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003, United States of America

Water use is of utmost importance in arid regions, thus there is high demand for its most efficient use.  Eighty percent of groundwater in New Mexico is considered low quality but because potable water is in such short supply, turfgrass managers are increasingly using low quality water to meet irrigation requirements.  However, low quality water can have a high EC, unfavorable pH and dissolved solids that limit wide use of the resource.  Water conditioning devices claim to remedy these problems. Perennial Ryegrass was irrigated with saline and potable water treated with magnetic and catalytic water conditioning agents.  Data was collected on turf quality using NDVI and visual ratings. Analysis of data will be included in subsequent publications.