ALL RIGHTS FOR THE PHOTOES RESERVED TO PHOTOSTREAM mark sebastian from flickr, keep the credit.

This proposal addresses the enhancement of degraded soils that could be returned to sustainable agricultural production if water was available and could be used more efficiently. Supplemental irrigation, additional fertilization or manure applications to increase plant production on most sandy soils is simply not sustainable due to extensive leaching losses of water, nutrients and pathogens to groundwater supplies (Ethan and Umar, 2001). We propose to demonstrate and confirm the revolutionary contributions of a newly proven water saving technology, SWRT (Smucker, et al., 2011) that provides an environmentally safe reversal of water and nutrient losses from the root zones in sandy soils. We will install thin polymer films in a manner that simulates the thin natural clayey E horizons found in more productive sandy fields. A mechanical barrier installation device (BID) has been designed, patented and tested by scientists and engineers at Michigan State University which accurately places polymer film at strategic depths beneath the root zone. Laboratory, greenhouse lysimeter and field testing indicate SWRT membranes double the water storage capacity in the root zones of plants grown in deep sands. In the middle and south of Iraq, agriculture can be practiced only with irrigation. The MSU research team has comprehensively tested contoured engineered polyethylene membranes designed and tested in laboratory, greenhouse and field trials (Smucker, et al., 2009,2010,2011). They used a patented barrier installation device (BID) implement to install contoured engineered polyethylene membranes at field spacings outlined. SWRT membranes, installed in Michigan corn and vegetable fields, have doubled the soil water holding capacities in the near surface 15 to 30 cm depths. Greater soil water and nutrient contents increased corn production by 192% (22.53 MT per hectare by SWRT membranes and 11.75 MT per hectare by controls) and cucumber fresh vegetable yields by 146% (Smucker, et al, 2013). Therefore, we believe installation of polymer membranes, which are an environmentally safe technological improvement of sands in Iraq, will transform droughty sand soils into oases of cellulosic biomass and food production of vegetables, grains and fruit. Sandy soils in Iraq are classified under Entisols great soil group (USDA, 1999).  Distributions and locations of sand soils in Iraq are shown in Figure 1. SWRT membranes have increased water use efficiency by plants grown on sandy soils 240% or more (Smucker, et al, 2011, 2012). These increased water conservation is essential of Iraq. Because of the low quantity of precipitation in Iraq, most parts of the country fall in the range of hyperarid to arid in terms of aridity index, most of the farmlands are irrigated by different irrigation methods which are of low irrigation efficiency.

 Therefore, prescriptive applications of supplemental irrigation water at different growth stages, identification of ET (Yildirim, et al., 2009) and best yield responses to different applications of supplemental irrigation water to different plant species in both arid and semiarid regions of Iraq (Aoda et al.,2005, 2006 and Fattah, 2009) will be excellent graduate research programs. Sandy soils and the lands that are continuously exposed to sand dunes in Iraq occupy approximately 19% of Iraqi lands (Khalaf, 2010). Sandy soil distributions are shown in Table 1 for each province in Iraq (SWRC, 1991-2003). Nedewi (1998) reported tomato production ranged from 23 to 40 tons/ha and depended upon with irrigation water quality. For onion crop Nedewi et al. (1990) reported onion production ranged between 5-15 tons/ha due to irrigation water quality and availability. It is clear from the aridity index map that most of Iraqi farmlands are of arid index and from Figures 1 it is obvious that all sandy soils are located in arid regions. For this reason and since sandy soils do not hold enough water to meet crop water requirements, special soil water management technologies must be used to make these soils highly productive. The SWRT technique combined with Sustainable Land Use (SALUS) plant/soil/climate modeling and agriculture policy extender (APEX) models, we can predict the best economics of properly installed SWRT barriers for specific farming systems that eliminate or reduce supplemental irrigation requirements within the subsurface profiles of most highly permeable soil while increasing maize production by 283% without irrigation and an additional 4,000 kg/ha with irrigation. Our ultimate goal is to combine these prediction models with SWRT capabilities which are fully integrated with on farm site-specific GPS harvest data of large farming operations. Farmer GPS harvest data will best predict the locations and installation depths of the SWRT membranes for maximum production. We will use models to predict SWRT enhancements of water and nutrient conservation to soils across Iraq.