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Article: Poplars that cope with salty water.
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- June 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Fast-growing hybrid poplars - leafy, attractive relatives of cottonwoods and aspens - can suck up leftover water drained from irrigated farmlands. This could lessen the need for farmers to .build and maintain evaporation ponds. And the trees might provide a new source of cash.
Evaporation ponds burden growers and the environment alike. A 1-acre evaporation pond for drainage disposal is needed for every 10 irrigated acres in some parts of California, for instance.
But which poplars might make the best water blotters? Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service in California pinpointed some top candidates in an experiment with eight different kinds of ...