SMART SPRAYS project

Collaborators

Project lead: Murdoch University

This project is supported by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, Murdoch University and the WA Agricultural Research Collaboration.

Background

In Western Australian broadacre crop production, the average plant water use efficiency is about 56%. There is significant opportunity for further benefits if innovative solutions are developed to capture water within the plant root zone.

Optimising water use is vital because climate predictions indicate that our State’s South West region will continue to experience a drying climate and increased variability in rainfall patterns. The SMART SPRAYS project has exciting potential to boost long-term agricultural resilience while increasing crop yield and profit for Western Australian growers.

SMART SPRAYS: Maximising benefits from rainfall

This transformational project aims to maximise benefits from rainfall by demonstrating the capacity for SMART SPRAYS technology to increase rainfall capture into the soil and through to the roots of plants.

The research team is testing the use of innovative, biodegradable polymer SMART SPRAYS to improve water harvesting and water retention in cropping systems.

A key focus is to understand how bioplastic films interact with soil particles, specifically investigating how they attach and contribute to water shedding. These features are crucial to ensure SMART SPRAYS remain on mounds, enabling efficient water runoff into furrows.

By improving water harvesting (into furrows) and water retention (less evaporation) in regions where water efficiency is low, this technology has potential to decrease the risk of plant water stress during the growing season and increase plant water use efficiency.

The SMART SPRAYS project benefits from collaboration between WA Agricultural Research Collaboration (WAARC) members Murdoch University and the Grower Group Alliance-led South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub.

Findings from this collaboration are expected to inform practical applications and support improved water management in Western Australian agricultural systems.

Key project outcomes

• Assess the SMART SPRAYS technology for its capacity to harvest rainfall from the mound into the furrow and decrease water evaporation from within the soil.
• Assess the ease of use of the SMART SPRAYS technology, especially its ability to be used with existing farm infrastructure with minimal modification.
• Assess the capacity of SMART SPRAYS to increase crop productivity. This is critically important as climate predictions indicate Western Australia’s South-West region will continue to experience a drying climate.

The project seeks to answer the following questions:

• How can more rainfall be converted into a saleable product (food, feed, fibre, fuel)?
• How can Australia combat a declining rainfall through greater retention and use of available water?

Components of SMART SPRAYS

• Biodegrade in marine, soil, and compost environments into CO₂, water, and biomass.
• Do not degrade into microplastics in the environment.
• Reduce reliance on fossil fuels and have a decreased carbon footprint as no fossil fuel feedstock is used.
• Do not need to be retrieved from the field – they will biodegrade in situ.

The main component of SMART SPRAYS can be produced by microorganisms through the use of a wide variety of renewable feedstocks like organic wastes, waste canola oil, brewers waste and glycerol.

Related links

• CSIRO and Murdoch University launch the Bioplastics Innovation Hub to end plastic waste
• SMART SPRAYS: maximising the benefits from rainfall
• SMART SPRAYS project teams up with UK scientists
• Making every drop count: innovations in water harvesting