Dying river red gums along the River Murray in South Australia could be saved with clever irrigation technology, according to University of Adelaide researcher Anne Jensen.

Recent research suggests that a watering regime of just 5mm per week or 10mm per fortnight could be sufficient to keep germinating red gum seedlings alive through summer.

Mrs Jensen, a PhD candidate in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Facilitator of the University's Water Research Cluster, said that the chances of river red gums getting flood flows had diminished. But already more than 75 per cent of the majestic red gums were stressed or dying.

"In the absence of floods to water the seedlings, precision irrigation techniques could be used to deliver water to priority areas, as an interim measure," said Mrs Jensen.

"These relatively low watering rates would be sufficient to keep seedlings alive through their first summer after germination."

These results will be presented in a paper Smart Environmental Watering at the international conference Water Down Under 2008 in Adelaide, which starts on 15 April 2008. The paper discusses how the application of limited water can be timed to best effect for the Murray floodplain environment.