Location: Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research
Project Number: 5070-13610-009-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Feb 15, 2022
End Date: Feb 14, 2027
Objective:
Objective 1: Optimize production systems for irrigated cotton, corn, soybean, and rice to improve crop water productivity under variable weather and soil conditions.
1A: Develop improved methods for determining the appropriate values of field capacity for use in irrigation scheduling.
1B: Develop a database of crop canopy sensing data for calculating crop coefficient in fields with uniform soil to serve as baseline for determining site-specific crop coefficients.
Objective 2: Evaluate and/or develop site-specific best management irrigation practices based on localized soil and environmental conditions to optimize crop production while minimizing water usage.
2A: Evaluate the potential for use of the ARSPivot program for variable-rate irrigation management in the sub-humid U.S. Mid-South.
2B: Document the spatial variability of crop water coefficient and other crop and soil properties in a field and how they interact to affect crop water productivity.
Approach:
Our team will address impediments to the overall goal of improving performance, profitability, and sustainability of irrigated agriculture in humid and sub-humid climates. We will develop and refine tools to improve irrigation scheduling and develop improved methods for determining appropriate values for a specific soil’s field capacity, information which is essential for optimal water management. Building on our previous research and as part of a multi-location, multi-disciplinary team, we will investigate how best to achieve site-specific irrigation management through use of the ARSPivot computer program to manage mechanized irrigation systems, and observations of soil and crop variability within the field.
