Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Crop Science Research Laboratory » Genetics and Sustainable Agriculture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #356603
Title: Pond and irrigation model (PIM): a tool for simultaneously evaluating pond water availability and crop irrigation demand

Author
item OUYANG, YING - Forest Service (FS)
item Feng, Gary
item LEININGER, THEODOR - Forest Service (FS)
item Read, John
item Jenkins, Johnie

Submitted to: Water Resources Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/13/2018
Publication Date: 4/11/2018
Citation: Ouyang, Y., Feng, G.G., Leininger, T., Read, J.J., Jenkins, J.N. 2018. Pond and irrigation model (PIM): a tool for simultaneously evaluating pond water availability and crop irrigation demand. Water Resources Management. 32(9):2969-2983.

Interpretive Summary: Agricultural ponds are an important alternative source of water for crop irrigation to conserve surface and ground water resources. In recent years more such ponds have been constructed in Mississippi and around the world. There is currently, however, a lack of a tool to simultaneously estimate crop irrigation demand and pond water availability. In this study, a Pond-Irrigation Model (PIM) was developed to meet this need using STELLA (Structural Thinking, Experiential Learning Laboratory with Animation) software. The PIM simulated crop land and agricultural pond hydrological processes such as rainfall, surface runoff, soil drainage, and evapotranspiration as well as crop irrigation demand and pond water availability. More important, PIM was able to decide when to conduct crop irrigation based on management allowable depletion (MAD) root zone soil water content and to determine optimal ratios of agricultural pond size to crop land with sufficient pond water available for crop irrigation. As a case demonstration, the model was applied to concomitantly estimate row crops (i.e., corn, cotton, and soybeans) water irrigation demand and pond water availability in a farm located at East-central Mississippi over a 120-year simulation period. Simulations showed that there were 104 times for corn, 62 times for cotton, and 111 times for soybeans when irrigation was needed during the growing season. Simulations further revealed that corn used more soil water for growth than soybeans, whereas soybeans needed more irrigation water than corn and occurred due to less rainwater available for soybeans growth. We also found that there was one time for corn, zero time for cotton, and two times for soybeans when the pond water level was drawn to near zero for irrigation from 2005 to 2014 for the simulation conditions used in this study. The PIM developed in this study is a useful tool for estimating crop irrigation demand and pond water availability simultaneously.

Technical Abstract: Agricultural ponds are an important alternative source of water for crop irrigation to conserve surface and ground water resources. In recent years more such ponds have been constructed in Mississippi and around the world. There is currently, however, a lack of a tool to simultaneously estimate crop irrigation demand and pond water availability. In this study, a Pond-Irrigation Model (PIM) was developed to meet this need using STELLA (Structural Thinking, Experiential Learning Laboratory with Animation) software. PIM simulated crop land and agricultural pond hydrological processes such as surface runoff, soil drainage, and evapotranspiration as well as crop irrigation demand and pond water availability. More importantly, PIM was able to decide when to conduct crop irrigation based on management allowable depletion (MAD) root zone soil water content and to determine optimal ratios of agricultural pond size to crop land with sufficient pond water available for crop irrigation. As a case demonstration, the model was applied to concomitantly estimate row crops (i.e., corn, cotton, and soybeans) water irrigation demand and pond water availability in a farm located at East-central Mississippi. Simulations revealed that corn used more soil water for growth than soybeans, whereas soybeans needed more irrigation water than corn and occurred due to less rainwater available for soybeans growth. We also found that there was one time for corn, zero time for cotton, and two times for soybeans when the pond water level was drawn to near zero for irrigation from 2005 to 2014. PIM developed in this study is a useful tool for estimating crop irrigation demand and pond water availability simultaneously.