Smart irrigation technique based on crop water stress

Authors: Colaizzi, Paul; Oshaughnessy, Susan

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2019
Publication Date: 4/30/2019
Citation: Colaizzi, P.D., O'Shaughnessy, S.A. 2019. Smart irrigation technique based on crop water stress [abstract]. International Symposium on Non-Destructive Diagnosis of Crop Water Stress and Precision Irrigation for Sustainable Agricultural Production, April 30, 2019, Jeonju, South Korea. p.1.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Irrigation is vital for meeting increasing demands for crop production by a growing world population. However, water available for irrigation is declining due to water resource depletion and competing uses, such as in the municipal and industrial sectors. Therefore, crop water productivity must be continually increased to meet these demands. Judicious irrigation management, where irrigation is applied to precisely meet crop water needs in space and time, has been shown to be highly effective for achieving measureable increases in crop water productivity. This practice has become commonly known as “smart irrigation.” A key component of smart irrigation is knowing crop water needs, which can be highly variable in space and time. One way to assess crop water needs is by measurement of crop water stress using thermal infrared scans of a cropped field. Crop water stress indicates when to irrigate, but crop water stress must also be related to soil water depletion, which indicates how much to irrigate. This presentation reviews recent progress made by scientists and engineers at the US Department of Agriculture in developing practical smart irrigation techniques based on detecting crop water stress. Adoption of smart irrigation will make major contributions toward simultaneously achieving worldwide food security and conserving water resources.