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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #370070
Research Project: Precipitation and Irrigation Management to Optimize Profits from Crop Production

Location: Soil and Water Management Research

Title: Fusion of real-time soil water contents with ET modeling for improved irrigation scheduling decisions

Author
item Schwartz, Robert
item DOMINGUEZ, ALFONSO - University Of Castilla-La Mancha(UCLM)
item BELL, JOURDAN - Texas A&M Agrilife

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/28/2019
Publication Date: 11/11/2019
Citation: Schwartz, R.C., Dominguez, A., Bell, J.M. 2019. Fusion of real-time soil water contents with ET modeling for improved irrigation scheduling decisions [abstract]. 2019 ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual International Meeting, November 10-13, 2019, San Antonio, Texas. Abstract No. 134-1.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: There are considerable uncertainties in evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes estimated using mechanistic modelling at the field scale because of parameter uncertainties coupled with scale-dependence and flow assumptions associated with Richards Equation. Introduction of measured soil water contents into the simulation provides a way to facilitate the integration or fusion of these information sources that has the potential to improve the evaluation of crop water stress and ET estimation. In this talk, we present field data to demonstrate how measured soil water contents can be used in a model to simulate root water uptake using a nonuniform root distribution with depth and a minimum parameter set. In addition, event-based soil water balance is shown to provide improved estimates of net runoff and irrigation application efficiencies. Lastly, combining these simulations with a production function provides a means to estimate yield outcomes resulting from irrigation scheduling decisions.