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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 #375395
Research Project: Precipitation and Irrigation Management to Optimize Profits from Crop Production

Location: Soil and Water Management Research

Title: Simulated effects of changes in selected soil physical and chemical properties associated with soil health on dryland cotton production

Author
item ALE, SRINIVASULU - TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE
item HIMANSHU, SUSHIL - TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE
item BRAUER, DAVID
item MAUGET, STEVEN
item HUDSON, DARREN - TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
item Goebel, Tim
item LIU, BING - TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE
item Baumhardt, Roland - Louis
item BORDOVSKY, JAMES - TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE
item Lascano, Robert
item Gitz, Dennis

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2020
Publication Date: 11/9/2020
Citation: Ale, S., Himanshu, S.K., Mauget, S.A., Hudson, D., Goebel, T.S., Liu, B., Baumhardt, R.L., Bordovsky, J.P., Brauer, D.K., Lascano, R.J., Gitz III, D.C. 2020. Simulated effects of changes in selected soil physical and chemical properties associated with soil health on dryland cotton production [abstract].ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings (2020), Virtual.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The continuing decline of groundwater levels in the underlying Ogallala Aquifer, diminishing irrigation well capacities, and increasing energy and equipment costs associated with groundwater extraction for irrigation are driving a transition to dryland agriculture on the Texas High Plains. The overall goal of this study was to assess the potential long-term dryland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production response to hypothetical changes in selected soil physical and chemical properties putatively associated with soil health. The CROPGRO-Cotton module within the cropping system model of the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) was used to simulate the effects of reduced surface runoff and increases in soil water holding capacity, soil organic carbon, albedo (e.g., through stubble mulching), and drainage (e.g., enhancing infiltration with no-tillage/cover crops) on seed cotton yield. Mean seed cotton yield simulated with baseline soil properties of a Pullman clay loam soil at Halfway on the Texas High Plains was compared to simulated seed cotton yield values obtained with the changes in soil properties using weather data from 1977 to 2019. Simulated mean seed cotton yield increased by: a) 6% when the soil water holding capacity was increased by an inch (25 mm), b) 9% when the runoff curve number was decreased from 73 to 60, c) 15% when soil organic carbon was increased by 1%, d) 11% when albedo fraction was increased from 0.2 to 0.4, and e) 48% when the drainage rate fraction was doubled from 0.2. Water balances under each of the above scenarios are being compared. These results and this modeling approach will be used to define the theoretical maximal yield increases, and later, to constrain and define the economically feasible limits expected by managing soil physical and chemical properties associated with soil health.