scholarly journals Development of a Simple Irrigation Scheduling Calendar for Mesilla Valley Pecan Growers

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 714-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery C. Kallestad ◽  
John G. Mexal ◽  
Theodore W. Sammis ◽  
Richard Heerema

For farmers to accurately schedule future water delivery for irrigations, a prediction method based on time-series measurements of soil moisture depletion and climate-based indicators of evaporative demand is needed. Yet, numerous reports indicate that field instruments requiring high in-season labor input are not likely to be used by farmers. In New Mexico, pecan (Carya illinoensis) farmers in the Mesilla Valley have been reluctant to adopt new soil-based or climate-based irrigation scheduling technologies. In response to low adoption rates, we have developed a simple, practical irrigation scheduling tool specifically for flood-irrigated pecan production. The information presented in the tool was derived using 14 years of archived climate data and model-simulated consumptive water use. Using this device, farmers can estimate the time interval between their previous and the next irrigation for any date in the growing season, in a range of representative soil types. An accompanying metric for extending irrigation intervals based on field-scale rainfall accumulation was also developed. In modeled simulations, irrigations scheduled with the tool while using the rainfall rule were within 3 days of the model-predicted irrigation dates in silty clay loam and loam soil, and less than 2 days in sandy loam and sand soil. The simulations also indicated that irrigations scheduled with the tool resulted in less than 1% reduction in maximum annual consumptive water use, and the overall averaged soil moisture depletion was 45.14% with an 18.1% cv, relative to a target management allowable depletion of 45%. Our long-term objective is that farmers using this tool will better understand the relationships between seasonal climate variation and irrigation scheduling, and will seek real-time evapotranspiration information currently available from local internet resources.

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2930
Author(s):  
Mathias Kuschel-Otárola ◽  
Diego Rivera ◽  
Eduardo Holzapfel ◽  
Niels Schütze ◽  
Patricio Neumann ◽  
...  

Irrigation management is a key factor in attaining optimal yields, as different irrigation strategies lead to different yields even when using the same amount of water or under the same weather conditions. Our research aimed to simulate the water-use efficiency (WUE) of crops considering different irrigation strategies in the Central Valley of Chile. By means of AquaCrop-OS, we simulated expected yields for combinations of crops (maize, sugar beet, wheat), soil (clay loam, loam, silty clay loam, and silty loam), and bulk density. Thus, we tested four watering strategies: rainfed, soil moisture-based irrigation, irrigation with a fixed interval every 1, 3, 5, and 7 days, and an algorithm for optimal irrigation scheduling under water supply constraints (GET-OPTIS). The results showed that an efficient irrigation strategy must account for soil and crop characteristics. Among the tested strategies, GET-OPTIS led to the best performance for crop yield, water use, water-use efficiency, and profit, followed by the soil moisture-based strategy. Thus, soil type has an important influence on the yield and performance of different irrigation strategies, as it provides a significant storage and buffer for plants, making it possible to produce “more crop per drop”. This work can serve as a methodological guide for simulating the water-use efficiency of crops and can be used alongside evidence from the field.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (17) ◽  
pp. 6628-6669
Author(s):  
Indrani Choudhury ◽  
B.K. Bhattacharya ◽  
R. Eswar ◽  
M. Sekhar

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.O. Ojo ◽  
M. Ijioma ◽  
A.O. Ojo

Water Policy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 886-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Richter ◽  
James D. Brown ◽  
Rachel DiBenedetto ◽  
Adrianna Gorsky ◽  
Emily Keenan ◽  
...  

As water scarcity worsens globally, there is growing interest in finding ways to reduce water consumption, and for reallocating water savings to other uses including environmental restoration. Because irrigated agriculture is responsible for more than 90% of all consumptive water use in water-scarce regions, much attention is being focused on opportunities to save water on irrigated farms. At the same time, many recent journal articles have expressed concern that claims of water-saving potential in irrigation systems lack technical credibility, or are at least exaggerated, due to failures to properly account for key elements of water budgets such as return flows. Critics have also asserted that opportunities for reallocating irrigation savings to other uses are limited because any freed-up water is taken up by other farmers. A comprehensive literature and internet survey was undertaken to identify well-documented studies of water-saving strategies in irrigated agriculture, as well as a review of case studies in which water savings have been successfully transferred to other uses. Our findings suggest that there is in fact considerable potential to reduce consumptive water use in irrigation systems when proper consideration is given to water budget accounting, and those savings can be beneficially reallocated to other purposes.


Author(s):  
Christopher O. Akinbile ◽  
Remigius C. Eze ◽  
Habeeb Yusuf ◽  
Babatunde S. Ewulo ◽  
Adeniyi Olayanju

The increasing demand of Cassava for our dietary needs and shortage experienced going by the burgeoning global population is a cause for concern that require urgent attention. The study therefore considered the effect of some selected soil properties, nutrients, moisture content, yield and consumptive water use (CWU) on two selected Cassava varieties TMS 0581 and TME 419 respectively. The design was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) of four treatments and three replicates. Treatment A had fertigation, B used poultry manure, C employed NPK, 15-15-15 while D with no treatment was used as control. Soil properties such as Bulk Density (BD), Particle Density (PD), soil classification and nutrients such as Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), Organic Matter (OM), Nitrogen (N), Potassium (K) and others were determined using standard procedures. Penman-Monteith (PM) model was used in estimating reference evapotranspiration (ETr) while its product with crop coefficient (Kc) produced crop evapotranspiration (ETc). Moisture content was measured at depths 10, 20 and 30 cm respectively while water use efficiency (WUE), irrigation water applied and tuber yield were also determined. The findings of this study showed that all the soil properties were within permissible levels to encourage optimum agronomic development of Cassava plant and the class was entirely a loamy soil which permits well-developed roottuber configuration. Tuber yields varied from 21.96 Kg to 25.13 Kg for TMS 0581 variety while TME 419 had 17.04 Kg to 31.63 Kg in all the treatments. Deficiencies were observed in some of the nutrients which were replenished with the introduction of the fertilizers among the plots. Moisture content at 30 cm depth is suggestive of adequate water availability sufficient enough to encourage proper tuber development for optimum yield while fertigation technique was adjudged the best as it improved Cassava Tuberization and WUE in all the treatments considered.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 762-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Puértolas ◽  
Marta Pardos ◽  
Carlos de Ollas ◽  
Alfonso Albacete ◽  
Ian C Dodd

Abstract Soil moisture heterogeneity in the root zone is common both during the establishment of tree seedlings and in experiments aiming to impose semi-constant soil moisture deficits, but its effects on regulating plant water use compared with homogenous soil drying are not well known in trees. Pronounced vertical soil moisture heterogeneity was imposed on black poplar (Populus nigra L.) grown in soil columns by altering irrigation frequency, to test whether plant water use, hydraulic responses, root phytohormone concentrations and root xylem sap chemical composition differed between wet (well-watered, WW), and homogeneously (infrequent deficit irrigation, IDI) and heterogeneously dry soil (frequent deficit irrigation, FDI). At the same bulk soil water content, FDI plants had greater water use than IDI plants, probably because root abscisic acid (ABA) concentration was low in the upper wetter layer of FDI plants, which maintained root xylem sap ABA concentration at basal levels in contrast with IDI. Soil drying did not increase root xylem concentration of any other hormone. Nevertheless, plant-to-plant variation in xylem jasmonic acid (JA) concentration was negatively related to leaf stomatal conductance within WW and FDI plants. However, feeding detached leaves with high (1200 nM) JA concentrations via the transpiration stream decreased transpiration only marginally. Xylem pH and sulphate concentration decreased in FDI plants compared with well-watered plants. Frequent deficit irrigation increased root accumulation of the cytokinin trans-zeatin (tZ), especially in the dry lower layer, and of the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), in the wet upper soil layer. Root hormone accumulation might explain the maintenance of high root hydraulic conductance and water use in FDI plants (similar to well-watered plants) compared with IDI plants. In irrigated tree crops, growers could vary irrigation scheduling to control water use by altering the hormone balance.


2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (21) ◽  
pp. 12248-12257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Verones ◽  
Dominik Saner ◽  
Stephan Pfister ◽  
Daniele Baisero ◽  
Carlo Rondinini ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-50
Author(s):  
H. C. Pringle, III ◽  
L. L. Falconer ◽  
D. K. Fisher ◽  
L. J. Krutz

Abstract. Irrigated acreage is expanding and groundwater supplies are decreasing in the Mississippi Delta. Efficient irrigation scheduling of soybean [ (L.) Merr] will aid in conservation efforts to sustain groundwater resources. The objective of this study was to develop irrigation initiation recommendations for soybean grown on Mississippi Delta soils. Field studies were conducted on a deep silty clay (SiC) in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 and on a deep silty clay loam (SiCL) and deep silt loam (SiL) or loam (L) soil in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Irrigation was initiated multiple times during the growing season and soybean yield and net return were determined to evaluate the effectiveness of each initiation timing. Growth stage, soil water potential (SWP), and soil water deficit (SWD) were compared at these initiation timings to determine which parameter or combination of parameters consistently predicted the resulting greatest yields and net returns. Stress conditions that reduce yield can occur at any time from late vegetative stages to full seed on these deep soils. The wide range of trigger values found for SWP and SWD to increase yields in different years emphasizes the complexity of irrigation scheduling. Monitoring soil moisture by itself or use of a single trigger value is not sufficient to optimize irrigation scheduling to maximize soybean yield with the least amount of water every year on these soils. Monitoring one or more parameters (e.g., leaf water potential, canopy temperature, air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind) is needed in conjunction with soil moisture to directly or indirectly quantify the abiotic stresses on the plant to better define when a yield reducing stress is occurring. Keywords: Irrigation initiation, Irrigation scheduling, Soil water deficit, Soil water potential, Soybean, Water conservation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document