Project Number: 6604-13210-004-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Oct 22, 2008
End Date: Oct 21, 2013

Objective:
Objective 1. Develop more efficient management practices for conventional tillage systems with respect to agricultural water use for row crops (cotton, corn, and peanut). Objective 2. Develop improved techniques for irrigation scheduling of surface drip irrigation for row crops and vegetables. Objective 3. Develop management techniques for new and emerging crops in peanut-base rotations irrigated with surface drip.

Approach:
Furrow diked, and non-furrow diked treatments will be applied in a strip-split-plot design with irrigation as main plots and furrow diking as sub-plots with a non-irrigated control. In furrow diked treatments, furrow diking will be conducted after planting, near or before seedling emergence. The basins and dams formed by the 2-paddle furrow diker are commonly 1.5 m long, 0.30 m wide, and 0.2 m deep. The ripper shank will be operated at a depth of about 20 cm in every row middle of furrow diked treatments. Furrow dikes will be created in alternate rows, leaving traffic row middles non-diked. Irrigation timing and amount will be determined using IrrigatorPro. Soil and plant parameters will be monitored using electronic sensors. A rainfall simulator will be used to document soil erosion and infiltration from various treatments and soil series. Meteorological factors will be continuously monitored and recorded using electronic weather stations. Agronomic and economic factors will be recorded for each crop throughout the season and reported as a whole to determine the feasibility of each system. Crop yield, quality, and economic factors will be recorded and compared to express the feasibility of these systems. Agronomic management in field studies will be with current best management practices including transgenic herbicide and insecticide systems. Surface drip irrigation (SDI) will be used to document irrigation strategies for peanut, cotton, corn, vegetable, wheat and canola that will promote economic yield. Crop rotations will have four irrigation treatments and three replications in a randomized complete block design. Individual subplots will be 5.5 m wide by 15 m long. Irrigation events will occur daily, bi-weekly and weekly. Soil moisture sensors will be used to determine the depth of water to apply at each irrigation event. Mini-lysimeters will be installed to document drainage below the root zone. Vegetable crops will be double cropped with peanut and cotton and irrigated with SDI to help increase the economic opportunity to the grower. At harvest time yield and grade of vegetables will be collected to determine economic feasibility. Yield will be determined by weighing a mass of vegetables at harvest time. Individual vegetable grades will be determined using state inspection criteria where grade criteria are available. Winter wheat and canola will be planted with various nitrogen treatments to document best economic yield. Crop water use for all crops will be documented using soil sensors, mini-lysimeters, and crop yield. Crop yield and grade will be determined using normal procedures for cotton, corn, and peanut. Winter wheat will be tested for protein and falling number to determine economic value. Canola will be tested for percent oil extraction (on site bio-diesel extraction) to determine its value as a bio-diesel crop. Water use curves will be determined for each crop using lysimeter and soil sensor data. Crop coefficients will be calculated from estimated actual potential evapotranspiration collected from lysimeter and weather data, respectively.