Variable Rate Irrigation of Maize and Soybean in West-Central Nebraska under Full and Deficit Irrigation

Authors

J Burdette BarkerFollow
Sandeep Bhatti, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Derek M. Heeren, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Christopher M.U. Neale, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Daran Rudnick, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

9-2019

Citation

Barker, J. B., S. Bhatti, D. M. Heeren, C. M. U. Neale, and D. R. Rudnick. 2019. Variable rate irrigation of maize and soybean in West-Central Nebraska under full and deficit irrigation. Frontiers in Big Data 2(34),

doi: 10.3389/fdata.2019.00034.

Comments

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

Abstract

Variable rate irrigation (VRI) may improve center pivot irrigation management, including deficit irrigation. A remote-sensing-based evapotranspiration model was implemented with Landsat imagery to manage irrigations for a VRI equipped center pivot irrigated field located in West-Central Nebraska planted to maize in 2017 and soybean in 2018. In 2017, the study included VRI using the model, and uniform irrigation using neutron attenuation for full irrigation with no intended water stress (VRI-Full and Uniform-Full treatments, respectively). In 2018, two deficit irrigation treatments were added (VRI-Deficit and Uniform-Deficit, respectively) and the model was modified in an attempt to reduce water balance drift; model performance was promising, as it was executed unaided by measurements of soil water content throughout the season. VRI prescriptions did not correlate well with available water capacity (R² < 0.4); however, they correlated better with modeled ET in 2018 (R² = 0. 69, VRI-Full; R2 = 0.55, VRI-Deficit). No significant differences were observed in total intended gross irrigation depth in 2017 (VRI-Full = 351mm, Uniform Full = 344). However, in 2018, VRI resulted in lower mean prescribed gross irrigation than the corresponding uniform treatments (VRI-Full = 265mm, Uniform Full = 282mm, VRI-Deficit = 234mm, and Uniform Deficit = 267mm). Notwithstanding the differences in prescribed irrigation (in 2018), VRI did not affect dry grain yield, with no statistically significant differences being found between any treatments in either year (F = 0.03, p = 0.87 in 2017; F = 0.00, p = 0.96 for VRI/Uniform and F = 0.01, p = 0.93 for Full/Deficit in 2018). Likewise, any reduction in irrigation application apparently did not result in detectable reductions in deep percolation potential or actual evapotranspiration. Additional research is needed to further vet the model as a deficit irrigation management tool. Suggested model improvements include a continuous function for water stress and an optimization routine in computing the basal crop coefficient.