Improving water management in small scale subsurface drip irrigation
Abstract
Plants require water to survive, and a certain threshold value of soil moisture must be maintained in the root zone to ensure healthy vegetation growth. For small scale producers, micro irrigation systems such as subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) are effective solutions to apply water directly into the root zone that can reduce evaporative losses and increase water use efficiency. Here, with the installation of a SDI system, we evaluate water uptake and productivity of a small-scale corn production operation. Our goal is to assess three water application rates and their response to vegetation health and productivity. The experimental design includes testing four sweet corn varieties under three water application rates, with each treatment replicated three times. We use daily weather records from a nearby weather station to estimate plant water requirements and schedule irrigation. Soil moisture sensors are installed at 200 mm depth at five locations within each water application replicate. The soil sensors report volumetric water content at 15-minute intervals. Soil samples are collected weekly near each soil sensor and analyzed in a laboratory to determine actual moisture content and to calibrate the sensor records. In addition, weekly areal images are acquired using a multispectral (five spectral bands) and a thermal (two spectral bands) cameras to track vegetation growth. The crop will be harvested at the end of the growing season, yield, sweetness, texture and moisture content of corn measured for each treatment, and will be evaluated for their relationship with water application rates during the growing season. Our findings will be valuable their insight into planning small-scale irrigation facilities to (i) increase water use efficiency and reduce input costs, (ii) produce food for local trade and consumption, and (ii) enhance income generation potential.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFMGC42K0849T