ARS | Publication request: Addressing water scarcity through limited irrigation cropping: Field experiments and modeling

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: October 15, 2012
Publication Date: October 15, 2012
Citation: DeJonge, K.C., Hansen, N.C., Andales, A.A. 2012. Addressing water scarcity through limited irrigation cropping: Field experiments and modeling. Meeting Abstract. Colorado State University, GRAD 592 Water Resources Seminar Fort Collins, CO. October 15, 2012

Technical Abstract: Population growth in urbanizing areas such as the Front Range of Colorado has led to increased pressure to transfer water from agriculture to municipalities. In many cases this has led to complete dry up of productive irrigated lands. An option to complete dry-up is the practice of limited or deficit irrigation, where substantial yields may be obtained with reduced water applications during the non-water-sensitive growth stages of the crop. Savings in crop evapotranspiration (ET), which is considered a consumptive use of water, could then be transferred to municipalities or other entities. This presentation will highlight the evaluation of limited irrigation cropping systems with field trials and simulation modeling. Field trials in Northeast Colorado are aimed at maximizing crop water productivity while saving consumptive water use and at identifying methods to quantify consumptive use. Crop models provide a mechanism to evaluate various management strategies without performing costly and time-consuming field experiments. The CERES-Maize crop model, which had been widely used in the past for yield assessments of non-stressed corn, was modified to give improved simulations of corn growth, yield, and ET under limited irrigation conditions.