Variable-rate irrigation management for peanut using Irrigator Pro

Authors: Stone, Kenneth - Ken; Bauer, Philip; Busscher, Warren; Millen, Joseph; Evans, Dean; Strickland Jr, Ernest

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Annual Precision Ag Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2010
Publication Date: 7/18/2010
Citation: Stone, K.C., Bauer, P.J., Busscher, W.J., Millen, J.A., Evans, D.E., Strickland Jr, E.E. 2010. Variable-rate irrigation management for peanut using Irrigator Pro. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Precision Agriculture, July 18-21, 2010, Denver, Colorado. 2 p.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Variable-rate irrigation has the potential to save water. These savings become more important as urban, industrial, and environmental sectors compete with agriculture for available water. To help save water, methodologies are needed to precision-apply water for maximum agronomic and economic efficacy. In this study, we conducted irrigation experiments on peanut to compare variable-rate irrigation management using traditional soil water potential measurements with an expert system (Irrigator Pro) for spatial crop management. We conducted experiments in 2007, 2008, and 2009 to evaluate Irrigator-Pro as a potential tool for variable-rate irrigation of peanut using a site-specific center pivot irrigation system developed by the USDA-ARS at Florence, South Carolina. Treatments were irrigation of whole plots based on the expert system, irrigation of individual soils within plots based on the expert system, irrigation of individual soils within plots based on soil water potential (SWP) measurements, and rainfed. Irrigator Pro managed treatments initiated irrigation earlier in the season than for treatments managed with SWP measurements.