Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #231830
Title: Water supply: Yield relationships developed for study of water management

Author
item STONE, LOYD - KANSAS STATE UNIV
item SCHLEGEL, ALAN - KANSAS STATE UNIV
item KHAN, A - UNIV OF KHAKA, BANGLADESH
item KLOCKE, NORMAN - KANSAS STATE UNIV
item AIKEN, ROB - KANSAS STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2006
Publication Date: 12/1/2006
Citation: Stone, L., Schlegel, A., Khan, A.H., Klocke, N., Aiken, R. 2006. Water supply: Yield relationships developed for study of water management. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education. 35:161-173.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The USA's west-central Great Plains is a semiarid region with irrigation largely from the Ogallala Aquifer, which has experienced extensive water-level declines. Farmers respond to reduced water supplies with alternative management, irrigation equipment, and crops; and, it is imperative the economics of these changes be studied. Profit and risk in water management depend on the crop-water relationships. Our objective was to describe the development of, and tabulate, yield-water supply relationships for six primary crops of the region: alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), corn (Zea mays L.), grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Soils were deep silt loams that developed from loess. Input weather data were long-term, daily means of air temperature, solar radiation, and precipitation. Crop growth patterns were consistent with full-season cropping. Yields modeled with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) net irrigation requirement (NIR) for 80% chance rainfall ranged from 92% to 97% of the maximum yields. This illustrated that if net irrigation exceeds the recommended NIR, there will be no appreciable yield increase. These calculated yield vs. water supply results will aid in studying water resource optimization and the associated economics.