Location: Delta Water Management Research
2022 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1: Measure, model, and/or estimate the impact of current and innovative farming practices on water quantity and quality while sustaining crop yields and reducing environmental impacts in irrigated agroecosystems.
Sub-objective 1a: Quantify changes in irrigation water use, water quality, and crop water productivity as a result of implementing innovative rice production practices.
Sub-objective 1b: Quantify changes in irrigation water use, water quality, and crop water productivity as a result of implementing innovative row-crop production practices.
Objective 2: Develop and/or enhance agronomically sound irrigation and drainage management tools, practices, and technologies that protect and/or increase available water resources.
Sub-objective-2a: Evaluate alternative sources of irrigation water.
Sub-objective-2b: Evaluate practices and technologies for managed recharge of the MRVA aquifer.
Objective 3: Improve watershed management in irrigated agroecosystems of the Lower Mississippi River Basin.
Sub-objective 3a: Develop an improved understanding of nutrient and sediment transport, transformations and the hydrology in an irrigated landscape.
Approach
To preserve the quantity and quality of irrigation water supplies in the Lower Mississippi River Basin, it is necessary to consider the range of crops, soils, and production systems; the types of irrigation and drainage systems employed; the level of runoff water recycling employed; and the different water sources available. This project will address ways to improve the sustainability of groundwater supplies by investigating alternative irrigation methods for the crops currently produced in the region. Production system evaluations will include on-farm research with active participation by crop producers and crop advisors. Data collected from on-farm evaluations will be used to inform, enhance and validate existing hydrology models. Findings from this research are expected to reduce agricultural reliance on groundwater and improve water resources management, inform decision makers of potential impacts of conservation practices, and arm producers with tools and technologies that conserve water resources while maintaining crop yield.
Progress Report
This is the final report for this project. Refer to new project 6024-13000-004-00D, "Optimizing the Management of Irrigated Cropping Systems in the Lower Mississippi River Basin" for additional information.
Preserving Water Availability and Quality for Agriculture in the Lower Mississippi River Basin (6024-13000-003-00D ) ran from 4/19/2017 to 4/18/2022 and was replaced with Optimizing the Management of Irrigated Cropping Systems in the Lower Mississippi River Basin (6024-13000-004-000D) on 4/08/2022 and will continue through 4/07/2027.
Objective 1: Unit researchers measured water use, water quality, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil moisture, grain quality, and arsenic levels in rice grain at commercial rice fields. While climate change continues to become a threat to crop production and water resources, innovative technologies associated with rice resilience to high temperature and post-harvest assessment of grain were investigated by ARS scientists using state-of-the-art infrastructure and instrumentation. Field validation of these advanced technologies facilitates the development of rice genomes resilient to climate change. Through collaboration with RiceTec, Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center, and Arkansas State University (ASU), ARS researchers continue to build upon a database of greenhouse gas emissions by management and variety from the mid-south. Research on the automation of rice irrigation continues and used a 16 farm field study in NE Arkansas to start this effort. This study compared water savings, yield, economics, and other parameters of fully-automated, partially automated, and fully-manual irrigation management. Irrigation research involving the use of winter cover crops in a furrow irrigated rice-soybean system was executed at two farm locations while a soybean-maize system is being investigated at two other farm locations in cooperation with the University of Arkansas (U of A) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Significant progress was made on the development of state-of-the-art field infrastructure and crop establishments of 320 rice diversity panels to assess high night temperature stress tolerance in flooded rice system, which is part of a multi-institutional National Science Foundation project on rice and wheat heat resilience.
Objective 2: Research in this objective has been expanded by the unit’s invited participation in the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Arkansas Groundwater Initiative (AGWI). This NRCS-funded initiative is a 10-year effort whose overarching goal is to reduce aquifer decline in critical groundwater areas located in the Grand Prairie and Cache River Critical Groundwater Areas (CGA) of Arkansas. The program involves collaborations between farmers and ARS, NRCS and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) personnel. ARS researchers will measure irrigation use before and after a range of conservation practices are employed which USGS staff will try to correlate with any resulting changes in groundwater levels. These activities compliment on-going efforts to inventory agricultural surface water resources and irrigation practices in the Cache River GCA that will be used to create potential scenarios for attaining groundwater use reductions. The unit has shifted managed groundwater recharge efforts to infiltration galleries (IG). Construction on two IG in the Cache River CGA was completed in February 2021 and water was moved to the systems in Fall of 2021 (recharge activities are limited to fall and winter months).
Objective 3: Much of the work in this objective is at the farm- and field-scale, which requires collaboration. Collaboration to meet this objective continued with regional producers, organizations, and universities (Arkansas State University, University of Arkansas, and North Carolina A&T State University). Data collection at the nine edge-of-field sites and ten in-stream CEAP sites continued. Data from these sites were used to help verify the national Soil Vulnerability Index. Funding was secured through U of A collaborators to continue research at four sites that were at the end of their six-year edge-of-field contract with Natural Resources Conservation Service, and to begin data collection at two new rice/soybean sites. The rice/soybean EOF sites are now both coupled with eddy covariance towers capable of measuring fluxes of CO2, H2O, and CH4 at the field scale.
General Information: The unit’s research in water quantity and water quality has earned them several awards, including: 2022 Award for the Advancement of Surface Irrigation from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2022 Rice Researcher of the Year at the 25th Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference, 2020 Sustainability Award from USA Rice, 2020 Conservation Innovation Award from the Soil and Water Conservation Society for their role in the “Arkansas Rice Irrigation Water Management Field Day”, 2018 Rice Technical Working Group (RTWG) Distinguished Rice Research and/or Education Team Award for "Advancing irrigation management practices to achieve sustainable intensification outcomes”, and 2018 Educational Aids Blue Ribbon Competition for “Innovation in Rice Irrigation Will Help Reduce Aquifer Decline” from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
ARS researchers were invited to present their findings at a number of national and international events including but not limited to: National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Production Conference, Western Rice Belt Conference, Cereals & Grains Association: Connecting Rice Science and Production with Global Sustainability, Embrapa-clima temperado unit (Pelotas, Brazil), CottonWorks for Cotton Inc. Sustainability Webinar series: Pathways to Progress Measuring Improvements Towards the 10-year Sustainability Goals, Brazil Rice Growers Association, and Nature Conservancy-ADM Agricultural Water Conservation Meeting, Sino-U.S. Water Savings Technologies Flagship Project, American Chemical Society, Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division National Meeting, Arkansas Chapter of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, a rice producers association in Brazil, Rice Technical Working Group Meeting, Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference, 4th Americas sub-Group of the Paddy Rice Global Research Alliance (via video conference), Global Water Security for Agriculture and Natural Resources, International Rice Congress, International Congress of Science and Technology in the Tropics, Economics of Managed Aquifer Recharge, and to Uruguay and Paraguay (all expenses paid) to present on irrigation innovation in rice production.
ARS researchers were invited to serve on the Technical Advisory Committee of the National Cotton Council, Field to Market, Arkansas Soil Health Alliance, and USA Rice; and a 5-year external research review panel for the National Agricultural Research Institute of Uruguay (INIA). Direct grant funding was successfully secured through multiple sources, including but not limited to: Arkansas Cotton Board, Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board, Arkansas Soybean Research and Promotion Board, Cotton Inc., Ducks Unlimited, Kellogg’s, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. grants. ARS researchers mentored five students in the Bridge the Divide Program and one in the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.
Accomplishments
1. Farm-based study reveals advantages and disadvantages of four rice irrigation practices. Because reducing groundwater use in rice production is key to protecting the alluvial aquifer, this farm-based study by ARS researchers in Jonesboro, Arkansas, performed side-by-side comparisons of all four major rice irrigation systems used in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. The study measured irrigation water use, grain yield, greenhouse gas emissions and economics for 16 40-acre rice fields that were managed by the same producer over a two-year period. Results to date indicate that the producer was able to conserve groundwater using furrow irrigation more consistently than either multiple-inlet flood distribution or alternate wetting and drying flood management. Using furrow-irrigation, the farmer applied 23% less water than cascade flood–levee gate distribution, the industry standard for rice irrigation. Moreover, furrow irrigation was determined to result in a similar overall global warming potential as continuous flooding, suggesting that the increased nitrogen oxide emissions often associated with furrow-irrigation may not greatly detract from the water- and labor-savings that furrow irrigation offers rice producers. Future research will further examine greenhouse gas emissions and economics for a comprehensive assessment of these rice irrigation practices.
2. Application of rice husk combined with non-flooded rice irrigation practices. These practices have the potential to limit As and Cd content in the grain, reduced water use, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions in irrigated rice systems. Rice is a stable food crop of almost half of global human population. Rice production under continuously flooded irrigation sustained grain yield and yet have some negative impacts to environment and human health. This review by ARS researchers in Jonesboro, Arkansas, shows a scientific basis to shift rice irrigation from continuously flooded to non-flooded practices such as furrow rice irrigation (row rice) and alternate wetting and drying irrigation (AWD) and also presents rice breeding solutions. Sociotechnical considerations are discussed with a view of farmers and millers adoption of new irrigation methods. Rice husks are a Silicon-rich postharvest product with ~10% Si content. Rice husks have the potential to reduce As and Cd crop uptake and provide plant Si nutrient needs. Many field studies showed that AWD and row rice irrigation methods reduced CH4 emissions by >50% and sustain high grain yield with proper management of dry events during rice growth stage. Breeding efforts that combined both water stress tolerance, preferential nutrient uptake and grain yield increase are all essential in achieving the future of breeding programs. Rice producers may need published decision support tools to guide implementation of new farming systems that incorporate the use of rice husks in field operations. Overall, the new production method discussed in this study may be useful to producers, millers, breeders, extension specialists, supply chain organizations, and consumers.
3. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) may be an additional tool to reduce groundwater declines in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. Future development of large-scale surface water storage and distribution systems is unlikely due to their potential adverse impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Alternatively, storage within existing aquifers offers a low-cost option to mitigate groundwater depletion, land subsidence, and a means to store water for future needs. The efficient storage and recovery of water in aquifers is often referred to as managed aquifer recharge (MAR). The Lower Mississippi River Basin is plagued by low-permeability surface deposits, which limit and create significant variation in natural groundwater recharge across the region. ARS researchers in Jonesboro, Arkansas, characterized surface and upper aquifer conditions to assess the feasibility of using farm-scale MAR infiltration galleries, gravel-filled trenches designed to move surface water into the aquifer. Geophysical and sediment surveys were promising and identified locations to implement farm-scale IG and suggest that small MAR systems could be a useful tool for groundwater management in the region.
4. Remote sensing technology coupled with vegetative indices accurately predict specific N requirement of irrigated maize. Since nitrogen (N) is the most important yield-limiting factor in crop production, accurate indicators of N requirements during the crop growing period can improve farmers' fertilizer N management decisions for higher grain yield. A field study was conducted by ARS researchers in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in two maize production fields that aimed to validate the accuracy of using plant metrics measured by high-definition cameras and sensors in predicting the specific N requirement of maize. Remote sensing data were collected throughout the growth of maize and relationships among vegetation indices (i.e. normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI), red-edge normalized difference vegetation index (RENDVI), chlorophlyll index-green (CIgreen)) and grain yield at different N fertilizer rates were analyzed. Three vegetation indices namely Green NDVI, RENDVI, and CIgreen were the best predictors of maize yield. These findings can provide maize growers, extension agents, and industry an accurate decision support tool to devise best fertilizer N recommendation for optimal grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency with minimal N losses.
Review Publications
Runkle, B., Seyfferth, A., Reid, M.C., Limmer, M.A., Moreno-Garcia, B., Reavis, C.W., Pena, J., Reba, M.L., Adviento-Borbe, A.A., Pinson, S.R., Isbell, C. 2021. Hypothesis and Theory: Co-implementing rice husk amendment and alternate wetting and drying irrigation for sustainable rice production. Frontiers in Agronomy. 3:741557. https://doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2021.741557.
Massey, J., Reba, M.L., Adviento-Borbe, A.A., Chiu, Y., Payne, G.K. 2022. Direct comparisons of four irrigation systems on commercial rice farm: irrigation water use efficiencies and water dynamics. Agricultural Water Management. 266:107606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107606.
Rodriguez, F.S., Armstrong, P.R., Maghirang, E.B., Yaptenco, K.F., Scully, E.D., Arthur, F.H., Brabec, D.L., Adviento-Borbe, A.A., Suministrado, D.C. 2020. Developing a multi-spectral NIR LED-based instrument for detection of pesticide residues containing chlorpyrifos-methyl in rough, brown and milled rice. Transactions of the ASABE. 36(6):983-993. https://doi.org/10.13031/aea.14001.
Godwin, I.A., Reba, M.L., Leslie, D., Adams, R., Rigby, J. 2022. Feasibility of infiltration galleries for managed aquifer recharge in the mississippi river valley alluvial aquifer of northeast Arkansas. Agricultural Water Management. 264:107531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107531.
Perin, V., Roy, S., Kington, J., Harris, T., Talbure, M., Stone, N., Barballe, T., Reba, M.L., Yaeger, M.A. 2021. Monitoring small water bodies using high spatial and temporal resolution analysis ready datasets. Journal of Remote Sensing. 13(24):5176. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13245176.
Bellis, E., Hashem, A.A., Causey, J.L., Runkle, B.R., Moregno-Garcia, B., Burns, B., Green, S.V., Burcham, T.N., Reba, M.L., Huang, X. 2022. Detecting intra-field variation in rice yield with UAV imagery and deep learning. Frontiers in Plant Science. 13:716506. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.716506.
Leslie, D.L., Reba, M.L., Godwin, I.A., Yaeger, M. 2021. Groundwater trends during 1985 to 2019 in a critical groundwater area of northeastern Arkansas. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 77(1):67-77. https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.2022.00170.
Delwiche, K.B., Knox, S.H., Malhotra, A., Fluet-Chouinard, E., Mcnicol, G., Feron, S., Ouyang, Z., Papale, D., Trotta, C., Canfora, E., Cheah, Y., Christianson, D., Alberto, C., Alekseychik, P., Aurela, M., Baldocchi, D., Bansal, S., Billesbach, D., Bohrer, G., Bracho, R., Buchmann, N., Campbell, D., Celis, G., Chen, J., Chen, W., Chu, H., Dalmagro, H., Dengel, S., Desai, A., Detto, M., Dolman, H., Eichlmann, E., Euskirchen, E., Famulari, D., Friborg, T., Fuchs, K., Goeckede, M., Gogo, S., Gondwe, M., Goodrich, J., Gottschalk, P., Graham, S., Heimann, M., Helbig, M., Helfter, C., Hemes, K., Hirano, T., Hollinger, D., Hortnagl, L., Iwata, H., Jacotot, A., Jansen, J., Juraskinki, G., Kang, M., Kasak, K., King, J., Klatt, J., Koebsch, F., Krauss, K., Lai, D., Mammarella, I., Manca, G., Marchesini, L.B., Matthes, J.H., Maximon, T., Merbold, L., Mitra, B., Morin, T., Nemitz, E., Nilsson, M.B., Niu, S., Oechel, W., Oikawa, P., Ono, K., Peichl, M., Peltola, O., Reba, M.L., Richardson, A., Riley, W., Runkle, B., Ryu, Y., Sachs, T., Sakabe, A., Sanchez, C., Schuur, E.A., Schafer, K.V., Sonnentag, O., Sparks, J.P., Stuart-Haentjens, E., Sturtevant, C., Sullivan, R.C., Szutu, D.J., Thom, J.E., Torn, M., Tuittila, E., Turner, J., Ueyama, M., Valach, A.C., Vargas, R. 2021. FLUXNET-CH4: A global, multi-ecosystem dataset and analysis of methane seasonality from freshwater wetlands. Earth System Science Data. 13(7):3607–3689. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3607-2021.
Martin, E., Godwin, I., Cooper, R., Aryal, N., Reba, M.L., Bouldin, J. 2021. Assessing mitigative properties of vegetation in northeast Arkansas agricultural ditches using physiochemical water quality characteristics. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 320:107613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107613.
Perin, V., Tulbure, M., Reich, B., Gaines, M.D., Reba, M.L., Yaeger, M. 2021. A multi-sensor satellite imagery approach to monitor on-farm reservoirs. Remote Sensing of Environment. 270:112796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112796.
De Avila, L.A., De Martin1, L.F., Mezzomo, R.F., Rsfatti, J.P., Campos, R., Cerimbra, D.M., Machado, S.O., Massey, J., Carlesso, R., Marchesan, E. 2015. Rice Water use efficiency and yield under continuous and intermittent irrigation . Agronomy Journal. 107(2):442-448. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj14.0080.
Burns, B., Green, S., Hashem, A., Massey, J., Shew, A., Adviento-Borbe, A.A., Milad, M. 2022. Determining nitrogen deficiencies for maize using various remote sensing indices. Precision Agriculture. 23:791-811. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-021-09861-4.
