Location: Delta Water Management Research
2024 Annual Report
Objectives
1. Develop improved management practices for irrigated cropping systems (e.g. rice, soybean, cotton) in humid subtropical environments.
1a. Develop and evaluate irrigation management systems and determine their influence on crop yield and quality, and water quality.
1b. Determine impacts of conservation management practices on crop yield, quality and climate resiliency, greenhouse gas emissions, and air and water quality.
2. Develop and expand robust datasets focused on water use efficiency, air and water quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and other sustainable cropping system metrics in humid subtropical environments.
2a. Contribute to long-term water quality assessments of cotton- and rice-based cropping systems.
2b. Integrate greenhouse gas emission, yield metrics, and phenotypic architecture datasets to improve models, scaling factors, and tools for current and future climate scenarios.
3. Develop and deploy agronomically sound irrigation and drainage management tools, practices, and technologies that improve water resource management and return on investment in a changing climate.
3a. Devise techniques and/or tools to identify, inventory, and create conservation milestones for agricultural water resource management in the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB).
3b. Evaluate the utility of multiple strategies for managed aquifer recharge in the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB).
Approach
To optimize the management of irrigated cropping systems in the Lower Mississippi River Basin, research must aim to sustain or improve agricultural production and natural resources through optimized management practices that sustain yield and grain quality while reducing inputs and environmental risks. Research will focus on field-scale to farm-scale quantification of water quantity, water quality, and greenhouse gas emissions in response to crop management. Comparisons of production practices in rice-based and cotton-based systems include irrigation automation, nutrient management, crop establishment, tillage, cover crops, and residue management will be investigated. Improved understanding of aquifer decline and solutions to arrest decline through watershed planning that focuses on return on investment and managed recharge will be studied. Data collected on the impact of these practices will be curated into robust datasets that will be used to devise tools and technologies and improve existing models. This research is expected to augment the existing body of knowledge of agricultural water resources, inform resource managers and provide farm managers with new tools, practices and technologies that will reduce groundwater use and produce a profitable crop.
Progress Report
Progress was made in improving management practices for irrigated cropping systems in humid subtropical environments. In rice, research in furrow irrigated rice both with and without a recirculating pump, different genotypes and fertilizer inputs and comparing irrigation delivery methods continued. Irrigation automation research continued and an ARS Researcher at Jonesboro, Arkansas, leads the Mid-South Irrigation Automation Working Group, an organization made up of private, university, and government entities. ARS Researchers at Jonesboro, Arkansas, were core presenters at the inaugural Field Day of the University of Arkansas Northeast Arkansas Rice Research and Experiment Station, Mississippi State University Master Irrigator Course, Conservation Technology Information Center Conservation Field Day, and Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference. Researchers were invited participants in the University of Arkansas Irrigation Contest-“More Crop per Drop” and the Water Summit hosted by the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute who brought together a select group of water experts to discuss strategies to improve water resources management in the state.
The unit continues to work toward the development and expansion of robust data sets that focus on water management, greenhouse gas emissions, and other sustainability metrics. Progress on edge of field and instream water quality data curation continue. A manuscript on the utility of filter strips and cover crops using edge of field data was published. One of the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) watersheds was moved due to lack of collaborator support and is now established in the Cache Critical Groundwater Area, and initial findings were presented at the Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Meeting. Testing of automated static flux chambers continued. An ARS Researcher at Jonesboro, Arkansas, worked closely with two PhD students on the high night time temperature impact on rice production. To accelerate effort to counteract climate change through research on microbial methane mitigation, an ARS researcher at Jonesboro, Arkansas, authored a chapter on Rice Cultivation: Challenges and Opportunities for a review article published by the American Society of Microbiology and the American Geophysical Union. Field-integrated measurements of greenhouse gas emissions and chamber-based measurement both continue, now with additional funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Measurement Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MMRV) effort led by the NRCS. An ARS Researcher at Jonesboro, Arkansas, is the Southeast Area lead for IRA-MMRV Action Area #2 Cropland and Rice effort. Additional funding from the IRA will be used to hire field and data personnel and purchase new equipment. New equipment will be used largely to update eddy covariance (EC) sensors and to test and utilize backpack Trace Gas Analyzers. The Unit also received IRA funds to establish a tall tower in an area dominated by rice production and will use these funds to hire a field-technician. Older EC data were curated and manuscripts from this effort are being worked on. Recognition of the ARS researchers at Jonesboro, Arkansas, expertise in the area of rice sustainability continues through significant invitations that include but are not limited to the 8th International Hybrid Rice Symposium, XIV International Rice Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean and the 9th International Rice and Wheat Blast Conference, and a Walmart Convening for water savings in rice production attended by multiple consumer packaged Goods (CPG) companies for Walmart. The location is also hosting a PhD graduate student from Sokoine Agricultural University, Tanzania from the Climate Flood and Farming Global Research Alliance Development Scholarships (CLIFF-GRADS) and hosted an international PhD student researching data collected from methane satellites at the University of Otago for a month this year. The influx of climate smart activities in rice has prompted the scientists at the location along with some collaborators to devise a short course on rice sustainability verification. A pilot of the course was held in February followed by another course in June. The course was attended by approximately 90 individuals from industry, government, and university personnel working in the climate smart space. The revision of the Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity-Scale Inventory was published this FY. An ARS Researcher at Jonesboro, Arkansas, authored the rice section of Chapter 3: Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Cropland and Grazing Land Systems.
Research on this objective has progressed this year. Multiple publications on the use of remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis on agricultural water resources were published this fiscal Year. New LiDAR imagery has been delayed but is expected for much of the region of interest in the coming year, which will further our capacity to identify land levelling changes on the landscape. Progress on the Managed Aquifer Recharge project has also been made in the third year of water injection. Results are promising and significant effort has been directed to the modeling of the system with two publications on this annual report. An ARS Researcher at Jonesboro, Arkansas, was invited to present at the United States Army Corps of Engineers Motor Vessel Mississippi Low Water Upstream Trip to present research on groundwater recharge. An ARS Researcher at Jonesboro, Arkansas, is an active member of the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) group that meets monthly to exchange ideas in this quickly evolving field and published an informative manuscript using LCA on rice irrigation management.
Accomplishments
1. Tier 2 method to estimate methane emissions from United States rice evaluated. In the United States, rice production is concentrated in the Mid-South and California. Given the challenge of climate change and its impact on the future of agriculture, rice production is of interest as a source of methane. Sustainable growing practices are able to mitigate the amount of methane being released without reducing yields. However, understanding the broad impacts of applying these practices is difficult given differences in production systems between the Mid-South and California. In this work, ARS researchers at Jonesboro, Arkansas, applied a relatively simple method to estimate emissions in both regions using region-specific details on management to inform our emissions estimates. Furthermore, we examine how altering floodwater and post-harvest residue management can be used to mitigate methane emissions in both regions. With this approach, we can estimate how much methane is being released and which areas would have the most reduction under sustainable management. The outcomes of this paper can be used to target where sustainable growing practices may be most effectively applied across regions. We can also use the method to generate annual emissions estimates, which can be further incorporated into state and national methane budgets used for emissions and reduction targets.
2. Environmental and economic comparisons of two rice production systems lend insight. The ability to comprehensively compare the environmental impacts of food products is important to some consumers and companies. This project compared two rice production systems used in the Mid-South United States using a method called life cycle analysis (LCA). LCA’s are increasingly used to compare products and practices where simple comparisons don’t fully capture the complexity of issues relevant to consumers, companies and producers in the 21st century. ARS researchers in Jonesboro, Arkansas, found that when the full environmental (e.g., climate impacts; water savings) and economic (e.g., rice grain yield and quality; herbicide costs) impacts of rice production were considered, the conventional rice irrigation practice was better than an innovative furrow-irrigation method. This was largely due to negative impacts of the innovative method had on rice grain quality and increased emission of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas. Future research seeks to refine irrigation water management and fertilization practices so that these negative impacts are minimized for furrow rice irrigation which has gained popularity among Mid-South rice producers owing its reduce labor and water inputs compared to conventional practices.
3. Impactful strategies and research priorities to mitigate CH4 emissions from agriculture outlined. Owing to the high radiative forcing and short atmospheric residence time of methane, abatement of methane emissions offers a crucial opportunity for effective, slowing of climate change. ARS researchers in Jonesboro, Arkansas, published a review article jointly sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology and the American Geophysical Union, where 35 national and international experts from academia, the private sector, and the government reviewed scientific understanding of the microbial processes of methanogenesis and methanotrophy. The paper outlined how this knowledge could inform waste management, including landfills and composts, and three areas of agricultural management: enteric emissions from ruminant livestock, manure management, and rice cultivation. As a result of the review, the research roadmap “Microbial Methane Mitigation” was launched and serves as a resource for the community by sharing actionable next steps to combat rising methane emissions.
4. Remote-sensing tools developed improve management of agricultural water resources. Heavy reliance on groundwater to irrigate row crops in Arkansas and surrounding states has contributed to declines in the alluvial aquifer. Owing to the extensive scale of irrigated crop production in this region, water managers, policymakers, government agencies, and others need tools to help them identify and detect changes in agricultural landscapes that impact use of water. ARS researchers at Jonesboro, Arkansas, in collaboration with Arkansas State University, developed Geographical Information System (GIS) tools that use remote sensing (RS) to automatically detect the locations and sizes of on-farm reservoirs. Over 700 reservoirs have been detected in Arkansas alone. Reservoirs, whose construction began before 1970, play important roles in reducing reliance on groundwater and represent significant investments made by producers and the federal government. Related research created methods that use drones to accurately and cost-efficiently collect field slopes used in precision-grading that improves field drainage and irrigation efficiency. Taken together, these tools provide several layers of information required to manage water resources effectively and efficiently in the 21st century.
Review Publications
Shults, D.D., Nowlin, J.W., Massey, J., Reba, M.L. Automated Detection of On-Farm Irrigation Reservoirs in Two Critical Groundwater Regions of Arkansas: A Necessary Precursor for Conjunctive Water Management. Ag Data Commons. https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/24851661.v1.2024.
Quinones, C., Adviento-Borbe, A.A., Larazo, W., Harris, R.S., Mendez, K., Cunningham, S., Campbell, Z., Medina-Jimenez, K., Hein, N., Ottis, B., Walia, H., Lorence, A. 2023. Field-based infrastructure and cyber-physical system for the study of high night temperature stress in irrigated rice. The Plant Phenome Journal. 6(1):1-19. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppj2.20085.
Roy, D., Leslie, D., Reba, M.L., Hashem, A.A., Bellis, E., Nowlin, J. 2024. Optimizing the quantity of recharge water into a sedimentary aquifer through infiltration galleries using a surrogate assisted coupled simulation-optimization approach. Journal of Hydrology. 635(131183):1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.131183.
Reavis, C., Reba, M.L., Shults, D., Runkle, B.R. 2023. Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production. Environmental Research Letters. 18(12):1-12. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad0925.
Thapa, A., Aryal, N., Reba, M.L., Teague, T., Payne, G.K., Pieri, A. 2024. Effects of Cover crop and filter strips on sediment and nutrient loads measured at the edge of a commercial cotton field. Journal of the ASABE. 67(2):475-491. https://doi.org/10.13031/ja.15676.
Shults, D., Reba, M.L., Nowlin, J., Massey, J., Read, Q. 2024. Extending irrigation reservoir histories for improved groundwater modeling and conjunctive water management in two Arkansas critical groundwater areas. Agricultural Water Management. 293(108678):1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2024.108678.
Leavitt, M., Moreno-Garcia, B., Reavis, C., Reba, M.L., Runkle, B. 2023. The effect of water management and ratoon rice cropping on methane emissions and yield in Arkansas. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 356(108652):1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2023.108652.
Roy, D., Hashem, A., Reba, M.L., Leslie, D., Nowlin, J. A maximal overlap discrete wavelet packet transform coupled with an LSTM deep learning model for improving multilevel groundwater level forecasts. Discover Water. 4(16):1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43832-024-00073-1.2024.
Reavis, C., Reba, M.L., Runkle, B.R. 2024. The effects of alternate wetting and drying irrigation on water use efficiency in Mid-South rice. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 353(110069):1-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110069.
Shults, D., Nowlin, J., Reba, M.L., Massey, J., Hashem, A. 2024. Automated Detection of On-Farm Irrigation Reservoirs in Two Critical Groundwater Regions of Arkansas:A Necessary Precursor for Conjunctive Water Management. International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research. 15(1):1-22. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJAGR.2024.15.1.
Picket, R., Nowlin, J., Hashem, A., Reba, M.L., Alsbrook, S., Massey, J. 2023. Small unmanned aircraft systems and agro-terrestrial surveys comparison for generating digital elevation surfaces for irrigation and precision grading. Drones. 7(11):649. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7110649.
Nalley, L., Massey, J., Durand-Morat, A., Shew, A., Parajuli, R., Tsiboe, F. 2022. Comparative economic and environmental assessments of furrow- and flood-irrigated rice production systems. Agricultural Water Management. 274. Article 107964. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107964.
De Avila, L.A., Zemolin, C.R., Massey, J., Camaargo, E.R., Files, M.C., Cassol, G.V. 2023. Mineralization of S-metolachlor in soil as affected by moisture content, application history, and association with glyphosate. Advances in Weed Science. 41. Article e020230033. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.51694/AdvWeedSci/2023;41:00014.
Davidson,E.A., Semrau, J.D., Nguyen, N.K., Boyle, P., Bruns, M.A. Tiedje, J., Zheng, J., Adviento-Borbe, M.A.A., Cadillo-Quiroz, H., Cardon, Z., Chanton, J., Criddle, C., Dumont, M., Dunfield, K., Glass, J., Kalyuzhnaya, M., von Keitz, M., Kopke, M., King, G., Kolody, B., Kumar, A., Lennon, J., Mackie, R., McFadden, J., Nayak, D., Pieja, A., Pitta, D., Reinhardt, E., Rother, M., Seshadri, R., Silver, W., Spokas, K., Stein, L., Stulberg, E., Weimer, P. Zhu-Barker, X. The Role of microbes in mediating methane emissions: Report on an American Academy of Microbiology Colloquium held on May 31 and June 1, 2023. Washington (D.C.): American Society for Microbiology; 2023. https://asm.org/Reports/Role-of-Microbes-in-Mediating-Methane-Emissions
