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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #192839
Title: ON-FARM STUDIES OF WATER USE AND WATER QUALITY FOR RICE PRODUCTION

Author
item Vories, Earl
item TACKER, PHIL - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item CHAUBEY, INDRAJEET - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item LIPSEY, RACHEL - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item SMITH, WAYNE - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item SCHAFFER, BRIAN - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Submitted to: Proceedings of the World Water and Environmental Resources Congress
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/10/2006
Publication Date: 5/22/2006
Citation: Vories, E.D., Tacker, P., Chaubey, I., Lipsey, R., Smith, W., Schaffer, B. 2006. On-farm studies of water use and water quality for rice production. In. Proceedings of the World Water and Environmental Resources Congress. 2006 EWRI Conference, May 21-25, 2006, Omaha, Nebraska. 2006 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary: Many producers use computer programs to aid in knowing the appropriate times to irrigate their crops. One such program, the Arkansas Irrigation Scheduler, has been in use for over twenty years and is currently used in Arkansas and surrounding states. The current version was released in 2000 and a new release is planned for 2006. Drip irrigation scheduling will be added. Users will be able to view information on more of their fields at one time and group the fields however they feel most suitable. Using the program to properly schedule irrigation can save energy and therefore money by reducing unnecessary pumping, and help to alleviate water shortages being experienced in many agricultural areas.

Technical Abstract: The complexity of scheduling irrigation can be greatly reduced by the use of publicly available computer programs. However, irrigation scheduling is more complicated in humid regions than arid locations, due to factors such as cloudy weather, rainfall, and temperature swings caused by the movement of weather fronts. Weather conditions vary greatly in humid regions from year to year, and even within a year, and the variability must be accounted for in the scheduling program. The Arkansas Irrigation Scheduler has been in use for over twenty years and is currently used in Arkansas and surrounding states. The current version was released in 2000 and a new release is planned for 2006. The new version will maintain the objectives of the earlier releases, except that it will be field-, rather than system-based. The change allows the users to view information on more of their fields at one time and group the fields however they feel most suitable. Drip irrigation scheduling will be added for both surface and subsurface systems. While new crop coefficient functions will not be included initially, they can be added as appropriate. Using the program to properly schedule irrigation can save energy and therefore money by reducing unnecessary pumping, and help to alleviate water shortages being experienced in many agricultural areas.