Life Sciences Commons^™

Use Patterns And Influencing Factors Of Irrigation Best Management Practices In The Lower Mississippi River Basin, Merri E. Day

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study uses the 2016 Irrigation Survey from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi to document the use of irrigation best management practices (IBMPs), analyze use patterns, and use quantitative methods to determine factors that influence producers’ decisions regarding IBMPs. IBMPs included in the survey can be grouped as: field management practices (zero-grade leveling, precision-grade leveling, end blocking, warped surface, and deep tillage), water flow control practices (computerized pipe-hole selection, multiple-inlet irrigation, surge irrigation, alternate wetting and drying, cutback irrigation, flow meters, and pump timers), water recovery/storage practices (tail-water recovery system and on-farm storage reservoir), and advanced irrigation scheduling practices (soil moisture …

Arkansas Soybean Research Studies 2020, Jeremy Ross

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

The 2020 Arkansas Soybean Research Studies includes research reports on topics pertaining to soybean across several disciplines from breeding to post-harvest processing. Research reports contained in this publication may represent preliminary or only data from a single year or limited results; therefore, these results should not be used as a basis for long-term recommendations. Several research reports in this publication will appear in other University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station publications. This duplication is the result of the overlap in research coverage between disciplines and our effort to inform Arkansas soybean producers of the research …

Evaluating Substrate Stratification Practices For Enhanced Water Resource Management In Nursery Production, Kristopher S. Criscione

LSU Master's Theses

The nursery and greenhouse industries have continued to increase in production and sales over the past two decades. This increase in horticultural production necessitates a greater demand for finite natural resources, specifically water. Sustainable water resource management will be critical to the success and continual growth of the nursery industry. Strategic irrigation scheduling and innovative substrate management practices can improve nursery resource efficiency. Soilless substrates were originally utilized by the industry to increase substrate air-filled porosity, to ensure adequately drained container systems. Thus, the implementation of these soilless substrates can lead to an inefficient use of water and fertilizer. Substrate …

The Influence Of Peer Irrigators On The Extensive And Intensive Margin Of Irrigation Techniques, Victoria Bailey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We examine how irrigation techniques in use by family and friends influence the use and share of land utilizing different irrigation techniques by Arkansas producers. A bivariate sample selection model simultaneously estimates how farm characteristics determine the use and explain the share of a farm that utilizes an irrigation technique. We find that the irrigation techniques in use by family and friends do affect the irrigation techniques a producer uses and the share of acres utilizing different irrigation techniques. A producer with a family or friend that uses end-blocking irrigation is 41% more likely to use end-blocking themselves. Having a …

Estimating Irrigation In Rice Fields With A Water Balance Approach, Kristen Trinh

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Global food production must increase to meet the demand associated with increased population growth, so irrigation water use will continue to rise. Therefore, it is important to monitor water usage particularly when an irrigation flowmeter is unavailable. A field water balance was created for a selection of rice fields in East-central Arkansas under observation in 2018 and 2019. From those, irrigation inputs are deduced from the water balance alone. First, each field had sensors that collected water table level (WTL) data. Next, other water inputs and outputs such as precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) were collected from two modeled sources. The …

Irrigation Management In High Tunnels, Dan Drost, Brent Black, Melanie Stock

All Current Publications

High tunnels provide season extension for various high-value horticulture crops in a diverse range of climates. These large, plastic-covered structures modify the environmental conditions of the covered area. Temperature management is commonly the focus when growing in high tunnels as this may be the key factor limiting plant growth during much of the year. While high tunnel temperature management is important, growers also need to address water management to ensure plants are not water-stressed. Common mistakes are underestimating water needs, which stresses plants or creates conditions favoring plant diseases and nutrient leaching from overwatering. Knowing when to irrigate and how …

Mosaic Agriculture: A Guide To Irrigated Crop And Forage Production In Northern Wa, Geoff A. Moore Mr, Clinton K. Revell Dr, Christopher Schelfhout Dr, Christopher Ham Mr, Samuel Crouch Mr

Bulletins 4000 -

The Bulletin is a comprehensive guide for pastoralists, agronomists, agribusiness and the broader community on the growing of irrigated crops and pastures within a rangeland pastoral setting.

Dispersed irrigation developments on stations throughout the northern rangelands (sometimes referred to as mosaic agriculture) has created opportunities for the introduction of more productive forage species and pastoralists can now grow high quality forage for 12 months of the year. This can help to overcome the key constraint of traditional pastoral systems, the low quality of the feed over the dry season that typically results in stock losing condition.

Evaluation Of Soil Moisture Sensing Technologies In Silt Loam And Loamy Sand Soils: Assessment Of Performance, Temperature Sensitivity, And Site- And Sensor-Specific Calibration Functions, K. Sharma, Sibel Irmak, M. S. Kukal, M. C. Vuran, Amit J. Jhala, Xia Qiao

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Reliable soil moisture information is vital for optimal irrigation management, farm-level agronomic decision-making, hydrologic studies, and cropping systems modeling. A wide range of soil moisture sensing technologies is commercially available, but their performance must be evaluated for diverse conditions of use. In this research, we investigated nine soil moisture sensors based on time-domain reflectometry, capacitance, and electrical resistance principles in production field conditions with two installation orientations, i.e., vertical (V) and horizontal (H), in two soils (silt loam and loamy sand) and two growing seasons (2017 and 2018). Performance parameters deduced from the 2017 datasets revealed that sensor type and …

The Role Of Peer Irrigators On The Choice And Intensity Of Use Of Irrigation Techniques, Noah Hayward, Kent Kovacs

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The use and the proportion of farmland that uses prominent irrigation practices in Arkansas were evaluated. A bivariate sample selection model evaluated the determinants of the share of irrigated land in a farm that uses each practice. In addition, the relationship between the irrigation practices a peer uses and the use and intensity of five common irrigation practices was evaluated. If a peer of an Arkansas farmer used center pivot irrigation, this increased the probability that the farmer used center pivot irrigation by 66 percentage points. A peer that used pivot irrigation decreased the proportion of irrigated land that used …