Agriculture Commons^™

Ec81-760 How To Adjust Vertical Turbine Pumps For Maximum Efficiency, Thomas W. Dorn, Mark A. Schroeder, Paul E. Fischbach

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

The Agricultural Engineering Department has tested more than 500 pumping plants in the past 25 years. The average performance indicates that about 30 percent of the energy used for irrigation could be saved if all pumping plants operated at the Nebraska Performance Criteria.

There were many causes for poor pumping plant performance. Major causes were poor power unit performance, and poor pump performance often caused by improper pump adjustment.

This circular discusses proper pump adjustment to attain maximum efficiency.

Irrigating For Rainbows, Jack Keller

Faculty Honor Lectures

Quite simply. irrigation is the act of applying water to land. It is usually done to improve plant growth and it lies somewhere between an art. a science. and plain hard work. Even though we do not often think about it. irrigation is very important to the well-being of the world. It is important because we need basic foods to survive. and luxury foods and pleasant views to enjoy this survival. For the many people directly involved in irrigation. especially farmers. it provides a livelihood which is both satisfying and peaceful. And for the few of us lucky enough to …

Irrigating Alfalfa In South Dakota, James R. Johnson, Charles R. Krueger, Lyle A. Derscheid, Darrel D. Pehl, Paul L. Carson

SDSU Extension Circulars

Alfalfa performs admirably an irrigated crop in South Dakota-so well that it is often neglected. When given attention, it can realistically maintain irrigated yields of 6 to 7 TIA each year in most of South Dakota where 1 to 2 T are produced on dryland. Irrigated land that will produce 100-130 bu corn will produce 5-7 T alfalfa. On poorer irrigated land that produces 50-70 hu corn, one can expect 3-5 T alfalfa. Alfalfa has higher water requirements for peak yields than most other crops. It may not reach its full potential yield in any part of the stale without …

G79-464 Composting Municipal Sewage Sludge Slurry, Leon Chesnin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Municipalities can save operating expenses, eliminate pollution problems and increase the convenience of their waste management program by recycling their sewage sludge slurry in agricultural soils.

Sewage sludge slurries have from 2 to 10-percent solids depending on the treatment plant design and operation procedures. Sewage slurries with more than 8 percent solids are difficult to pump because of high friction in the pipe lines and pump mechanism. Sewage slurries can be applied to agricultural fields by gravity flow and sprinkler irrigation systems, as well as by tank trucks that either broadcast spray on, or inject the slurry into, the soil. …

G79-445 Soybean Variety Selection, Leroy V. Svec

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide has information on soybean characteristics that should be considered before selecting a variety to plant.

Soybean characteristics that need to be considered in making the selection of a variety to plant include maturity, yield potential, plant type, height, seed size, emergence score, lodging, shattering, and disease and insect resistance. Many years are required to develop a new variety from the time an initial cross of soybeans is made until the time seed is available on a widespread basis. The advance of a potential variety through the early generations may be accomplished with only a few seeds of the …

G79-471 Choosing Corn Hybrids, Lenis Alton Nelson

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This publication explains what factors to consider and compare when selecting a corn hybrid and how to obtain recent hybrid test data. One of the most important decisions a corn producer makes is choosing the hybrid seed. Hundreds of hybrid names and numbers are advertised and offered for sale. Selecting the few that offer the greatest yield and profit potential requires time, effort, and study. This should be a continuous process for a corn grower because important information on new or established hybrids may be encountered at any time.

G78-421 How To Choose An Irrigation Consultant, James R. Gilley

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Presented here are some guidelines and criteria to aid in the selection process for irrigation management assistance.

The complexity of agricultural technology makes it difficult for the farmer to apply this technology on a day-by-day basis. Refinement and application of agricultural technology in the field has generally been through industrial representatives and federal and state extension programs.

G78-396 Making Quality Corn And Sorghum Silage (Revised December 1986), Paul G. Guyer, Foster G. Owen

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Harvesting corn and sorghum forage as silage is popular because it adapts to complete mechanization of forage production, harvesting, and feeding. It fits operations where capital can profitably replace labor. If you are going to harvest corn and sorghum forage as silage you need to make quality silage. Here's how.

G78-426 Popcorn Production, Nora D'Croz-Mason, Richard P. Waldren

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide addresses seed selection, soil requirements, production management, pest control, marketing and sale of popcorn.

Commercial popcorn production in the United States has always been concentrated in the Corn Belt. Iowa was the largest popcorn producer until the mid 1940s. As hybrids replaced open-pollinated varieties, popcorn production shifted to Illinois then to Indiana. During the mid 1970s popcorn production moved west, and in 1977 Nebraska became the nation's largest producer. During the 1980s popcorn acreage has fluctuated among states, but Nebraska often has had the nation's highest yield because 85 percent of its crop is irrigated.

G78-392 Selecting And Using Irrigation Propeller Meters (Revised May 1984), Dean E. Eisenhauer

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide discusses the use of propeller type irrigation meters to monitor irrigation water use.

Measuring irrigation water is important in efficient water management. Measuring water can be used for the following purposes:

1. Checking irrigation efficiency

2. Determining pumping plant efficiency

3. Detecting well and pump problems

G73-8 Fertilizing Sugar Beets (Revised June 1978), L.A. Daigger, F.N. Anderson, D. Knudsen

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Management practices which provide an adequate, but not excessive, supply of plant nutrients are essential for high yields of high quality sugarbeets in western Nebraska. This publication discusses the amounts of nitrogen, rainfall or irrigation, and applied fertilizer that are needed to produce sugar beets.

G78-398 Irrigated Small Grain Production, Philip Grabouski, Walter Trimmer, Louis Daigger

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Excellent management practices for irrigated small grains are necessary to obtain high yields. What varieties should I use? How should the seedbed be prepared? What row spacing is best? What plant nutrients are needed? How much fertilizer should I use? When should I apply the fertilizer? What is the water intake rate of my soil? How much will it hold? When is the best time to irrigate? These are some of the questions in the mind of the irrigated small grain producer and are answered in this NebGuide.

G77-328 Irrigation Water Quality Criteria, Gary W. Hergert, Delno Knudsen

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide is intended to provide guidelines to help understand and interpret chemical water quality test results.

All well and stream waters contain dissolved minerals. The amounts and kinds of minerals vary from one location to another and may vary with time. When irrigation water is applied, the mineral salts are left in the soil after the crop has used the water. Most of these mineral salts are beneficial to crop growth and soil condition, but in some cases they may be harmful. Irrigation water quality problems may be caused by (1) total mineral salts accumulating so that crops no …

G77-340 Scheduling Irrigation By Electrical Resistance Blocks, Paul E. Fischbach

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Delay of irrigation for a few days during a critical part of the growing season can be expensive. A week's delay in supplying irrigation water to corn or grain sorghum can reduce potential yield more than 30 bushels per acre.

Several methods are available to help you schedule the right amount of water at the right time. One of these methods uses electrical resistance blocks discussed in this NebGuide.

G76-322 How To Handle Insect And Plant Specimens For Identification (Revised March 1985), Luanne Coziahr, Stephen D. Danielson, John Furrer, Don Steinegger

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

The Nebraska Cooperative Extension Service offers the public a pest/plant identification service. Under this service, insects, weeds, plant diseases, and horticultural plants are identified and, if appropriate, methods for their prevention or control are recommended. Diagnoses of plant problems and control recommendations will be more precise if specimens are handled according to the suggestions offered in this NebGuide.

Bionomics Of Insects Associated With Corn In The Nebraska Sandhills, J. L. Wedberg, J. B. Campbell, T. J. Helms

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

Investigations were conducted in the Nebraska Sandhills to determine the impact of transition from grassland to irrigated corn on selected insect species, to identify indigenous species that may be economically important to corn production, and to provide a point of reference for future development of pest management programs for irrigated corn.

Growth Potential Of Sandhills Ranches Through Irrigation, R. D. Carver, G. A. Helmers

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

The purpose of this study was to compare extensive and intensive growth strategies of a typical Nebraska Sandhills ranch in a dynamic and uncertain environment. Study objectives were to: (1) Analyze growth of an average ranch firm of 450 animal units as it grows to 600-900 animal units. (2) Study the effects of an uncertain environment on the long-run growth opportunities of a ranch firm. (3) Compare extensive and intensive growth of a ranch firm.

G74-98 Buying A Center Pivot, John W. Addink

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

A center-pivot sprinkler system is a medium cost, low labor irrigation method. A few of these systems have been high cost, high labor irrigation methods. Consideration of a few details in the purchase of the system can help prevent the high cost and/or high labor.

Many different types of systems are available today. Consideration must be given to soil texture and slope of the field to be irrigated with the center-pivot. This publication covers what to look for when purchasing a center-pivot sprinkler system.

G73-20 Fertilizing Through Center Pivots, Paul E. Flschbach

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

There are two decisions and three sources of information that are needed before applying fertilizer solutions through a center-pivot sprinkler system. These are discussed in this publication.

The decisions are: the amount of nitrogen to be applied per acre through center-pivot sprinkler system; and the kind of fertilizer solution to be applied.

The information needed is: the number of acres that will be irrigated in one revolution of the center-pivot sprinkler system; the amount of time required to make one revolution of the center-pivot sprinkler system; and the rate at which your porportioning pump can inject a fertilizer solution into …

G73-58 Programmed Soil Moisture Depletion: Top Yields With Least Water (Revised), Paul E. Fischbach, Burt R. Sommerhalder

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

The development of automated irrigation has introduced a revised concept to irrigation water management that will mean savings of water and energy. By not completely refilling the root zone each irrigation, soil moisture storage capacity is left within the root zone to take advantage of any rainfall that occurs after an irrigation. Conservation of water is important because supplies are being depleted in many areas.

Irrigation And Non-Irrigation Alternatives For Reducing Sugar Cane Transportation Costs In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Lee M. Bailey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The major objective of this study was to investigate various alternatives for lowering the cost of transporting sugar cane in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. These alternatives included both irrigation and non-irrigation possibilities. Production costs for sugar cane were determined by using studies completed by the USAID-Utah State University study team, budget studies of Senor Carlos Castro of the Guabira' sugar cane mill in Santa Cruz and a study undertaken by Senor Enrique Gomez, a graduate student at Utah State University.

A cane registry commissioned by the National Sugar Cane Commission was used in conjunction with a least-cost transportation model in order …

Estimating Agricultural Production Functions From Experimental Data For Different Crops In Relation To Irrigation, Fertilization And Soil Management In Northern Utah, Subramaniuam Swami Nathan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Estimates of agricultural production functions from experimental data for four different crops in relation to six variable inputs are calculated by this study. There are four basic sections in the study. The first section covers the review of production function concepts and the procedures and problems that specifically pertain to this study. Also the importance of joint economic-agronomic research efforts, methodologies and applications of agricultural production functions are cited.

The second section includes the presentation data and postulated functional relationships in estimating production functions. Model building programs are used in developing three dimensional figures, which aid in the selection of …

The Secondary Benefits Of Irrigation Water: An Economic Appraisal, Erik Bruce Godfrey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The secondary or external benefits of increasing the availability of water for irrigation and changing the allocation of an existing water supply was analyzed from a theoretical point of view.

"Input-output" models for Cache County, Utah, and for the state of Utah were used to indicate the intersectoral relationship of water used by agriculture and other sectors in each economy.

The indirect value of water used by agriculture in Cache County was estimated. A method that extended the procedure used in this thesis was proposed that could be used to estimate the value of water in ether sectors. A "water …

Private Irrigation Systems : Do They Pay?, G D. Oliver

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

WESTERN AUSTRALIA, with 71,000 acres under irrigation, can hardly claim to have an important irrigation farming industry.

However, irrigation is daily growing in importance, especially through private schemes. These account for almost half the present irrigated area.

Irrigation Water Values In Cache County, Utah, Marlyn Fife

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In Utah all water, both on or below the ground surface, is considered public property. The right to use water is obtained by following certain subsiding procedures of appropriation through the office of the State Engineer. Any right to the use of water may be changed to some other beneficial use with the approval of the State Engineer; however, there must be no interference with other rights, unless proper compensation has been made.

Agriculture still uses most of the available water in Utah; However, farmers' needs for water are not exactly the same. When allocation per acre is the same …

Cultural Practices For Seed Production From Established Stands Of Western Wheatgrass, D. E. Smika, L. C. Newell

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

Fertilization and irrigation requirements and aftermath removal practices for maximum seed production from solid stand western wheatgrass were studied for three years near Oakley, Kansas. Conclusions from this study indicate that to obtain maximum quantity of highest quality western wheatgrass seed from established stands, the grass must be fertilized in the fall with at least 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Irrigation with sufficient water to fill the root zone in either the fall or early spring and again when the grass is in " boot" or heading is necessary. The practice of removing the aftermath following harvest by mowing …

Growing Proso In Nebraska, P. H. Grabouski

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Circulars

Proso, sometimes called "hog millet," is receiving attention in the Nebraska Panhandle as a dryland grain crop because of acreage restrictions and limited crop alternatives.

Irrigation And Fertilization Practices For Seed Production From Established Stands Of Side-Oats Grama, D. E. Smika, L. C. Newell

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

The objectives of this study of grass seed production were to determine the response of an established stand of a warm-season grass to irrigation and fertilizer practices with regard to the specific practices needed to produce maximum quantity of adequate quality seed per acre. Side-oats grama was chosen for the study because of the availability of adapted varieties.

Performance Of Alfalfas Under Five Management Systems, W. R. Kehr, E. C. Conard, M. A. Alexander, F. G. Owen

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

This bulletin reports stands, forage yields, and other agronomic data on alfalfas of diverse origin or type tested under five management systems at Lincoln, Nebraska. Narrow-crowned and broad-crowned types were tested. The management systems involved non-irrigated alfalfa-bromegrass tests (a) continuously grazed with steers, (b) cut for hay, and (c) rotationally grazed with sheep; an irrigated alfalfa-bromegrass test rotationally grazed with dairy cattle; and irrigated tests of alfalfas in pure stands cut for hay.

Utah's Future Water Problems, Wayne D. Criddle

Faculty Honor Lectures

Utah is rapidly changing from what was once predominately an agricultural state to an urban and industrial state. This shift is not decreasing our water needs; it is often intensifying these needs and creating many new problems. Perhaps we should ask ourselves-are we prepared to recognize and accept these changes? Are we really facing up to the problems that are developing or are we turning our heads and hoping they will go away? These changes involve technical, legal, and sociological problems never before encountered, some of which I should like to discuss.

Before attempting to look at Utah's water problems …