Determining Irrigation Depths for Soybean Using a Simulation Model of Water Flow and Plant Growth and Weather Forecasts

A new scheme to determine irrigation depths using a two-point of predicted cumulative transpiration over irrigation interval is presented. Rather than maximizing water use efficiency, this scheme aims to maximize net income. The volumetric water price is considered to give farmers an incentive to save irrigation water. A field experiment for soybeans was carried out in the Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Japan in 2019. The total irrigation amount yield and net income by the proposed scheme were compared to those by a tensiometer-operated automated irrigation. The scheme could save irrigation water by 16% with a yield increment of 20%; resulting in a 22% increase in net income compared to the automated irrigation. The model simulated the volumetric water content in the effective root zone of the plant in fair agreement. These results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme that may replace an automated irrigation system even considering uncertainty in weather forecast to determine irrigation depth and secure investment costs.