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Irrigation Water Conservation Using Wide‐spaced Furrows
Author(s) -
Stone J. F.,
Garton J. E.,
Webb B. B.,
Reeves H. E.,
Keflemariam J.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1979.03615995004300020035x
Subject(s) - irrigation , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , evaporation , yield (engineering) , surface irrigation , water conservation , meteorology , agronomy , geology , geography , materials science , geotechnical engineering , metallurgy , biology
Furrow irrigation studies comparing water applications to narrow and wide‐spaced furrows were conducted on three crops at thee locations in Oklahoma over eight growing seasons. Wide‐spaced‐furrow irrigation usually required about half the water of narrow spacing. In 9 of 11 studies, no yield reductions were noted. In the seasons where yield reductions were noted, the atmospheric evaporative demand was high. A simple test was devised to indicate if a season in progress shows high atmospheric demand. The evaporative demand test involves measurement of rainfall and daily wind movement. Using standard National Weather Service instruments, daily average of rain > 1.6 mm between 15 July and 31 Aug. combined with daily wind movement < 155 km in August caused no yield reduction in wide‐spaced‐furrow irrigation. Wind was measured at the standard height of a “Class A” evaporation pan (51 cm). Conservation of water from wide‐spaced‐furrow irrigation should be possible on medium to fine textured soils in many semiarid regions of the world.