Irrigation Scheduling
Irrigating a crop involves two important decisions: when to start the irrigation, and for how long to irrigate. These decisions are most accurate when guided by sensors and/or techniques that estimate important parameters such as soil moisture content and crop water use. The key to an optimal irrigation scheduling is to apply the right amount of water, at the right time.
Every crop has a threshold for how dry the root zone environment can get before yield and quality are compromised. Decreasing soil moisture past that threshold will lead to decrease in crop yield. Click here for details.
Applying the right amount of water in each irrigation event is essential to improve both water and nitrogen use efficiency. ET-based irrigation has shown to be a reliable method for calculating how much water to apply in each irrigation event (for soil-planted crops). Click here for details.