12/12/2016 Project : USDA ARS.

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Research Project: Development of Sustainable Production Systems and Water Management
Related Topics Technology for the Mid South

Project Team Location: Crop Production Systems Research
Reddy, Krishna

Project Annual Reports
2014

2012 Annual Report

4a. Objectives (from AD-416):
2013 Develop cropping systems, conservation management practices and crop rotations with improved water management and
enhanced economic and environmental sustainability.

2012
2011 1b. Approach (from AD-416):
2010 Improved irrigation scheduling and application technologies and water management tools will be developed and delivered to
producers to improve water use and crop yield and quality. The research will develop production systems and identify
2009 management practices that improve soil quality and increase profitability by incorporating conservation production practices,
. oe alternative crops and crop rotations. Profitability of management practices and production systems will be tested with economic
Project Publications analysis. Fundamental principles of successful production systems will be delineated, and examined for impacts on risks,
Publications competitiveness and environmental impacts.
Related National Programs
Water Availability and Water 3. Progress Report:
Significant progress was made in the implementation and testing of water management tools. The new Mississippi Irrigation
Management (211) Scheduling Too! (MIST) was tested and validated for common corn and soybean production practices and soil types in

Mississippi in research and production fields. Watermark soil water sensors were installed at six inch (16 cm) increments to a
depth of three feet (0.91 m), and soil water measurements downloaded weekly. Plant growth measurements were taken weekly,
and used to develop single crop coefficients as outlined in established procedures. Dual crop coefficients are being explored as,
Competitiveness and Sustainability] <cible method of accounting for variability of alluvial soils. Soil water measurements and plant growth measurements were
(216) compared to evapotranspiration calculations made with the Modified Penman-Monteith in the MIST program to adjust crop
coefficients to better reflect actual crop water use in the soils and environment of the Delta. Water release curves for typical
Mississippi soils were developed and soil moisture sensors calibrated to known water contents. Soils textural analysis is used to
adjust recommended irrigation levels based on soil water holding capacity. Note that most soils are silt and loam; no soils that
were analyzed were true clay soils, Analyzed soils will have approximately 1.2 ~ 2.5 inches of plant available water per foot of
soil. Soil cores were taken from production and research fields, and bulk density, soil nutrient and soil hydraulic properties
determined, Weather data was downloaded from all weather stations reported by the Delta Research and Extension Center
Weather Center and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) weather systems
was analyzed for completeness and accuracy. The impact of planting date and irrigation on soybean yield was determined. Early
planted soybeans yielded higher, but were more susceptible to lack of adequate water. Two primary crop parameters can be
Used for tracking crop growth: plant height and interception of sunlight. Results show that light interception is more appropriate
for tracking crop growth as a single curve can be used for most planting dates. Plant height differs with planting date. The overall
magnitude of crop height is most likely cultivar dependent, However, later planting increases the rate of crop growth, altering the
initial stage of the crop height growth curve. The uniform resource locator for the web site server is now open. We have begun
writing summaries and educational materials for the water management website. The information can be viewed at:
http:/iwww.agwater.msucare.com. The irrigation scheduler has been implemented into the user interface, and the interface is
being tested.

Agricultural System

4. Accomplishments

1. Principle-based development of sustainable agricultural production systems, Agriculture in the U.S. is facing profound
challenges from increasing urbanization, turbulence in input costs and commodity prices, and shifts in consumer demands and
global competition. Future advances will need to address an increasing population with a shrinking land base for agricultural
production, food safety and security concerns, and resource preservation and environmental issues. The Integrated Agricultural
‘Systems workgroup is a consortium of ARS scientists from several locations throughout the U.S. who are examining agricultural
systems to determine fundamental principles that underlie successful production systems. The results demonstrate that the
internal social driver that values the farming lifestyle is the principal factor that leads people to farming, while economic drivers
and marketing options are the primary drivers that determine the production systems and management choices implemented
Knowledge of these fundamental principles of agricultural systems is critical to design new production systems and markets that,
are flexible enough to respond to changing societal demands and adequately address emerging issues of economic feasibility
and environmental sustainability. The key drivers and principles identified in this research will impact how producers, scientists
and policy makers direct agricultural production and agricultural research towards sustainability.

2. Development of accurate weather data for calculation of crop water use. Producers, increasingly reliant on irrigation to
enhance yields and improve return on investment, could clearly benefit from a tool that would indicate when they need to irrigate
and how much. However, no easy to use irrigation scheduling tools have been developed and calibrated for the humid, high-
rainfall environment and highly variable alluvial soils of Mississippi. Researchers at USDA Agricultural Research Service at
Stoneville, MS, and El Reno, OK, and Mississippi State University are developing a daily irrigation scheduling tool that calculates
reference evapotranspiration (ET) from weather data to establish a crop water balance which will indicate when irrigation is
needed. The research team identified common sources of error in the data available from weather stations, and developed
quality assessment and control procedures to identify and correct erroneous measurements. The protocols will establish
consistent, accurate, and reliable data needed for calculation of reference crop ET for irrigation scheduling and crop
management, Developing technologies to manage agricultural water resources of the humid southern United States will provide
means for agricultural producers to increase water use efficiency and mitigate ground water depletion

3. Improving nutrient use efficiency at the farm and country scale. Efficient nutrient use is critical to ensure economical crop
production while minimizing impacts of excessive nutrient applications on the environment. Nitrogen (N) is a key component of
agricultural production, both as an input to support crop production and as a waste product of livestock production. ARS

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Project : USDA ARS.

scientists at Stoneville, MS, and El Reno, OK, in collaboration with university colleagues in Poland, used case studies to explore
crop and animal production systems, drivers impacting management choices, and the outcome of those choices to assess the
utility of gross annual N balances in tracking the progress of management decisions in minimizing environmental impacts of
agricultural production systems. Changes in cropping systems in response to economic drivers that improved the N balance
could, in some cases, be masked by detrimental growing conditions that were outside of the producers’ control, and use of large
area-scale indices such as country or state-wide balances may mask the severity of localized nutrient imbalances that result from
regionalized production systems. Development of policies to address environmental impacts and establish sustainable
production systems must consider the year-to-year variability of drivers impacting agricultural production and the spatial
heterogeneity of nutrient imbalances. Improvements to agricultural production that address nutrient use efficiency will enhance
the overall nutrient balance of the agricultural ecosystem, while improved knowledge of crop responses to balanced plant
nutrition at the country level will impact agricultural and environmental policies and enhance the sustainability of agricultural
production systems.

Review Publications

Sassenrath, G.F., Schneider, J.M., Schmidt, A.M., Silva, A.M. 2012. Quality assurance of weather parameters for determining
daily evapotranspiration in the humid growing environment of the Mid-South. Journal of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences.
57:178-192.

Sassenrath, G.F., Schneider, J.M., Gaj, R., Grzebisz, W., Halloran, J.M. 2012. Nitrogen balance as an indicator of the
environmental impact: towards sustainable agricultural production. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. pp. 1-14.
doi:10.1017/S1742170512000166.

Halloran, J.M., Sassenrath, G.F., Hendrickson, J.R., Hanson, J.D., Archer, D.W., Vadas, P.A. 2011. Application of principles of
integrated agricultural systems: results from farmer panels. Journal of Agricultural Science. B1:638-644.

Last Modified: 2/23/2016|