Water Management Research
The goal of the water management research program at the SWREC, Garden City, is to develop management strategies and technologies that improve water productivity and maximize net economic returns of water-limited irrigated cropping systems. Our research focus is on three areas including deficit irrigation management and modeling for grains and forages, improving water application efficiency using Mobile Drip Irrigation (MDI), and integrated irrigation scheduling. Current outreach/extension activities involve demonstrating the benefits of reduced tillage and residue management on soil water storage in water-limited cropping systems.
Current Projects
- Deficit Irrigation Management for Grains, Forages and Alternative Crops
- Evaluate yield, water productivity, and profitability of drought tolerant and conventional corn under full and deficit irrigation.
- Evaluate grain sorghum yield and profitability response to water supply and limited irrigation management.
- Evaluate wheat yield, and water productivity response to deficit irrigation and fungicides.
- Compare forage sorghum and corn silage yield, forage quality, and profitability under full and deficit irrigation.
- Irrigation Application Technologies
- Advanced Irrigation scheduling
- Soil and Water Conservation
