Class
Article
College
College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
A resource on the minds of nearly all in the Intermountain West is water. Increases in urban growth, less winter snowpack, watershed depletions, and persistence in drought continue to point towards the need to optimize water in agriculture. Numerous management practices today have water-saving capabilities or allow water to be used during more efficient times of the growing season. Some include advanced pivot technologies, drought tolerant crop genetics, and soil wetting agents. Many studies show these individual practices usually help optimize water use, yet few, have evaluated how these various combinations might combine or 'stack' to optimize water use. An experiment was established in 2019 near Logan, Utah to test how five pivot sprinkler technologies, four irrigation rates, crop genetics, and a soil additive influence corn silage production and water use efficiency. Each treatment was replicated three times for each of the irrigation rates. The yield was affected little by crop genetics, while the addition of the soil additive diminished yield slightly in both drought tolerant and traditional genetic types. Irrigation systems and rates had the largest influences on yield. Yields were greatest in the LEPA, LENA, and MESA and were not significantly different from one another, while MDI and LESA had reduced yields. Surprisingly, the 75% partial reduction rate was the only rate where yield was reduced, indicating early stage irrigation stress was ineffective. A partial water use efficiency was also considered for the different factors to see how many silage tons were produced for each irrigated inch. Partial water use efficiency increased as irrigation rate decreased but was not affected by the other factors significantly. Trials will be repeated in 2020 and 2021 in Logan and in Vernal, Utah but preliminary results suggest modifying irrigation rates might enable conservation more effectively than some crop, soil, and irrigation technologies.
Start Date
4-9-2020 11:00 AM
End Date
4-9-2020 12:00 PM
The Impacts of Crop, Soil, and Water Management on Corn Silage Yield
A resource on the minds of nearly all in the Intermountain West is water. Increases in urban growth, less winter snowpack, watershed depletions, and persistence in drought continue to point towards the need to optimize water in agriculture. Numerous management practices today have water-saving capabilities or allow water to be used during more efficient times of the growing season. Some include advanced pivot technologies, drought tolerant crop genetics, and soil wetting agents. Many studies show these individual practices usually help optimize water use, yet few, have evaluated how these various combinations might combine or 'stack' to optimize water use. An experiment was established in 2019 near Logan, Utah to test how five pivot sprinkler technologies, four irrigation rates, crop genetics, and a soil additive influence corn silage production and water use efficiency. Each treatment was replicated three times for each of the irrigation rates. The yield was affected little by crop genetics, while the addition of the soil additive diminished yield slightly in both drought tolerant and traditional genetic types. Irrigation systems and rates had the largest influences on yield. Yields were greatest in the LEPA, LENA, and MESA and were not significantly different from one another, while MDI and LESA had reduced yields. Surprisingly, the 75% partial reduction rate was the only rate where yield was reduced, indicating early stage irrigation stress was ineffective. A partial water use efficiency was also considered for the different factors to see how many silage tons were produced for each irrigated inch. Partial water use efficiency increased as irrigation rate decreased but was not affected by the other factors significantly. Trials will be repeated in 2020 and 2021 in Logan and in Vernal, Utah but preliminary results suggest modifying irrigation rates might enable conservation more effectively than some crop, soil, and irrigation technologies.