Track 2-10: Water Resources and Catchment Management in Grassland and Forage Systems
Description
The Texas High Plains are part of the largest, contiguously irrigated cropland in the USA, and draws water from the Ogallala aquifer. High crop prices, increased demand for maize for ethanol production, and severe drought have increased water depletion rates. Research has shown that integrating forages and grazing cattle into the cotton-dominant cropping system can reduce overall water use (Allen et al. 2012) while still offering farmers positive net returns (Johnson et al. 2013). Integrating forages with row crops also reduces needs for nitrogen (N) fertilizer, rebuilds soil organic matter (Acosta-Martinez et al. 2010), and reduces fossil energy use and associated carbon emissions (Zilverberg et al. 2012). Advances in irrigation delivery that minimize evaporation losses and the use of irrigation scheduling tools that factor in soil water availability and crop needs for evapotranspiration (ET) are keys to improving whole-system water use efficiency. The Texas Alliance for Water Conservation (TAWC) is a multi-disciplinary team of agricultural scientists, resource managers, and producers formed in 2004 to demonstrate tools and irrigation technologies for conserving water on commercial farms in the Southern High Plains of Texas. We report progress in demonstrating advances in water conservation in a region where production of forages and livestock can help alleviate the decline in ground water supplies used for crop irrigation.
Citation
Kellison, Rick; Allen, V. G.; Brown, C. P.; Doerfert, D. L.; Johnson, P. N.; Maas, S. J.; and West, C. P., "Using Forages to Conserve Water in Semi-Arid Irrigated Cropping Systems" (2020). IGC Proceedings (1993-2023). 8.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/22/2-10/8
Included in
Using Forages to Conserve Water in Semi-Arid Irrigated Cropping Systems
The Texas High Plains are part of the largest, contiguously irrigated cropland in the USA, and draws water from the Ogallala aquifer. High crop prices, increased demand for maize for ethanol production, and severe drought have increased water depletion rates. Research has shown that integrating forages and grazing cattle into the cotton-dominant cropping system can reduce overall water use (Allen et al. 2012) while still offering farmers positive net returns (Johnson et al. 2013). Integrating forages with row crops also reduces needs for nitrogen (N) fertilizer, rebuilds soil organic matter (Acosta-Martinez et al. 2010), and reduces fossil energy use and associated carbon emissions (Zilverberg et al. 2012). Advances in irrigation delivery that minimize evaporation losses and the use of irrigation scheduling tools that factor in soil water availability and crop needs for evapotranspiration (ET) are keys to improving whole-system water use efficiency. The Texas Alliance for Water Conservation (TAWC) is a multi-disciplinary team of agricultural scientists, resource managers, and producers formed in 2004 to demonstrate tools and irrigation technologies for conserving water on commercial farms in the Southern High Plains of Texas. We report progress in demonstrating advances in water conservation in a region where production of forages and livestock can help alleviate the decline in ground water supplies used for crop irrigation.
