Extension Irrigation Specialist Utah State University
In the ongoing Western water crisis, there is a need to reduce consumptive water use in agricultural irrigation period. One technology that has gained interest in the Intermountain West is the Subsurface Drip Irrigation Period. The benefit of Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) over sprinkler and surface irrigation methods is the potential reduction of evapotranspiration and evaporative losses. SDI has very little adoption in forage crops in Utah, which are grown on over 80% of Utah’s irrigated agricultural lands. There is no data in this region regarding the consumptive use of forage crops irrigated with SDI. Providing research-based information for forage crop water use under SDI to producers and policymakers is a huge need in the Intermountain West. Water use and yield for Alfalfa are being measured and compared between SDI and conventional irrigation methods in the production field. Each field includes the profile of eight soil moisture sensors to calculate the changes in soil water content. Irrigation application is being measured period. A weather station has been installed to quantify precipitation and reference evapotranspiration. Deep drainage is being modeled by using unsaturated flow modeling. Surface runoff from precipitation is being modeled. Then, evapotranspiration is estimated by a water balance. Crop yield is measured through yield sampling and total production measurements. Evapotranspiration, total consumptive water use, applied water, yield, and water productivity are being compared between SDI and conventional irrigation methods.
