IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v228y2020ics0378377419308030.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Temporal and spatial variations of irrigation water use for commercial corn fields in Central Nebraska

Author

Listed:
  • Gonçalves, Ivo Zution
  • Mekonnen, Mesfin M.
  • Neale, Christopher M.U.
  • Campos, Isidro
  • Neale, Michael R.

Abstract

The increasing pressure on water resources in Nebraska-US and other agricultural areas requires the implementation of innovative tools and solutions for the governance of water resources and the analysis of water use efficiency. In this vein, this paper presents the application of a remote sensing based soil water balance for the study of water use in agricultural areas. The specific objectives were the identification of the temporal and spatial behavior of the irrigation water use based on the quantification of the water use deviation (irrigation water applied minus irrigation water requirements), as the main indicator and the comparative analysis of the irrigation productivity (crop yield under irrigated field minus crop yield under rainfed condition per volume of water applied by irrigation), WPi, water productivity (harvestable grain per total volume of water applied considering precipitation plus irrigation), WP, and finally water productivity based on evapotranspiration (harvested grain per total volume of water evapotranspired), WPET, in the various management zones analyzed. Additionally, we examined the impact of soil types, local weather and irrigation system (center pivot and furrow irrigation) on these indicators. The study was carried out in three Natural Resources District (Tri-Basin, Central Platte and Lower Niobrara) across Central Nebraska for the period 2004–2012 and comprised over 2000 irrigated corn fields per year. Crop water requirements were estimated using the reflectance-based crop coefficient approach developed in previous research (see Campos et al., 2017) and the field data were reported for each field monitored through cropland data layer by National Agricultural Statistics Service of USDA. The difference between modeled irrigation water requirements and field level irrigation application was significant (p < 0.001) being the water use deviation in generally positive (over irrigation). These results were consistently higher for furrow irrigated fields during the whole analyzed period, reaching up to three times more water applied compared to the required amount. This was expected as surface irrigation systems typically require a higher application depth. This trend changed for the central pivot irrigated fields depending on the climatic conditions, especially in dry years. The analysis of the water use deviation with respect to soil types and weather conditions revealed that the water use deviation is not justified by the biophysical conditions alone. The estimated values of WP and WPi for furrow system was lower compared to center pivot in both NRD’s reaching the maximum value of 1.37 kg m-3 and 3.06 kg m-3 for WP and WPi in Tri-basin respectively for center pivot. In general, the results suggested potential to improve water management in these NRDs in Central Nebraska and reduce pumping potentially saving groundwater resources for drought years and other uses monitoring soil type, weather data and switching to sprinklers system.

Suggested Citation

  • Gonçalves, Ivo Zution & Mekonnen, Mesfin M. & Neale, Christopher M.U. & Campos, Isidro & Neale, Michael R., 2020. "Temporal and spatial variations of irrigation water use for commercial corn fields in Central Nebraska," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:228:y:2020:i:c:s0378377419308030
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105924
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377419308030
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105924?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duchemin, B. & Hadria, R. & Erraki, S. & Boulet, G. & Maisongrande, P. & Chehbouni, A. & Escadafal, R. & Ezzahar, J. & Hoedjes, J.C.B. & Kharrou, M.H. & Khabba, S. & Mougenot, B. & Olioso, A. & Rodrig, 2006. "Monitoring wheat phenology and irrigation in Central Morocco: On the use of relationships between evapotranspiration, crops coefficients, leaf area index and remotely-sensed vegetation indices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 1-27, January.
    2. Molden, David & Oweis, Theib & Steduto, Pasquale & Bindraban, Prem & Hanjra, Munir A. & Kijne, Jacob, 2010. "Improving agricultural water productivity: Between optimism and caution," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 528-535, April.
    3. Bretreger, David & Yeo, In-Young & Quijano, Juan & Awad, John & Hancock, Greg & Willgoose, Garry, 2019. "Monitoring irrigation water use over paddock scales using climate data and landsat observations," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 175-191.
    4. Jayanthi, Harikishan & Neale, Christopher M.U. & Wright, James L., 2007. "Development and validation of canopy reflectance-based crop coefficient for potato," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-3), pages 235-246, March.
    5. Asres, Sisay B., 2016. "Evaluating and enhancing irrigation water management in the upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia: The case of Koga large scale irrigation scheme," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 26-35.
    6. Campos, Isidro & Balbontín, Claudio & González-Piqueras, Jose & González-Dugo, Maria P. & Neale, Christopher M.U. & Calera, Alfonso, 2016. "Combining a water balance model with evapotranspiration measurements to estimate total available soil water in irrigated and rainfed vineyards," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 141-152.
    7. Gibson, Katherine E.B. & Yang, Haishun S. & Franz, Trenton & Eisenhauer, Dean & Gates, John B. & Nasta, Paolo & Farmaha, Bhupinder S. & Grassini, Patricio, 2018. "Assessing explanatory factors for variation in on-farm irrigation in US maize-soybean systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 34-40.
    8. Steward, David R. & Allen, Andrew J., 2016. "Peak groundwater depletion in the High Plains Aquifer, projections from 1930 to 2110," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 36-48.
    9. Zwart, Sander J. & Bastiaanssen, Wim G. M., 2004. "Review of measured crop water productivity values for irrigated wheat, rice, cotton and maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 115-133, September.
    10. Karatas, Bekir S. & Akkuzu, Erhan & Unal, Halil B. & Asik, Serafettin & Avci, Musa, 2009. "Using satellite remote sensing to assess irrigation performance in Water User Associations in the Lower Gediz Basin, Turkey," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(6), pages 982-990, June.
    11. Campos, Isidro & Neale, Christopher M.U. & Suyker, Andrew E. & Arkebauer, Timothy J. & Gonçalves, Ivo Z., 2017. "Reflectance-based crop coefficients REDUX: For operational evapotranspiration estimates in the age of high producing hybrid varieties," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 140-153.
    12. Er-Raki, S. & Chehbouni, A. & Guemouria, N. & Duchemin, B. & Ezzahar, J. & Hadria, R., 2007. "Combining FAO-56 model and ground-based remote sensing to estimate water consumptions of wheat crops in a semi-arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 41-54, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bispo, R.C. & Hernandez, F.B.T. & Gonçalves, I.Z. & Neale, C.M.U. & Teixeira, A.H.C., 2022. "Remote sensing based evapotranspiration modeling for sugarcane in Brazil using a hybrid approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    2. Wilian Rodrigues Ribeiro & Morgana Scaramussa Gonçalves & Daniel Soares Ferreira & Dalila Costa Gonçalves & Samira Luns Hatum Almeida & Ramon Amaro Sales & Felipe Cunha Siman & Luan Peroni Venancio & , 2022. "Water demand of central pivot-irrigated areas in Bahia, Brazil: management of water resources applied to sustainable production," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(10), pages 12340-12366, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bispo, R.C. & Hernandez, F.B.T. & Gonçalves, I.Z. & Neale, C.M.U. & Teixeira, A.H.C., 2022. "Remote sensing based evapotranspiration modeling for sugarcane in Brazil using a hybrid approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    2. Mohamed Kharrou & Michel Le Page & Ahmed Chehbouni & Vincent Simonneaux & Salah Er-Raki & Lionel Jarlan & Lahcen Ouzine & Said Khabba & Ghani Chehbouni, 2013. "Assessment of Equity and Adequacy of Water Delivery in Irrigation Systems Using Remote Sensing-Based Indicators in Semi-Arid Region, Morocco," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(13), pages 4697-4714, October.
    3. Mahmoud, Shereif H. & Gan, Thian Yew, 2019. "Irrigation water management in arid regions of Middle East: Assessing spatio-temporal variation of actual evapotranspiration through remote sensing techniques and meteorological data," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 35-47.
    4. Pôças, I. & Calera, A. & Campos, I. & Cunha, M., 2020. "Remote sensing for estimating and mapping single and basal crop coefficientes: A review on spectral vegetation indices approaches," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    5. Campos, Isidro & Neale, Christopher M.U. & Suyker, Andrew E. & Arkebauer, Timothy J. & Gonçalves, Ivo Z., 2017. "Reflectance-based crop coefficients REDUX: For operational evapotranspiration estimates in the age of high producing hybrid varieties," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 140-153.
    6. Campos, Isidro & Balbontín, Claudio & González-Piqueras, Jose & González-Dugo, Maria P. & Neale, Christopher M.U. & Calera, Alfonso, 2016. "Combining a water balance model with evapotranspiration measurements to estimate total available soil water in irrigated and rainfed vineyards," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 141-152.
    7. Ouaadi, Nadia & Jarlan, Lionel & Khabba, Saïd & Le Page, Michel & Chakir, Adnane & Er-Raki, Salah & Frison, Pierre-Louis, 2023. "Are the C-band backscattering coefficient and interferometric coherence suitable substitutes of NDVI for the monitoring of the FAO-56 crop coefficient?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    8. Campos, Isidro & Neale, Christopher M.U. & Calera, Alfonso & Balbontín, Claudio & González-Piqueras, Jose, 2010. "Assessing satellite-based basal crop coefficients for irrigated grapes (Vitis vinifera L.)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 45-54, December.
    9. Carpintero, E. & Mateos, L. & Andreu, A. & González-Dugo, M.P., 2020. "Effect of the differences in spectral response of Mediterranean tree canopies on the estimation of evapotranspiration using vegetation index-based crop coefficients," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    10. Garrido-Rubio, Jesús & González-Piqueras, Jose & Campos, Isidro & Osann, Anna & González-Gómez, Laura & Calera, Alfonso, 2020. "Remote sensing–based soil water balance for irrigation water accounting at plot and water user association management scale," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    11. Sánchez, Nilda & Martínez-Fernández, José & Calera, Alfonso & Torres, Enrique & Pérez-Gutiérrez, Carlos, 2010. "Combining remote sensing and in situ soil moisture data for the application and validation of a distributed water balance model (HIDROMORE)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 69-78, December.
    12. Campoy, Jaime & Campos, Isidro & Plaza, Carmen & Calera, María & Jiménez, Nuria & Bodas, Vicente & Calera, Alfonso, 2019. "Water use efficiency and light use efficiency in garlic using a remote sensing-based approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 40-48.
    13. López-Urrea, R. & Sánchez, J.M. & de la Cruz, F. & González-Piqueras, J. & Chávez, J.L., 2020. "Evapotranspiration and crop coefficients from lysimeter measurements for sprinkler-irrigated canola," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    14. Drerup, Philipp & Brueck, Holger & Scherer, Heinrich W., 2017. "Evapotranspiration of winter wheat estimated with the FAO 56 approach and NDVI measurements in a temperate humid climate of NW Europe," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 180-188.
    15. French, Andrew N. & Hunsaker, Douglas J. & Sanchez, Charles A. & Saber, Mazin & Gonzalez, Juan Roberto & Anderson, Ray, 2020. "Satellite-based NDVI crop coefficients and evapotranspiration with eddy covariance validation for multiple durum wheat fields in the US Southwest," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    16. Hunink, Johannes E. & Contreras, Sergio & Soto-García, Mariano & Martin-Gorriz, Bernardo & Martinez-Álvarez, Victoriano & Baille, Alain, 2015. "Estimating groundwater use patterns of perennial and seasonal crops in a Mediterranean irrigation scheme, using remote sensing," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 47-56.
    17. Ren, Dongyang & Xu, Xu & Engel, Bernard & Huang, Quanzhong & Xiong, Yunwu & Huo, Zailin & Huang, Guanhua, 2021. "A comprehensive analysis of water productivity in natural vegetation and various crops coexistent agro-ecosystems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    18. El-Naggar, A.G. & Hedley, C.B. & Horne, D. & Roudier, P. & Clothier, B.E., 2020. "Soil sensing technology improves application of irrigation water," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    19. Li, Xiaolin & Tong, Ling & Niu, Jun & Kang, Shaozhong & Du, Taisheng & Li, Sien & Ding, Risheng, 2017. "Spatio-temporal distribution of irrigation water productivity and its driving factors for cereal crops in Hexi Corridor, Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 55-63.
    20. Elfarkh, Jamal & Simonneaux, Vincent & Jarlan, Lionel & Ezzahar, Jamal & Boulet, Gilles & Chakir, Adnane & Er-Raki, Salah, 2022. "Evapotranspiration estimates in a traditional irrigated area in semi-arid Mediterranean. Comparison of four remote sensing-based models," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:228:y:2020:i:c:s0378377419308030. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.