Progress 07/16/13 to 06/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The four majors target audiences include: irrigators who need information to manage irrigation of pasture; managers of water districts who may need purchase or lease water saved from deficit irrigated pastures to provide water for critical demands; extension agents who provide pasture irrigation recommendations to ranchers, farmers and water users; researchers who are providing scientific information to conserve water and improve agriculture resource management. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Seven undergraduates and two graduate student had opportunity to develop skills in installation of electronic soil moisture measurement sensors, programming data logging, wiring, and installing sensors. Students also participated in field research including irrigation and plot yield harvesting and data processing. This project has provide the opportunity to be involved with timely research needs to help manage water in the western United States. The project has provided a research base that has generated external funds for expanded research and application. Results of the study had a direct impact on a large pilot project focused on water conservation in the Colorado River basin. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?During this project, information concerning the short-season pasture irrigation was presented at 42 workshops, field days, conferences, and crop schools to about 2,300 participants. The communities of interest have included governmental organizations, non-government organizations, ranchers, farmers, researchers, and extension personnel from many areas of the United States as well as foreign countries. Recent activities include the Sustainable Grazing Institute (June 26-18, 2018) held in Panguitch, Utah, County Agricultural Agent training June 13-14, 2018, Upper Colorado River state representatives June 29, 2018, and Open ET May 17-18, 2018 in Reno, Nevada. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?N/A, this is the final report for this project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Due to drought and water demands, reducing water use in pastures by short-season irrigation may provide water for other irrigated agriculture and municipal uses. The research is to determine potential water saving, establish methods to estimate water savings, and assess effects on yield and health of pasture. The Lewiston, Utah site is located at decimal latitude/longitude of 41.951262, -111.872469, with an elevation of 4,500 feet. The average annual precipitation is 18.5 inches with the driest months being June through September. The site has an electronic weather station maintained by the Utah Climate Center. The soil texture is a fine sandy loam with fluctuating water table that averages about 3 feet below the ground surface. Soil moisture measurement were made at 10 locations with the Acclima TDR-315L true waveform digitizing Time Domain Reflectometer sensors. The research includes 4 replications of 5 irrigation levels (no irrigation, irrigation through May, June, July and full season irrigation). The 20 plots are 160 feet by 60 feet separated by 60 feet buffer strip. The Panguitch, Utah site is located at decimal latitude/longitude of 37.868948°, -112.436556° with an elevation of 6,550 feet. The average annual precipitation is 9.7 inches with most of the precipitation occurring in July through October period. The site has an electronic weather station maintained by the Utah Climate Center. The soil texture is a loam with deep water table and a few gravelly bands. Soil moisture measurement were made at 10 locations with Acclima TDR-315L sensors. The research includes 2 replications of 5 irrigation levels described above. In 2017, the research site had 25 plots, 60 feet by 60 feet separated by 60 feet buffer strip. Each plot has three 10-feet wide strips of tall fescue and Cache meadow brome. In 2018, the site was adjusted to 10 larger plots better accommodate irrigation and soil moisture measurements. The crop water use is limited to precipitation and irrigation and a soil water budgets can be used to calculate evapotranspiration (ET). Procedures were developed to estimate deep percolation after an irrigation, based on daily soil water changes and potential ET for the day. Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shortened irrigation season: Water can be saved with a shortened irrigation season. Short season water savings (reduced ET) is the difference between ET of a pasture irrigated full-season and the ET from the short-season irrigation. ET of pasture is dependent on irrigation amount, annual precipitation, water holding capacity of soil, water table, soil fertility and other variables. At the Lewiston, Utah site annual growing season ET calculated from a soil water budget ranges from about 14 inches to 22 inches plus an unquantified contribution from shallow groundwater. Water savings calculated from the soil water budget was up to 8 inches. Using yield as an indicator of ET, the average water savings from deficit irrigation is about 6 inches per year. Water savings in Panguitch was determined through a soil moisture budget because ET was limited by precipitation and irrigation. In 2017 calculated pasture, ET ranged from 7.2 inches for no irrigation to 23.1 inches for full irrigation for a water savings of 15.9 inches. We estimated water savings from a water conservation pilot project in the Upper Colorado River Basin using Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution and using Internal Calibration (METRIC™) to calculate ET. Most pilot project fields had only a couple of inches water savings resulting from deficit irrigation, with the highest reduced consumptive use of 9.4 inches. The low water savings occur because after irrigation stops, ET continues using available soil water, precipitation, and contributions from groundwater in areas with a high water table. The available soil water can be as high as 9 inches based on soil survey data. Precipitation ranged from about 4.7 to 10.2 inches from July through October during 2014, 2015, and 2016. Additionally, based on soil survey data the depth to groundwater can be as low as 18 inches in some locations. The total ET from July through October for the fields ranged from 22.8 to 9.1 inches, with the lower ET coming from deficit irrigated fields in Wyoming. To achieve more predictable water savings the program could consider earlier irrigation cutoff dates and site-specific factors such as soil water holding capacity, soil water budgets, and water table contribution to ET. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: Determining water savings from scattered field using soil moisture measurements has cost and technical limitations. METRIC™ was used to estimate ET and the results were presented in report to Colorado River water user organizations and managers. Based on this study, the Upper Colorado River Commission discontinued their program and method of calculating water savings from deficit irrigation of pastures. The methods used by the Commission did not adequately account for available soil water and groundwater contribution to calculate water savings. The primary limitations are costs, missing data resulting from clouds, and time requirement for data analysis. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: At the Lewiston site, the average annual yields (2013-2017) for no irrigation to full irrigation ranged from 3.11 tons per acre (no irrigation) to 3.86 tons per acre (full irrigation). The average first cutting harvested in mid-June yielded 71 (no irrigation) to 63% (full irrigation) of the total annual yield. The second cutting taken in mid-August accounted for 16 (no irrigation) to 24% (full irrigation) of the annual yield. The third cutting taken October accounted for 12 to 13% of the annual yield for all irrigation levels. The irrigation level (P-value 0.0011) and year (P-value 8.13E-5) have a significant impact on yield. In addition to irrigation level, the annual yields are a function of precipitation, temperature, and other weather data, and fertility, which are independent of irrigation. The health of the pasture is good for all irrigation levels. Yield patterns indicate that additional nitrogen would increase yield later in the season. At the Panguitch site, the average annual yield of the Cache meadow brome (2.62 tons per acre) was higher than the tall fescue (2.22 tons per acres) for all but the no irrigation plots, which had no yield difference. The yield difference between the brome and fescue came in the first cutting. The annual yield differences between full irrigation and no irrigation was 1.81 and 1.23 tons per acre for Cache meadow brome and tall fescue, respectively. The trend is continuing for first harvest of 2018. The pasture stand and health of the non-irrigated pasture plots in Panguitch is declining. In 2016-2017, three sets of high-resolution aerial imagery were taken by the USU AggieAir™ UAV system over Lewiston pasture site prior to harvest. Approximately 60 plot yield samples were harvested after each flight. Their locations were collected with high-accuracy real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS. In addition, the leaf area index (LAI) for each sample plot was measured using an optical sensor (LAI2200C) before harvesting. The study showed relationships between the yields and vegetation indices. The vegetation indices include the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) calculated using AggieAir imagery, and LAI measured by the ground based sensor. A paper was published in proceedings; Mahyar Aboutalebi, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Niel Allen, "Multispectral remote sensing for yield estimation using high-resolution imagery from an unmanned aerial vehicle," Proc. SPIE 10664, Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping III, May 2018.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Aboutalebi, M., Torres-Rua, A., & Allen, L. (2018). Multispectral remote sensing for yield estimation using high-resolution imagery from an unmanned aerial vehicle. In J. Alex Thomasson, Mac McKee, & Robert J. Moorhead (Eds.), Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping III. SPIE.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., & Torres-Rua, A. (2018). Verification of Water Conservation from Deficit Irrigation Pilot Projects in the Upper Colorado River Basin. (pp. 52).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Sustainable Grazing Institute Workshop, "Irrigation and Water Use of Pasture," Extension, Panguitch, Utah. (June 26, 2018 - June 28, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Water Conservation Field Day, "Irrigation Management Research," Extension, Cedar City, Utah. (June 22, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., County Agent Annual Training and Conference, "Irrigation Scheduling Training and Irrigation Research," Extension, Heber City, Utah. (June 12, 2018 - June 14, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Lewiston Pasture Field Day, "Short Season Irrigation," Utah Ag Experiment Station, Lewiston, Utah. (June 7, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Open ET Workshop, "Open ET Filling the Biggest Data Gap in Water Management," NASA, Google Earth Engine, DNGOs, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV. (May 17, 2018 - May 18, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Torres-Rua, A. (Presenter & Author), Allen, L. (Author Only), Utah Geographic Information Council, "2018 Utah Geographic Information Council," Utah Geographic Information Council, Vernal, UT. (May 7, 2018 - May 11, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Utah Water Users Workshop, "Irrigation Management Research," Utah Water Users Association and others, St. George, Utah. (March 20, 2018 - March 21, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Annual Extension Conference, "Irrigation Resarch," Extension, Thanksgiving Point, Utah. (February 26, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Beaver County Crop School, "Irrigation Management Research," Extension, Minserville, Utah. (January 25, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Millard County Crop School, "Irrigation Management Research," Extension, Delta, Utah. (January 24, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Weber County Crop School, "Irrigation and Crop Water Requirements," Extension, Ogden, Utah. (January 23, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Wyoming-Utah Ag Days, "Irrigation and Water Use of Forage and Pasture," Extension, Evanston, Wyoming. (January 23, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Sevier County Crop School, "Irrigation Management Research," Extension, Richfield, Utah. (January 18, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Allen, L., Uinta Basin Water Summit, "Utah Water Conservation Initiative and Research Update," Uinta Basin Water Users, Extension, and others, Duchesne, Utah. (January 17, 2018)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Guest Lecturer for Forage Class (PSC 4320), "Irrigation and Water Use of Forage and Pastures," Utah State University, Logan, Utah. (November 10, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Irrigation Scheduling Using Electronic Weather Station and Kc, "Utah Irrigation Research," Western Extension Research Association, Twin Falls, Idaho. (September 11, 2017 - September 15, 2017
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., National Agriculture County Agent Association National Meeting, "Irrigation Tour in Northern Utah (research farms)," Extension, Northern Utah. (July 13, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., National County Agriculture Agent Association Conference, "Irrigation Research and Topics," NCAACA, Salt Lake City, Utah. (July 10, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Spring Runoff Conference, "Irrigation in Utah," Utah State University Water Initiative, Logan, Utah. (March 28, 2017 - March 29, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Spring Runoff Conference, "Irrigation in Utah and Related Topics," Utah Water Research Laboratory and others, Logan, Utah. (March 28, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Cache County Crop School, "Irrigation Scheduling and Management," Extension, Logan, Utah. (February 28, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Weber County Crop School, "Irrigation Management," Extension, Ogden, Utah. (February 21, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Allen, L., Torres-Rua, A., Improving Irrigation Water Management - Latest Methods in Evapotranspiration and Supporting Technologies, "Verification of Reduced Consumptive Use from Deficit Irrigated Pastures in the Upper Colorado River Basin Using Landsat Data," US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, Fort Collins, Colorado. (October 9, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Rich County Crop School, "Irrigation Management," Extension, Woodruff, Utah. (February 16, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Sevier County Crop School, "Irrigation Scheduling and Management," Extension, Richfield, Utah. (January 19, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Allen, L., Beaver County Crop School, "Irrigation Scheduling and Management," Extension, Minersville, Utah. (January 18, 2017)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Allen, L., Sevier County Crops Workshop, "Use of Climate Data for Cropping and Irrigation," Extension, Richfield, Utah. (January 22, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Annual Conference, "Water and Irrigation in Utah," Utah League of Cities and Towns, Salt Lake City, Utah. (September 17, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Egyptian Delegation Water and Irrigation Visit`, "Irrigation Research," USU Office of Global Engagemet, Logan, Utah. (August 18, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., IEEE SusTech Conference, "Electronics in Irrigation Research," IEEE, Ogden, Utah. (July 31, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Committee Meeting, "Irrigation Research," Agriculture and Natural Resources Legislative Meeting, Logan, Utah. (July 10, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Public Meeting, "Irrigation and Water Research," Six County Governmental Organization, Richfield, Utah. (June 3, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Utah Water Users Workshop, "Extension Water Initatives," Utah Water Users Association, St. George, Utah. (March 17, 2015 - March 18, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Utah Water Users Workshop, "Irrigation Scheduling Using Electronic Measurements," Utah Water Users Association, St. George, Utah. (March 17, 2015 - March 18, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Rich County Crop School, "Irrigation for Efficient Water Use," Extension, Randolph, Utah. (February 24, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Urban and Small Farm Workshop, "Irrigation Scheduling for Urban and Small Farms," Extension, West Jordan, Utah. (February 18, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Allen, L., Sevier County Crop School, "Use of Climate Data for Cropping and Irrigation," USU Extension, Richfield, Utah. (January 22, 2015)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Allen, L., International Visitors on Irrigation, "Irrigation in Utah and United States," USU Office of Global Engagement, Logan, Utah. (August 7, 2014)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Allen, L., Northern Utah Mini Water Conference, "Agriculture Irrigation Management," Various water users organizations, Logan, Utah. (April 2, 2014)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Allen, L., Spring Runoff Conference, "Laws, Markets, and Institutions Related to Water Transfer," Utah Water Research Laboratory and others, Logan, Utah. (April 6, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Allen, L., Urban and Small Farm Workshop, "Irrigation Scheduling," Salt Lake City, Utah, West Jordan, Utah. (February 17, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Allen, L., Utah Hay and Forage Symposium, "Irrigation Strategies for Water-short Years," Extension, St. George, Utah. (January 16, 2013)
|
Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Irrigators, water managers, extension agents, researchers. Changes/Problems:There are no problems or changes. The project will continue with emphasis on completion of analysis and reports. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two undergraduates and one graduate student had opportunity to develop skills in installation of electronic soil moisture measurement sensors, data logging programing, wiring, and installation. Students also participated in field research including irrigation, plot yield harvesting. A demonstration of soil moisture measuring equipment and data access was presented at the Utah Hay and Forage Symposium on January 26. An irrigation tour, that included the deficit irrigation study, was conducted for the National Agriculture County Agent Association Conference on July 13. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?I have had opportunity to present research findings and pasture irrigation management strategies at workshops to growers in Sevier, Beaver, Rich, Weber, and Cache County Utah and conducted a field site visit for County Agents from several states. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The plan of work is to continue the short season irrigation research at the Lewiston Pasture Farm and Panguitch, Utah pastures. The work will evaluate procedure to estimate consumptive water use, collect and analyze data, and prepare reports. We are near the end of the project so emphasis will be on completing data collection and analysis and preparing papers and reports. The publication will be on deficit irrigation of pastures to reduce depletion, use of gridded precipitation in determining reduced depletion from deficit irrigation, and pasture yield estimation from remote sensing. Work specific to goals includes: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from a shortened irrigation season: Continue using soil moisture monitoring equipment and rain gages in Panguitch and Lewiston, Utah to monitor soil moisture and irrigation. From this data, a soil water budget will be used to estimate pasture water use and potential water savings. The analysis of satellite data and weather data will be utilized to calculate reduced depletion from deficit irrigation pilot project fields in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: Continue to estimate water savings on scattered fields using METRIC, Normalized Difference Vegetative Index, Leaf Area Index or other indices. Yields measured on research plots will be correlated to irrigation application and ET and the Landsat data will be evaluated to determine if yields can be reasonably estimated. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: For the Lewiston plots 2018 will be the fifth year of the research and the yields of the five irrigation levels will be measured. We will also evaluate the pasture health for each irrigation level. Additional work will move forward to help determine yield from remotely sensed data. In Panguitch the yield and pasture health will also be evaluated. It is planned for the research to continue for a couple more years in Panguitch, because 2017 was the first year with a full implementation of the five irrigation levels.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Yield and water use data were obtained from pasture plots with different irrigation levels (no irrigation to full season irrigation) at the UAES Lewiston Intermountain Pasture Research Farm and at the UAES in Panguitch for the 2017 growing season. Developed methodology and analyzed water use and depletion based on satellite imagery on deficit irrigated pastures that are part of the Upper Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot Project. Specific accomplishments include the following: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shortened irrigation season: The pasture plots in Lewiston, Utah include four replications of five irrigation levels. Acclima TDR 315L soil moist sensors are at 10 locations at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm. Pasture ET was estimated using measured soil moisture, precipitation, and irrigation data using soil moisture budgets. Effective irrigation application of about 9.8 inches resulted in a yield increase of about 0.5 tons per acre (dry matter) yield. This small difference in yield likely occurred due to the high water table resulting from a wet winter (approximately 14 inches over winter) and saturated soils early in the spring. The best irrigation level (irrigation level 3) improved yields by 18 percent over non-irrigated plots. Maximum yields of 3.1 tons per acre were obtained for the irrigation level 3. The relatively high yields (2.63 tons per acre) in the non-irrigated plots occurred due to precipitation and water availability from the water table that was about 3 to 3.5 feet deep. The pasture plots in Panguitch, Utah include three replications of five irrigation levels for both Tall Fescue and Cache Meadow Brome. Acclima TDR 315L soil moist sensors are at five locations. Pasture ET amounts were estimated using measured soil moisture, precipitation, and irrigation data using soil moisture budgets. The yield in the non-irrigated plots (for both Tall Fescue and Cache Meadow Brome) averaged 1.4 tons per acre with 5.8 inches of precipitation during the growing season and little to no net accumulation of soil moisture during the winter (only 2.65 inches of precipitation). Effective irrigation application of about 18.6 inches resulted in yield of 2.6 tons per acre (dry matter) yield for Tall Fescue and 3.2 tons per acre for Cache Meadow Brome. The irrigation improved Tall Fescue yields by 90 percent and Cache Meadow Brome by 130 percent over non-irrigated plots. Cache Meadow Brome average 0.4 tons per acre more yield than Tall Fescue. Using the grants from Walton Family and S.D. Bechtel Foundations water use and depletion on deficit irrigated pastures in Colorado and Wyoming were estimated using Landsat imagery and the METRIC methodology. Key elements in determining decreased depletion from deficit irrigation are good estimations or measurement of precipitation and ET for fully irrigated nearby field to use as the base ET. Precipitation was estimated using DayMet and Prism gridded data. The fully irrigated field was selected based on annual ET map. Annual ET decreases by to 3 to 18 inches per year for pilot deficit irrigation fields. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: To determine water savings in scattered fields I have been working with Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua at Utah State University to incorporate procedures for Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution and using Internal Calibration (METRIC™) published in 2007 by Dr. Richard Allen at University of Idaho to estimate ET. The primary advantage is that expensive and site specific monitoring at the field level is not required. We have determined that METRIC™ ET flux method using Landsat image can be used to estimate ET. We determined that DayMet gridded precipitation provided more accurate precipitation than the nearest weather station for fields that are more than a couple of miles from and/or are at a different elevation than the nearest weather stations. The ET without deficit irrigation is best represent by a nearby field with full irrigation. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: The health of the pasture in Lewiston is good for all irrigation treatments. In Panguitch, the non-irrigated pasture areas are showing a decrease in stand and plant stress. Next year we will be able to determine how well the grasses survive the winter. In Panguitch, the health of the pasture is also reflective of the quality of the soils. The pastures that were part of the Upper Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot project in 2015 are still healthy. In a related project, we are using high-resolution remote sensing information for yield estimation under deficit irrigation for water conservation. The dates when USU AggieAir unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was flown over the area of study the day prior to sample harvests on October 20, 2016, June 19, 2017, June 16, 2017, August 22, 2017 and October 17, 2017. UAV derived information includes maps of visual, near infrared reflectance and surface temperature, along with digital elevation models. Image resolution is 0.1m for initial flights, and 0.02m for the last one. Measured ground information includes leaf area index, bare ground GPS elevation, harvest areas, and dry matter weight for the harvested areas. Summary of results: The yields of the irrigation treatments in Lewiston, Utah ranged from 2.6 to 3.1 tons per acre (dry matter) with the highest yield on the plots receiving three irrigations. The yield data by irrigation levels were 2.6, 2.8, 3.0, 3.1 and 3.0 tons per acres (dry matter) for irrigation levels 0, 1 (1 irrigation), 2 (2 irrigations), 3 (3 irrigations), and 4 (4 irrigations), respectively. Irrigation dates were June 6, July 20, August 10, and September 12. Harvest dates were June 18, August 25, and October 19. The yields for plots as a percent of total yield were 86%, 21%, and 4% for cuttings 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In 2017, there was 6.51 inches of precipitation from April 1 through October 30, but the winter precipitation from October through March was about 14 inches. The pasture stand persisted for all irrigation treatments. The Tall Fescue yields of the irrigation treatments in Panguitch, Utah ranged from 1.4 to 2.6 tons per acre (dry matter) with the highest yield on the plots receiving 10 irrigations. The yield data for by irrigation levels were 1.4, 1.9, 2.6, 2.6 and 2.6 tons per acres (dry matter) for irrigation levels 0, 1 (3 irrigation), 2 (5 irrigations), 3 (8 irrigations), and 4 (10 irrigations), respectively. Irrigation dates were May 10, 24 and 31, June 13 and 28, July 18 and 29, August 11 and 24, and September 9. Harvest dates were July 5 and September 26. The yields for plots as a percent of total yield were 53 and 47 percent for cuttings 1 and 2, respectively. Deep percolation was estimated at 4.4 inches. In 2017 there was 5.6 inches of precipitation from April through September, with the winter precipitation from October through March being only 2.65 inches. The pasture stand is decreasing on the no irrigation plots. The average Cache Meadow Brome yields of the irrigation treatments in Panguitch, Utah ranged from 1.4 to 3.2 tons per acre (dry matter) with the highest yield on the plots receiving 10 irrigations. The yield data by irrigation levels were 1.4, 2.7, 3.0, 3.0 and 3.2 tons per acres (dry matter) for irrigation levels 0, 1 (3 irrigation), 2 (5 irrigations), 3 (8 irrigations), and 4 (10 irrigations), respectively. Irrigation dates were May 10, 24 and 31, June 13 and 28, July 18 and 29, August 11 and 24, and September 9. Harvest dates were July 5 and September 26. The yields for plots as a percent of total yield were 58 and 42 percent for cuttings 1 and 2, respectively. The summer irrigation frequency and rain was much higher in Panguitch. The pasture stand is decreasing for the no irrigation treatments.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Lewis, C. S., Allen, L. (2017). Potential Crop Evapotranspiration and Surface Evaporation Estimates via a Gridded Weather Forcing Dataset. Journal of Hydrology(546 (2017)), 450-463. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.11.055
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Strong, C., Khatri, K. B., Kochanski, A. K., Lewis, C. S., Allen, L. (2017). Reference evapotranspiration from coarse-scale and dynamically downscaled data in complex terrain: sensitivity to interpolation, resolution and bias. Journal of Hydrology(548 (2017)), 406-418. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169417301245?via%3Dihub
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Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience Irrigators, water managers, extension agents, researchers. Changes/Problems:Changes/Problems The project will continue similar to last year with the addition of funding outside of UAES to develop methodology to remotely assess yield with spectral data form Landsat on large fields and with high resolution (approximately 4 to 6-inch pixels) spectral data obtained from a drone. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities Attended the Evapotranspiration workshop sponsored by the US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage meeting in Fort Collins Colorado and attended by invitation a workshop at NASA Moffit Field, California entitled "Using Data to Solve the West's Greatest Water Challenges - Consumptive Ute Strategy Workshop" sponsored by S.D. Bechtel, Jr Foundation, NASA, and Google Earth Engine. I also attended the Upper Colorado River Forum workshop in Grand Junction, Colorado which included information on consumptive use studies and deficit irrigation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dissemination I have had opportunity to present research findings and pasture irrigation management strategies at workshops to growers (Sevier County Utah, Rich County Utah, US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage meeting in Fort Collins Colorado and San Diego, and a workshop at NASA Moffett Field entitled "Using Data to Solve the West's Greatest Water Challenges - Consumptive Ute Strategy Workshop" sponsored by S.D. Bechtel, Jr Foundation, NASA, and Google Earth Engine. With collaborators we are working on using remote sensing to evaluate yield. I have been successful in obtaining additional funding and support for the research. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plan of Work The following are scheduled for 2017: Plan of work includes continuing the short season irrigation research at the Lewiston Pasture Farm and Panguitch, Utah pastures, continue to evaluate procedure to estimate consumptive water use, collecting and analyzing data, and preparing reports. Use the external funds from Walton Family Foundation and Bechtel Foundation to continue verification of water savings methodology for short season irrigation of pasture. I will also work on publishing a paper on the deficit irrigation of pastures. Work specific to goals includes: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shorten irrigation season: Continue using soil moisture monitoring equipment and rain gages in Panguitch and Lewiston, Utah to monitor soil moisture and irrigation. From this data a soil water budget will be used to estimate pasture water use and potential water savings. The new soil moisture monitoring equipment that will allow the opportunity to monitor soil moisture continuously at 15 locations. The analysis of satellite data be utilized to calculate water savings from deficit irrigation pilot project fields in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: Continue the work of determining water savings on scattered fields using METRIC, Normalized Difference Vegetative Index, Leaf Area Index or other indices. Yields measured on research plots will also be correlated to irrigation application and ET and the Landsat data will be evaluated to determine if yields can be reasonably estimated. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: Five irrigation levels will be evaluated with each irrigation level will have a different irrigation cutoff data. Yield samples will be taken from each plot at appropriate intervals and pasture health will be evaluated. Additional work will move forward to help determine yield from remotely sensed data.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments Yield and water use data were obtained from pasture plots with different irrigation levels (no irrigation to full season irrigation) at the UAES Lewiston Intermountain Pasture Research Farm and at the UAES in Panguitch for the 2016 growing season. During 2016 yields in Lewiston were measured from 20 plots that included 4 replications of 5 irrigation levels at Lewiston. The irrigation levels include irrigation applications of from 0 to 11.2 inches (based on increase in soil moisture from irrigation). The precipitation from March through October was 13.5 inches, but the summer months of June, July and August had only 0.4 inches of precipitation. At the Panguitch, Utah research site Cache Meadow Brome and tall fescue pastures were established and soil moisture sensors were installed and the second harvest was measured. At Panguitch the precipitation from March through October was 7.0 inches, with the summer months of June, July and August having 3.9 inches of precipitation. Analysis of water use based on satellite imagery on deficit irrigated pastures that are part of the Upper Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot Project were estimated. Specific accomplishments related to the goals include the following: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shorten irrigation season: The pasture plots in Lewiston, Utah include 4 replications of five irrigation levels. Acclima TDR 315L soil moist sensors are at 10 locations (2 for each irrigation treatment) at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm and 5 locations in Panguitch. Pasture ET was estimated using the measured soil moisture, precipitation, and irrigation data using soil moisture budgets. In Lewiston reduced effective irrigation application of about 11 inches resulted in reduction in yield of about 0.8 tons per acre (dry matter) yield. The best irrigation level (irrigation level 3) improved yields by 23 percent over non-irrigated plots. Maximum yields of 4.3 tons per acre were obtained for the irrigation level 3. The relatively high yields in the non-irrigated plots occurred due to precipitation and water availability from the water table that was about 3.5 feet deep. In Panguitch, plots were not individually harvested for the first and major cutting because all the plots received the same irrigation for establishment. The first cutting field yield was approximately 3 tons per acre. The yield difference for the last harvest before grazing was 0.6 tons per acre (1.05 v. 0.46 tons per acre) based on irrigation levels. Using the grants from Walton Family and S.D. Bechtel Foundations water use on deficit irrigated pastures were estimated using Landsat imagery and the METRIC methodology. Six ranchers with pastures totaling about 2,500 acres participated in the Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot Project in 2015 (analyzed in 2016). The 6 ranchers discontinued irrigation on the participating fields in Mid-June to mid-July period. Findings show that 1) there is large field-to-field variability in water savings from short-season irrigation (some fields showed little or no water savings with others reducing consumptive use up to one acre-foot per acre), 2) remote sensing applications can be used to estimate ET and with proper comparison they can be used to estimate water savings from deficit irrigation and fallowing, and 3) both year-to-year and field-to-field information is needed to make a good estimate of water savings from deficit irrigation. We are evaluating the water use on approximately 10 ranches that participated in the pilot project during 2016. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: To determine water savings in scattered fields I have been working with Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua at Utah State University to incorporate procedures for Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution and using Internal Calibration (METRIC™) published in 2007 by Dr. Richard Allen at University of Idaho to estimate ET. The primary advantage is that expensive and site specific monitoring at the field level is not required. We have determined that METRIC™ ET flux method using Landsat image can be used to estimate ET. We are evaluating gridded precipitation methods in hopes of getting more accurate precipitation for fields that are some distance and different elevation than the weather stations used. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: Through the fourth year of the research the health of the pasture in Lewiston has been maintained for all irrigation treatments. In 2016 yield data was obtained from short season irrigation of pasture at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm. In Panguitch the yield of the Cache Meadow brome grass is slightly higher than the tall fescue. The health of both grass varieties look good, but additional time and data are needed to better assess the impact on yield and health. The pastures that were part of the Upper Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot project in 2015 are still healthy and most of the 2015 cooperators participated in 2016. Summary of results: The average yields of the treatments in Lewiston, Utah ranged from 3.29 to 4.26 tons per acre (dry matter) with the highest yield on the plots receiving 4 irrigations. The yield data for by irrigation levels were 3.45, 3.29, 3.51, 4.26 and 3.88 tons per acres (dry matter) for irrigation levels 0, 1 (1 irrigation), 2 (2 irrigations), 3 (4 irrigations), and 4 (5 irrigations), respectively. Irrigation dates were July 2, July 20, August 5, August 19, and September 13. Harvest dates were June 20, August 25, and October 20. The yields for plots as a percent of total yield were 70%, 19%, and 11% for cuttings 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In 2016 there was 13.5 inches of precipitation from March 1 through October 30, but only 0.39 inches for the June through August period. The pasture stand persisted for all irrigation treatments, despite the very dry summer. In Panguitch the pasture was in establishment phase, but deficit irrigation was implemented beginning June. While there was less total rain during the irrigations season more rain occurred in the summer months (3.9 v. 0.4 inches). Individual plot yields were not takes during the first harvest, but the last cutting before grazing was measured by plots. The yield difference for the last harvest before grazing was 0.6 tons per acre (1.05 v. 0.46 tons per acre) based on irrigation levels. The Cache Meadow Brome yield average 0.1 tons per acre more than the fescue. Opportunities (2016) One of the purposes of the research is to find opportunities to reduce consumptive use of irrigation water during drought, based on this purpose funding was obtained for additional studies. The Upper Colorado River Commission is conducting a pilot project for verification of water conservation from deficit irrigation of forage crops in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The project provides compensate for water savings to participants who temporarily deficit irrigate pastures. Under separate agreements grants have provided $146,000 of funding for USU researchers to work on verification procedure for water savings and yield analysis. The method of calculating water savings is METRIC™ as briefly described in Goal 2. The research project also provided work and training for undergraduate students Bradley Saunders and Jason Saunders in field data collection of yields, soil moisture measurement and monitoring, and irrigation. A successful proposal was submitted under the Extension Water Conservation Initiative that provides $25,260, plus matching support from the Utah Water Research to use AggieAir (small unmanned aircraft) to obtain high resolution spectral data to correlate vegetative and other indexes to yield.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Presentations
Allen, L., Invited Guest Lecturer, "Irrigation and Water Use of Forage and Pasture (PCS 4320)," Plant Soil Climate Department, Utah State University. (November 28, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Presentations
Allen, L. (Presenter & Author), Torres-Rua, A. (Author Only), Improving Irrigation Water Management - Latest Methods in Evapotranspiration and Supporting Technologies, "Verification of Reduced Consumptive Use from Deficit Irrigated Pastures in the Upper Colorado River Basin Using Landsat Data," US Committee on Irrigation and Drainge, Fort Collins, Colorado. (October 11, 2016 - October 13, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Presentations
Pratt, T. A. (Presenter & Author), Allen, L., Water Shortages and Drought: From Challenges to Solutions, "An Analysis of Urban Agriculture and Small Farm Water Use and Irrigation Efficiency," U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, San Diego, California. (May 18, 2016 - May 20, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Presentations
Allen, L., Castle, A., Using Data to Solve the West's Greatest Water Challenges - Consumptive Ute Strategy Workshop, "Colorado River System Conservation Agreement," S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, NASA, Google Earth Engine, NASA Ames Conference Center, Moffett Field, CA. (March 24, 2016 - March 25, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Presentations
Allen, L., Rich County Crop School, "Irrigation of Pasture," USU Extension, Woodruff, Utah. (February 20, 2016)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Presentations
Allen, L., Sevier County Crop School, "Use of Climate Data for Cropping and Irrigation," USU Extension, Richfield, Utah. (January 22, 2016)
|
Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience I have had opportunity to present findings and irrigation management strategies at workshops to growers in Sevier County Utah, Rich County Utah, Western Extension Research Association (WERA - 1022) Meeting in Fort Collins Colorado, Utah Water Users Workshop in St. George, and IEEE SusTech Conference in Ogden, Utah. I have been successful in working with other researchers and water managers to get additional funding and support for the research. Changes/Problems:Changes/Problems A major change is that cooperators are now participating in short season irrigation of pastures due to the funding from Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot Project. Landsat data can be utilized to estimate ET on large pastures. Another limitation of the water use study in Lewiston, Utah is the high water table that contribute to crop ET. The study in Lewiston is useful because a high water table is also present in many areas where pastures are grown. The pasture at the Panguitch, Utah farm is located in an area with a deep water table and the contribution to ET from the water table will not be an issue. Additionally, we have permission to obtain yield data from the cooperating ranchers in Wyoming and Colorado. Some of their pastures also have a deep water table. It is also planned that the Lewiston Pasture can continued to be used for the research. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities One of the purposes of the research is to find opportunities to reduce consumptive use of irrigation water during drought, based on this purpose funding was obtained for additional studies. The Upper Colorado River Commission is conducting a pilot project for verification of water conservation from deficit irrigation of forage crops in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The project provides compensate for water savings to participants who temporarily deficit irrigate pastures. Under separate agreements grants have provided $146,000 of funding for USU researchers to work on verification procedure for water savings and yield analysis. The method of calculating water savings is METRIC™ as briefly described in Goal 2. The research project also provided work and training for undergraduate students Alex Olson and Jason Saunders, and Tyler Pratt a graduate student in field data collection of yields, soil moisture measurement and monitoring, and irrigation. The project has also provided some funding for a research scientist at the Utah Water Research Laboratory. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dissemination I have had opportunity to present research findings and irrigation management strategies at workshops to growers (Sevier County Utah, Rich County Utah, Western Extension Research Association (WERA - 1022) Meeting in Fort Collins Colorado, Utah Water Users Workshop in St. George, and the IEEE SusTech Conference in Ogden, Utah. I have been successful in working with other researchers and water managers to get additional funding and support for the research. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Plan of Work Plan of work includes continuing the short season irrigation research at the Lewiston Pasture Farm, and to start gathering data from pasture in Panguitch, continue of evaluation procedure, collecting and analyzing data, and preparing reports. Use the external funds from Walton Family Foundation and Bechtel Foundation to continue verification of water savings methodology for short season irrigation of pasture. I will also work on publishing a paper on the deficit irrigation of pastures. Work specific to goals includes: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shorten irrigation season: Set up soil moisture monitoring equipment and rain gages in Panguitch and Lewiston, Utah to monitor soil moisture and irrigation. From this data a soil water budget will be used to estimate pasture water use and potential water savings. I have obtained additional soil moisture monitoring equipment that will allow the opportunity to monitor soil moisture at many more locations. It is also expected that satellite data can be utilized to calculate water savings from cooperators fields. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: Continue the work of determining water savings on scattered fields using METRIC, Normalized Difference Vegetative Index, Leaf Area Index or other indices. Yields measured on research plots will also be correlated to irrigation application and ET and the Landsat data will be evaluated to determine if yields can be reasonably estimated. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: Four irrigation levels will be evaluated with each irrigation level will have a different irrigation cutoff data. Yield samples will be taken from each plot at appropriate intervals and pasture health will be evaluated. Yield data will also be taken to the extent possible at the ranches in Wyoming and Colorado that are participating in the Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot Project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments Yield and water use data were obtained from pasture plots with different irrigation levels (no irrigation to full season irrigation) at the UAES Lewiston Intermountain Pasture Research Farm for the 2015 growing season. In 2015 yields were measured from 40 plots that included 4 replications of 5 irrigation levels and two fertilizer treatments. The irrigation levels include irrigation applications of 0, 3.96, 7.92, 15.84, and 19.8 inches (average of measured irrigation), each irrigation plot included a non-fertilized and 70 pounds of Nitrogen per acre treatments. The precipitation from May through October was 12.4 inches. The fertilizer treatment was applied to respond to farmers wondering if they should fertilize when irrigation water is limited. At the Panguitch, Utah research site Cache Meadow Broome and tall fescue pastures were established and plans are to begin taking data in 2016. To extend the research to ranchers' fields, external funding of $146,000 was obtained for analysis of water use based on satellite imagery on deficit irrigated pastures that are part of the Upper Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot Project. Specific accomplishments related to the goals include the following: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shorten irrigation season: The pasture plots in Lewiston, Utah included 4 replications of five irrigation levels, plus two fertilizer treatments in each plot. From May to October at approximately two week intervals soil moisture sampling were made at 10 locations (2 for each irrigation treatment) at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm. Pasture ET was estimated using the measured soil moisture, precipitation, and irrigation data using soil moisture budgets. To aid in verification of the crop ET and irrigation scheduling, WaterMark Soil moisture sensors (measures soil water electrical resistance) were installed at two sites and the soil water was measured and recorded every 4 hours. The soil moisture was also estimated using a Sentek Diviner 2000 capacitance soil water probes that were installed in 10 locations. The soil moisture budget in the upper 2 feet of soil provides some information concerning crop ET, but the ET portion of the soil moisture budget in the deeper soil can only be estimated due to a high water table that contributes an unknown amount of water for crop ET. Irrigation water savings of approximately 1.5 acre-feet per acre can be saved with a reduction in yield of about 1.0 ton per acre (dry matter) yield. The estimated ET savings from the reduced irrigation is estimated to be about 0.5 acre-feet per acre, due to water table contribution to pasture plots grown without irrigation. The highest irrigation level improved yields by 28 and 33 percent respectively, for non-fertilized and fertilized plots, respectively. Maximum yields of 3.2 and 4.1 tons per acre were obtained for the high irrigation level for non-fertilized and fertilized plots, respectively. The results show that yields increased by 0.7 tons and 1.0 tons per acres for fully irrigated plots verses non-irrigated plots for the non-fertilized and fertilized treatments, respectively. The relatively high yields in the non-irrigated plots occurred due to precipitation and water availability from the water table that was about 3.5 feet deep. External grants totaling $146,000 were obtained for evaluation of water use on deficit irrigated pastures using Landsat imagery and the METRIC methodology. The grants were from Walton Family Foundation ($96,000) and the S.D. Bechtel Foundation ($50,000). Six ranchers with pastures totaling about 2,500 acres participated in the Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot Project in 2015. The 6 ranchers discontinued irrigation on the participating fields in Mid-June to mid-July period. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: To determine water savings in scattered fields I have been working with Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua at Utah State University to incorporate a procedure for Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution and using Internal Calibration (METRIC™) published in 2007 by Dr. Richard Allen at University of Idaho to estimate ET. The methodology uses Landsat 7 & 8 satellites remotely sensed data that is available every 8 days (some data is not usable due to clouds). The METRIC™ method uses visual, near infrared, and thermal bands of reflectance. The method relies on an energy balance that uses the amount of energy available to evaporate water coupled with the temperature of the surface (plant canopy) to calculate ET. The method also requires temperature, solar radiation, wind, and humidity. Although the method is complicated and data intensive; the Landsat data is free and weather data is available for many areas and the methodology can cover a large area. The primary advantage is that expensive and site specific monitoring at the field level is not required. METRIC™ computes the ET flux for the time that the Landsat image was taken. The computed ET for time period can be accurately used in conjunction with climate data to determine the ET for the entire day. The daily ET values can be used to determine crop coefficients which are used to estimate ET through the growing season. We have started analyzing the data from Landsat for the deficit irrigated pastures and we will compare the estimated water use to estimated water use in fully irrigated adjacent pastures. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: Through the third year of the research the health of the pasture has been maintained for all irrigation treatments. In 2015 yield data was obtained from short season irrigation of pasture at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm. The pastures that were part of the Upper Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot project will be evaluated in the spring of 2016. Summary of results: The average yields of the treatments in Lewiston, Utah ranged from 2.99 to 4.68 tons per acre (dry matter) with the highest yield on the plots receiving 5 irrigations plus a fertilizer application. The 70 pounds of Nitrogen fertilizer per acre increased the yields 0.61, 0.78. 0.85, 1.02, and 0.94 tons per acres (dry matter) for irrigation treatments 0-4, respectively. This information coupled with the cost of the fertilizer can be used to help determine the economic feasibility of fertilization. The yield patterns were the same as in 2014. The yield data for fertilized plots by irrigation levels were 3.11, 3.70, 3.30, 3.75, 4.13 tons per acres (dry matter) for irrigation levels 0, 1 (1 irrigation), 2 (2 irrigations), 3 (4 irrigations), and 4 (5 irrigations), respectively. Irrigation dates were July 2, July 16, Aug 4, September 2, and September 28. Harvest dates were June 19, August 17, and October 22. The yields for fertilized plots as a percent of total yield were 58%, 24%, and 18% for cuttings 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The yields for non-fertilized plots as a percent of total yield were 51%, 28%, and 21% for cuttings 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In 2015 there was 12.4 inches of precipitation from May 1 through October 6. The pasture remained healthy for all irrigation treatments. Yield samples were also taken at a large ranch in Colorado that is participating in the Colorado River Water Conservation Pilot Project. The yield samples were taken on October 2, 2015 (pasture was cut and harvested first part of July) in areas where it appears the water table does not contribute to the pasture and in areas where the water table is shallow. The yield for the areas with no groundwater contribution averaged 0.27 tons per acre (dry matter) and the areas with significant groundwater contributions average 1.38 tons per acre, about 1.1 tons per acre more. The irrigations were stopped on June 21, 2015.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Maughn, T., Allen, L., Drost, D. T. (2015). Soil Moisture Measurement and Sensors for Irrigation Management (AG/Irrigation/2015-01pr ed.). Utah State University Extension. http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1777&context=extension_curall
|
Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audience I have had opportunity to present some preliminary findings and irrigation management strategies in several workshops to growers. I have been working with other researchers and water managers to get additional support for the research. Changes/Problems: Changes/Problems A major obstacle to the project has been finding cooperators willing to participate in short season irrigation of pastures that are 20 acres or more because of the financial impact that it may have on their operations. The large pastures are needed to utilize the Landsat data. Funds have been made available through a recent agreement by the United States Bureau of Reclamation that can compensate cooperators; Agreement No. 14-XX-30-W0574, Agreement Among the United States of America, Through the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Denver Water, and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, for a Pilot Program for Funding the Creation of Colorado River System Water Through Voluntary Water Conservation and Reductions in Use (USBR, July 30, 2014). The cooperating agencies are interested in a project to investigate potential for water conservation through voluntary and fully compensated deficit or short season irrigation practices (as opposed to fallowing or purchase of irrigated farms) on forage crops in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The stand of pasture at the Panguitch farm may need to be improved in 2015 and could delay obtaining data at there. It is planned that the Lewiston Pasture can continued to be used for the research. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Opportunities Based on the short season or deficit irrigation studies, I am working with Marc Waage Manager of Water Resources Planning for Denver Water and the Upper Colorado River Commission on a pilot project for verification of water conservation from deficit irrigation of forage crops in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Under the proposed contract US Bureau of Reclamation would provide compensate for water savings to participants who temporarily deficit irrigate pastures. If the contract is finalized it would provide about $180,000 of funding for USU researchers to work on verification procedure for water savings and yield analysis. The proposed method of calculating water savings is METRIC™ as briefly described in Goal 2. The research project also provided work and training for undergraduate students Holly Kent and Phillip Castro in field data collection of yields, soil moisture measurement and monitoring, and irrigation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Dissemination I have shared results with Dr. Perry Cabot at Colorado State University who have related research projects. I have presented information on deficit irrigation at workshops and have plans on presenting information at workshops in 2015. To date sufficient data has not be obtained and analyzed to publish a paper, it is expected that several years of data will be needed. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Plan of Work The following are scheduled for 2015: Plan of work includes continuing the short season irrigation research at the Lewiston Pasture Farm, the establishment of the pasture in Panguitch along with development of evaluation procedure, collecting and analyzing data, and preparing reports. Although the contract has not been finalized there is a good potential to work with Denver Water and the Upper Colorado River Commission on water saving verification methodology for short season irrigation of pasture. Work specific to goals includes: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shorten irrigation season: Set up soil moisture monitoring equipment and rain gages in Panguitch and Lewiston, Utah to monitor soil moisture and irrigation. From this data a soil water budget will be used to estimate pasture water use and potential water savings. I have obtained additional soil moisture monitoring equipment that will allow the opportunity to monitor soil moisture at many more locations. It is also expected that satellite data can be utilized to calculate water savings from cooperators fields. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: I am working on contract with Denver Water that will provide funding to determine water savings on scattered fields using METRIC, Normalized Difference Vegetative Index, Leaf Area Index or other indices. Yields measured on research plots will also be correlated to irrigation application and ET and the Landsat data will be evaluated to determine if yields can be reasonably estimated. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: Four irrigation levels will be evaluated with each irrigation level will have a different irrigation cutoff data. Yield samples will be taken from each plot at appropriate intervals and pasture health will be evaluated.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments Short season pasture irrigation data were obtained from the UAES Lewiston Intermountain Pasture Research Farm for the growing season. The irrigation system at the Panguitch, Utah research site was where rehabilitated pasture was planted. Procedures are being developed to feasibly measure pasture water use. Specific accomplishments related to the goals include the following: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shorten irrigation season: From May to October at approximately two week intervals soil moisture sampling were made at 10 locations (2 for each irrigation treatment) at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm. Pasture ET was estimated using the measured soil moisture, precipitation, and irrigation data using soil moisture budgets. To aid in verification of the crop ET and irrigation scheduling, WaterMark Soil moisture sensors (measures soil water electrical resistance) were installed at two sites and the soil water was measured and recorded every 4 hours. The irrigation system at the Panguitch, Utah Research Farm was repaired and rehabilitated with new sprinklers, gaskets, and wheel move parts. Kevin Heaton helped get the pasture planted with Tall Fescue and Cache Meadow Broome. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: To determine water savings in scattered fields I have been working with Dr. Alfonso Torres-Rua at Utah State University to incorporate a procedures for Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution and using Internal Calibration (METRIC™) developed by Dr. Richard Allen at University of Idaho to estimate pasture ET in scattered field (Allen et al., 2007). The methodology uses Landsat 7 & 8 satellites remotely sensed data that is available every 8 days. The METRIC™ method uses visual, near infrared, and thermal bands of reflectance. The method relies on an energy balance that uses the amount of energy available to evaporate water coupled with the temperature of the surface (plant canopy) to calculate ET. The method also requires temperature, solar radiation, wind, and humidity. Although the method is complicated and data intensive; the Landsat data are free and weather data is available for many areas and the methodology can cover a large area. The primary advantage is that expensive and site specific monitoring at the field level is not required. METRIC™ computes the ET flux for the time that the Landsat image was taken. The computed ET for time period can be accurately used in conjunction with climate data to determine the ET for the entire day. The daily ET values can be used to determine crop coefficients which are used to estimate ET through the growing season. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: Yield data from short season irrigation of pasture at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm during 2014. The yield data is correlated to the irrigation levels with total dry matter yields of 3.18, 3.49, 3.18, 3.57, and 4.22 tons per acres for 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 irrigations, respectively. Irrigation dates were June 26, July 18, August 8, and September 17. Harvest dates were June 11, August 20, and October 22. The June 11 harvest accounted for 60.3%, 61.3%, 57.2%, 55.3% and 59.7% of total annual yield for 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 irrigations, respectively. The August 20 harvest accounted for 19.7%, 22.2%, 24.6%, 28.4% and 24.5% of total annual yield for 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 irrigations, respectively. The October 22 harvest accounted for 20.0%, 16.5%, 18.2%, 16.3% and 15.8% of total annual yield for 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 irrigations, respectively. The pasture has remained healthy for all irrigation treatments.
Publications
|
Progress 07/16/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: I presented a paper on water right settlements that included water transfers from decreased irrigation consumptive use. My audience included water managers, governmental agencies dealing with water, engineers, and lawyers. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Attended the U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage Water Management Conference (The Agriculture/Urban Water Interface - Conflicts and Opportunities) October 22-25, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. Presented a paper "Water Settlements Involving Agriculture and Urban Water Users - An Engineer's Perspective'. The paper was also published in the US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage Newsletter Issue No. 114. This topic is related to decreased water use from short season irrigation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Presented a paper that shows the needs and beneficial opportunities for reduced consumptive irrigation use by short season pasture irrigation. I have only limited quantitative results from the research at this time. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The following are scheduled for 2014: The overall plan of work includes establishing the pasture in Panguitch, Utah and continuing the short season irrigation research in at the Lewiston Pasture Farm, finalizing evaluation procedure, collecting and analyzing data, and preparing reports. Work specific to goals includes: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shorten irrigation season: Set up soil moisture monitoring equipment and rain gages in Panguitch and Lewiston, Utah to monitor soil moisture and irrigation. From this data a soil water budget will be used to estimate pasture water use and potential water savings. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: Contact potential cooperators who fully irrigate pastures and other who have a short irrigation season due to typical water supplies and evaluate Landsat data to determine if established methodologies such as METRIC, NDVI or other indices can be used estimate water use. Yields measured on research plots will also be correlated to irrigation application. If arrangements can be made each high resolution imagery will be obtained from the research plots. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: Four irrigation levels will be evaluated with each irrigation level will have a different irrigation cutoff data. Yield samples will be taken from each plot at appropriate intervals and pasture health will be evaluated.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Overall accomplishments were to obtain and prepare a suitable research site in Panguitch, Utah and to evaluate research procedures at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm. Specific accomplishments related to the goals include the following: Goal 1- Determine potential water savings from shorten irrigation season: Beginning in July, bi-week moisture sampling were made at 10 locations at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm. From this soil moisture, precipitation, and irrigation data ET was estimated using soil moisture budgets. Work is underway to determine the deep percolation which likely occurred as a few of the sites. WaterMark Soil moisture sensors (measures soil water electrical resistance) were installed at two sites and the soil water was measured and recorded every 4 hours. Goal 2 - Establish Methodology to determine water savings from scattered fields: Not worked on during 2013. Goal 3 - Assess impact on yield and health of pastures: Yield data from short season irrigation of pasture at the UAES Lewiston Pasture Farm. The yield data is correlated to the irrigation levels.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Allen, N. (2013). In Gerald A. Gibbens, Luis A. Garcia, Susan S. Anderson (Ed.), Water Settlements Involving Agriculture and Urban Water Users - An Engineer's Perspective (October 22-25, 2013 ed., pp. 81-92). Denver, Colorado: U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage. www.uscid.org
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Allen, N., Agriculture/Urban Water Interface - Conflicts and Opportunities (USCID), "Water Settlements Involving Agriculture and Urban Water Users - An Engineer's Perspective," US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, Denver, Colorado. (October 22, 2013)
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