Agricultural Water Management in the Mississippi Delta Region of Arkansas
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Agricultural Water Management in the Mississippi Delta Region of Arkansas H. Don Scott, James A. Ferguson, Linda Hanson, Todd Fugitt and Earl Smith ARKANSAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION Division of Agriculture University of Arkansas August 1998 Research Bulletin 959 IMPACT STATEMENT Agriculture is the largest use of soil and water resources in eastern Arkan- sas. This bulletin summarized the recent historical use of soil and water by agriculture and the impact of irrigation on yields of rice, soybeans and cotton. The experiments conducted in the field to quantitatively schedule irrigations of crops are summarized. The results show the close relationship between the irrigation of crops and the extraction of water from the Alluvial Aquifer. The implications of this relationaship for the future are discussed. Key words: ground water, soils, crops, landuses, irrigation. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Appreciation is expressed to several individuals who greatly assisted the authors in writing this document. Marty McKimmey and Barnali Mitra of the Department of Agronomy, University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture helped with the development of the digital databases and maps of the various para- meters and relationships. Larry Ward and Rick Fielder of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Little Rock provided helpful information on the soils in eastern Arkansas and the Mid-South region. Thanks are also given to the graduate students in the Departments of Agronomy and Biological and Agricul- tural Engineering who conducted many of the research studies as a portion of their graduate degree program at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Dr. Nancy Wyatt served as the editor. The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Sta- tion and the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission provided the publication costs, and the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board and the Arkan- sas Rice Research and Promotion Board funded much of the research. Editing and cover design by Nancy G. Wyatt Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Fayetteville. Milo J. Shult, Vice President for Agriculture and Director. Charles J. Scifres, Associate Vice President for Agriculture. PS1.2M798PM. The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station follows a nondiscriminatory policy in programs and employments. ISSN:0099-3491 CODEN: AKABA7 ii Agricultural Water Management in the Mississippi Delta Region of Arkansas H. Don Scott James A. Ferguson University Professor Professor Department of Agronomy Department of Agricultural University of Arkansas and Extension Education Fayetteville, Arkansas University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas Linda Hanson Todd Fugitt Arkansas Soil and Water Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission Conservation Commission Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock, Arkansas Earl Smith Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission Little Rock, Arkansas Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701 iii ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS PUBLICATION AAES - Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station ASWCC - Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission CS - crop susceptibility CV - coefficient of variation DBES - Delta Branch Experiment Station DC - double cropping DM - dry matter DSEEP - deep seepage or internal drainage E - evaporation Eh - redox potential ESPS - early-soybean production systems ET - evapotranspiration g - stomatal conductance gal/min - gallons per minute ha - hectares I - irrigated J - joules LAI - leaf area index LAR - leaf area ratio LSEEP - lateral seepage LWR - leaf weight ratio m/d - meters per day Mgal/d - million gallons per day Mha - million hectares MJ - mega joules MLRA - Major Land Resource Area mV - millivolts NEREC - Northeast Research and Extension Center NI - nonirrigated NRCS - Natural Resources Conservation Service ODR - oxygen diffusion rate RREC - Rice Research and Extension Center SDRAIN - surface drainage SLA - specific leaf area SSURGO - Soil Survey Geographic Database STATSGO - State Soil Geographic Database SY - seed yield T - transpiration Tgal - trillion gallons USGS - U.S. Geological Survey WUE - water use efficiency iv CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 7 PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS ................................................................................ 8 NATURAL RESOURCES........................................................................................ 9 Climate ............................................................................................................ 10 Precipitation .................................................................................................... 10 Evaporation ..................................................................................................... 10 Air Temperature .............................................................................................. 12 Crop Water Supply .......................................................................................... 12 Surface Water .................................................................................................. 14 Ground Water .................................................................................................. 14 Ground Water Use .................................................................................... 15 Aquifers in Eastern Arkansas ................................................................... 18 Characteristics of the Aquifers ................................................................. 18 Potentiometric Surfaces of the Alluvial Aquifer ...................................... 26 Critical Ground Water Areas .................................................................... 26 Soils ................................................................................................................. 28 Soil Associations ...................................................................................... 28 Major Land Resource Areas ..................................................................... 29 Dominant Soil Taxonomic Units .............................................................. 36 LANDUSE.............................................................................................................. 39 Vegetation of the Delta of Eastern Arkansas ................................................... 39 Cropping Patterns ............................................................................................ 41 USE OF IRRIGATION IN ARKANSAS AGRICULTURE .................................. 43 Irrigation of Crops ........................................................................................... 43 Irrigation Water Use from the Alluvial Aquifer .............................................. 44 Aquaculture ..................................................................................................... 47 FUNDAMENTAL SOIL-PLANT-WATER RELATIONSHIPS ............................ 47 Soil Water Balance Equation ........................................................................... 48 Crop Water Balance Equation ......................................................................... 49 Energy Balance Equation ................................................................................ 49 Crop Drought Indicators .................................................................................. 51 Physiological Processes ............................................................................ 51 Whole Plant .............................................................................................. 52 Nutrient Uptake ........................................................................................ 53 Seed Yield ................................................................................................ 54 Water Use Efficiency ................................................................................ 56 WATER MANAGEMENT OF RICE..................................................................... 59 WATER MANAGEMENT OF SOYBEANS ......................................................... 61 Overall Water Management Strategy in Arkansas ........................................... 61 Irrigation Methods ........................................................................................... 62 v ARKANSAS EXPERIMENT STATION RESEARCH BULLETIN 959 Irrigation Scheduling Strategies ...................................................................... 63 Measurement of Soil Water Pressure........................................................ 63 Computer Simulation ................................................................................ 64 Response of Cultivars ............................................................................... 66 Long-term Economic Evaluation .............................................................. 66 Flooding Strategies .......................................................................................... 67 Soil Indicators .......................................................................................... 68 Plant Indicators ......................................................................................... 69 Examples of Soil and Crop Response to Prolonged Flooding ................. 69 APPLICATION OF WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES............................ 75 Irrigation .......................................................................................................... 75 Extractable