HydroLOGIC irrigation system for cotton crop

01 Dec '06

3 min read

With hot and dry conditions over most of the industry and reduced water allocations commonplace, when to schedule the first in-crop irrigation and what will the subsequent impact of crop growth be, is a n important question to ask.

The HydroLOGIC irrigation management system developed by CSIRO Plant Industry can help scheduling decisions in furrow irrigated cotton crops, and in particular the likely impact on crop growth and yield from a range of first irrigation dates and deficits.

These predictions are made over 50 years of historical climate information which includes both wet and dry growing seasons.
A report can then be produced to understand the potential impact of first irrigation date and deficit, and the range of impacts on crop growth, yield and total water use.

How to schedule first irrigation using HydroLOGIC
1. First, create your farm, field and crop within HydroLOGIC.
2. Enter your weather information for the current season up to today.
3. If the crop was pre-irrigated or watered-up, enter this date on the actual irrigations screen.
4. Enter any agronomic information about the crop you might have, such as leaf area or soil moisture deficit.
5. Develop a new scenario, which will determine an optimum date for the first in-crop irrigation. By changing the initial irrigation deficit, we can assess the impact on growth and yield from delaying the first irrigation.
6. Use today as the run date and scheduled the first irrigation by deficit.

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