A Regional Evaluation of Off-Season Agricultural Use of Water and Energy Resources

摘要

The underlying assumption for off-season irrigation has been that irrigation up to field capacity during the low evaporative demand seasons, Fall, early/late Winter, and early Spring, would represent an efficient use of irrigation water. The major question analyzed in this study was: would off-season irrigation be a practical and workable practice. The study was carried out by three independent research groups in Montana, Kansas, and South Dakota. For South Dakota, the winter wheat crop did not appear to have increased winter survivability from fall irrigation, and weeds appeared much less manageable. For Montana, the second cutting in the Fall of 1979 was the only significantly different alfalfa yield. For Kansas it was concluded that Fall irrigation increasing the profile soil water content above 18 inches would be relatively inefficient in providing water for the next summer's crop.