Application of variable rate irrigation technology for water efficiency and conservation

中心支点灌溉系统的效率在很大程度上取决于其均匀供水以满足作物需求的能力。虽然有限的水供应可能由于缺水而降低作物产量，但过度灌溉可能导致水资源浪费、环境退化和产量下降。土壤和田间变异性对作物水分有效性和产量有显著影响。为了节约用水和提高作物生产力，有必要更好地将水的施用与土壤的化学和物理性质相匹配。利用先进的灌溉技术，如可变速率灌溉（VRI）和土壤测绘系统，可以根据土壤特征改变施水量。先进的土壤测绘设备可用于开发高密度的土壤水分储存潜力图，同时考虑到土壤和田地的变异性。无线传感器网络可以实时显示给定位置土壤剖面中的水量。该提案旨在整合所有这些技术，并开发一种方法，通过优化用水来实现最大可能的经济回报。最终，灌溉者将能够就VRI技术的应用做出明智的决定，以提高用水效率和作物生产力。政府机构将能够利用这些技术来优化灌溉用水分配，以应对气候条件的变化，并最大限度地减少灌溉作物生产造成的总体环境足迹。私营公司可以利用这些结果，就划定特定地点管理区的最佳技术和算法提供建议。

The efficiency of center pivot irrigation systems is highly dependent on the ability to uniformly apply water supply to meet crop demands. While limited water supplies may reduce crop yield due to water stress, excessive irrigation may result in wasted water, environmental degradation, and reduced yields. Soil and field variability have a very significant influence on crop water availability, and crop yield. There is a need to better match water applications to soil chemical and physical properties, in order to conserve water and increase crop productivity. With advanced irrigation technologies, such as variable rate irrigation (VRI) and soil mapping systems, it is possible to vary water application rates to match soil characteristics. Advanced soil mapping equipment can be used to develop high-density maps of soil water storage potential, taking soil and field variability into account. Wireless sensor networks can indicate the amount of water within the soil profile at given locations in real time. This proposal seeks to integrate all these technologies and develop a methodology to achieve maximum possible economic returns due to the optimized water use of water. Ultimately, irrigators will be able to make informed decisions about the application of VRI technology to increase water use efficiency and crop productivity. Government agencies will be able to capitalize on these technologies to optimize irrigation water allocation in response to changes in climatic conditions, and minimize the overall environmental footprint caused by irrigated crop production. Private companies can make use of the results to provide advice on the best technologies and algorithms for delineating site specific management zones.