Using Drainage Lysimeters to Evaluate Irrigation and Nitrogen Interactions in Cotton Production

Abstract

This is a continuing report on the effects of over -irrigation in cotton production. Started in the Spring of 1995, this study uses drainage lysimeters to study the impact of over-irrigation on nitrate leaching losses. Furthermore, yield and other growth components are monitored to see what effect, if any, the over-irrigation has. The study was initiated at the Maricopa Agricultural Center, Maricopa, Arizona. The drainage lysimeters used are large, open- topped steel boxes filled with soil and placed underground in the experimental field. Crops are grown directly above the lysimeters and the water that moves through the soil profile is collected at the bottom of the lysimeter and analyzed. In this study, two lysimeters were installed. The lysimeters were 80" wide (two row widths), five feet long, and six feet deep. They were placed 18 inches below the soil surface and filled with soil as to best represent the soil in its natural condition. The data presented in this paper are from three years of an ongoing experiment. Throughout the growing season, water samples were taken from the lysimeters in the field. Nitrogen applications were made according to field conditions and weekly petiole sampling. Irrigations were made according to field conditions and using the AZSCHED irrigation scheduling program. Treatment one was irrigated according to the schedule recommended by AZSCHED. The amount applied was equal to the total crop water use since the last irrigation. In treatment two, the timing was the same as treatment one, but the amount of irrigation water applied was 1.5 times more water. Yield samples were taken at the end of each season and showed no significant differences between treatments, with yields averaging about 1100 lb./acre of lint in 1995, 940 lb./acre of lint in 1996 and 1300 lb./acre in 1997. Cumulative drainage was 8 inches in lysimeter one and 28 inches in lysimeter two. Nitrate losses for the three years totaled 126 lb. N/acre for lysimeter two and 72.5 lb. N/acre for lysimeter one.