Effects Of Limiting Water On Water Use Growth And Yield Of Alfalfa Grown In The Big Horn Basin Of Wyoming

Download or read book Effects of Limiting Water on Water Use, Growth and Yield of Alfalfa Grown in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming written by Caleb Michael Carter and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) field study was established in 2011 at the University of Wyoming Research and Extension Center in Powell, WY. The objectives of the study were to determine: a) the daily and seasonal water use and the water use efficiency (WUE) of alfalfa grown under different irrigation regimes, b) the yield and quality response of alfalfa to limiting water, and c) to provide irrigation recommendations to Wyoming producers. The experiment was a strip plot with four irrigation treatments, including fully irrigated and 75%, 50% and 25% of fully irrigated, and three alfalfa cultivars with four replicates, including the cultivars Shaw, Mountaineer and Lander. Samples for growth analysis were obtained in an area of one m2 . Reference evapotranspiration (ET[subscript]o ) and crop coefficients (K[subscript]c) values were used to estimate the irrigation water amounts. A neutron probe, to a depth of 100 cm, was used to monitor soil moisture for water balance estimations based on the principles of conservation of mass. The WUE was estimated as the ratio of yield to crop evapotranspiration (ET [subscript]c ). Significant differences (P