What are the key concepts for water conservation practices in non-irrigated (dryland) cropping situations?
As little as 17% of precipitation that falls in dryland systems actually gets used by the crop. So the question is, “what happens to the rest of the precipitation? Precipitation is ‘lost’ for crop use because it is intercepted by the crop or other vegetation, runs off from the soil surface to another location, evaporates from soil or other surfaces without entering the crop root zone, percolates below the crop root zone, or is transpired by weeds or other non-crop plants. Water conservation practices are designed to eliminate or minimize these ‘losses’ to conserve precipitation in the crop root zone for crop use. However, it is important to note that although these are ‘losses’ to the cropping system, the lost water is not lost from the system as a whole and the water may be beneficially used by the crop or ecosystem elsewhere. For example, water runoff may be captured somewhere else in the field for crop use or contribute to a watershed’s yield. Likewise, deep percolation can recharge
Related Questions
- What are the major differences in water conservation practices between irrigated and non-irrigated (dryland) situations?
- What are some similarities in water conservation practices between irrigated and non-irrigated (dryland) situations?
- What are some dryland cropping system practices that contribute to water conservation?
