Functions to Predict Optimal Irrigation Programs

Abstract

Irrigation requirements are sometimes estimated using methods which may tend both to the overdesign of irrigation systems with associated higher investment costs, and to over irrigation. When the latter occurs, water, energy, and labor are wasted and other problems are created, often including reduced crop production. Going one step further, irrigation agronomists and economists have long been aware that profit may be maximized below the maximum crop yield point (Le., where some slight water deficiency is incurred), and this becomes more probable as water cost rises (8). The research reported strengthens these earlier findings and indicates that maximum water-use efficiency (i.e., production per unit of water) often occurs at irrigation levels slight lower than the maximum profit point.