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PHAUCET At The Faucet
Zach Straatmann, research specialist at the University of Missouri Fisher Delta Research Center,
discusses the utilization of surge valves coupled with the PHAUCET program and his
experiences studying irrigation scheduling.
Photo by John LaRose Jr.
Free Program Offers Cost, Energy Savings, Yield Bump
BETTY VALLE GEGG-NAEGER
MidAmerica Farmer Grower
PORTAGEVILLE, MO.
Zach Straatmann, research specialist at the University of Missouri Fisher Delta Research Center, discussed his experiences the past couple of years as he worked on his master’s degree studying irrigation scheduling at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
“Today I’m focusing mainly on the utilization of surge valves coupled with the PHAUCET program,” he said. “PHAUCET was developed here in the Missouri Delta region in the early 1990s by the Bootheel staff of the NRCS. In the mid 1990s, John Hester came on board and became involved with updates and programing the latest version. Then about 2011/2012 Delta Plastics came out with Pipe Planner which is a very similar program, both operate the same. Currently both programs are free, so it’s up to farmers to decide which one to use.”
Straatmann focused on PHAUCET since it was developed originally in this region. He noted that Jason Krutz at Mississippi State has been working on irrigation scheduling recently and his work has sparked a renewed interest here.
PHAUCET is simply a program to improve irrigation uniformity across the entire field. Typically, in the Delta region there are fields that have long pipe runs and as a result there is low pressure or low water flow at the very end of the pipe.
“Furrows tend to have good water flow and high pressure near the pump and well, and lose it at the furrows near the end of the run,” he explained. “Certainly elevation change along that pipe run is going to be an influence on that. So to address that, there’s a tool we can use, and PHAUCET is one of them.”
PHAUCET was developed from the beginning to help farmers control flow to each furrow. Flow rate is a variable that is critical to accuracy of the program and is something that can be measured, and it can provide so much information, including pumping efficiency. It’s also a valuable tool in calculating the amount of water applied for furrow irrigation, a need for growers using the Crop Water Use application.
“I’m going to stress flow rate a lot today,” Straatmann said. “Once we have our flow rate of our well and the acreage of our field, our pipe run, our furrow runs, elevation of our pipe, we can put all that into the program, which spits out a table that we can study. PHAUCET is going to take that information and give us recommendations on a hole size throughout that whole pipe run so we maintain a certain head in the pipe or pressure throughout the whole system, not just on one end. As a result, we end up with an improved application uniformity, with water running through the furrows evenly across the whole field. That’s what we hope to attain. In terms of water conservation, which may be a big issue to some folks, we’re trying to reduce water running out of the field and ending up in the streams.
“We’re also hoping to improve our infiltration throughout our field,” he added. “If we improve uniformity, hopefully our yield will be more uniform throughout the field as a result of water infiltrating the soil profile rather than having a dry spot because water isn’t making it out into the field. So that’s the PHAUCET program.
“Couple that with the surge valve that I’m talking about here today and these two really work well together,” Straatmann added. “The surge valve is going to cycle back between sets; so if you have two fields close to each other it’s going to cycle back and forth. There are a lot of variables that go into that but here in our field we cycle between both fields and it’s about an hour run time in terms of water reaching the field; that’s for soak time; keep in mind this is for our research fields. Typically, I want to irrigate two inches, which is going to take about an hour and a half based upon the table PHAUCET provided me. So I set the surge valve, I leave and come back four hours later having both sides irrigated two inches and I’m done. I don’t have to come back and manually set that valve.”
Cost savings alone is one big reason for a farmer to buy something. There’s a saving in not having to go to the field. Also, a 10-inch surge valve costs about $3,200. A meter is relatively cheap in terms of what it gives you. A 10-inch meter with data logger and straightening vein is about $1,800 and that can be used to test across all the wells, alleviating the need for a meter for each well.
“Surge valves are a different story where you’re better to have one dedicated to a location,” he noted. “However, you put this all together and we get uniform water infiltration through the soil profile. We don’t end up with a pool of water standing in the tail pit because we were delayed trying to switch the sets. They’re going to switch automatically no matter what. It’s not a human error any more, though we all can become sidetracked. Those two are my big points.”
Several things influence the application of these tools, one of those being the surface drainage of the field. If you have ponding issues, those must be addressed before implementing PHAUCET.
“In the beginning of the season there’s going to be soil cracking since the soil hasn’t sealed,” Straatmann observed. “Most farmers experience this, and I experienced this as well, so it’s definitely something we all see. After irrigation or rainfalls, the soil seals allowing water to run out of the field quicker than initially that first time. So obviously these numbers I gave today are relative to our setup, they are not static, rather they will be dynamic for every specific grower, location and field.
“This is like a game, you’re going to have to play with it a little bit and find what works best for you,” he said. “I started out with an hour and a half run time to get water through the furrows. I ended up at the end of the season with about an hour. That valve here just switched, so it’s going back and forth. I actually adjusted the run time so I didn’t have water running out of the field or standing in the back.”
The system is irrigating a corn test which is a hybrid by nitrogen, by plant populations, by water treatment. Straatmann held a hybrid in his hands that was rain fed, planted at a population of 34,000 plants per acre with 150 pounds of N applied. Visually, it’s a small ear about six inches long and about 8 rows round, very small ears. “Obviously, some environmental impact was impacting the yield optimization on this ear,” he said.
He showed another ear, same hybrid, same plant population of 34,000 plants per acre, same N rate; the only difference is this ear had irrigation applied. There was a big difference between the two. The second ear had more kernels and longer rows, and obviously that’s going to turn into a yield bump.
“One of the questions I get asked a lot is: Why water? Why is irrigation a big concern in the Bootheel, in Missouri? I think the message is right here. On average, in the Bootheel you get about 50 inches of rainfall per year. But typically that rainfall doesn’t always come when we need it for crop production. We usually experience that early spring and in late fall. So in this scenario, dry weather hindered the rain fed crop in June. We had virtually no water from June through July. The small corn ear from the rain fed treatment shriveled up, hurting for moisture. Moisture was the limiting factor. So my point is, yes, irrigation is still critical for crop production, it will always be a benefit. We have access to water relatively easy here in the Delta. So, irrigation management is still critical; obviously watering it’s going to pay off, but let’s irrigate smarter and more efficiently. We’re going to have a better yield with irrigation, and I think all these factors help drive this home,” he stressed.
“We combined these issues we were facing with technology, but the biggest thing is PHAUCET is free,” he added. “There is no input into that program. The only thing that has a cost is a flow meter and surge valves. We’re going to see that savings, hopefully, in a yield bump and obviously in reducing energy costs. If we’re not going to be pumping as long, we’re not going to be using as much fuel or electricity.
“So that is my take home message: If water conservation is a factor in your operation, this is a tool that will help conserve water and reduce the amount of water leaving the field. If it’s energy management, with less pumping time obviously operating expenses will be lower.
“Bottom line is optimizing yield per unit of water applied and with these tools in place properly, increased yields result from applying irrigation uniformly across the field,” Straatmann summed. ∆
BETTY VALLE GEGG-NAEGER: Senior Staff Writer, MidAmerica Farmer Grower
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