Irrigation Scheduling

by Richard A. MacKinnon, Civil Engineering Technician
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Dodge City, Kansas

Irrigation scheduling is the determination of when and how much water needs to be applied to a crop to maintain healthy growth and maximum yield. Irrigation scheduling using ET (evapotranspiration) information is a check book approach that uses real time crop and weather data to calculate daily crop use. ET is the amount of water the crop withdraws and irrigation scheduling balances this amount against the amount deposited by deposit of rainfall and irrigation water.

Staying within the limits of crop stress without over watering is the goal of the irrigator. There are several programs to help the producer keep track of ET and water applications. KANSCHED is one that has been developed by Kansas State University and is free to the public. It is very user friendly and just a few minutes of inputting data is all that is required. Using a program to assist in tracking can save water by not over watering and have confidence that there is sufficient water for the crop.

For more information about irrigating, please contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service office or conservation district office located at your local county USDA Service Center or your county extension office.

This article is also available in Microsoft Word format.

Irrigation Scheduling (DOC; 46 KB)

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Last Modified: 08/05/2008