Irrigation Recharges Rooting Depth of Soil With Water
Hertford conservationist with
the Roanoke-Chowan Soil Con
servation District, secured writ
ten permission from Louis H,
Wilson, director of information,
for the American Plant Food
Council, Inc., Washington, to
reprint this article. "How We
Look at Irrigation," from the
Plant Food Journal.
Friddle says: "We of the Soil
Conservation Service agree
with the editors that to get the
most out of irrigation, farmers
should prepare their soils for it
feY cover crops, a good fertiliz
P‘9 program and a good crop
rotation. Here in Hertford
where we are primar^y inter
ested in irrigating loMcco. we
are urging farmers insert
oats in their lobacco'-jolation.
The oats used as a close grow
ing crop will give thaf soil the
badly needed rest before put
ting a heavy soil depleting crop
like tobacco on it. The oats can
be combined and wijl fit very
nicely in any livestocK-or poul
try^program as supplementary
"We are also urgirfg farmers
not to use peanuts in their rota
tion with tobacco since both
crops are hosts to nematodes
and other diseases."
By WALLACE A. MIC&ELTREI
Associate Extension Specialist
in Soils, Rutgers University, an<
DR. R. B. ALDERFER
Chairman. Soils Department
Rutgers University
Irrigation is simply an artificia
means of recharging .the rootini
depth of a soil with water. It i:
the soil that is irrigated, not th<
crop. Irrigation should, be con
sidered as a recharging process
and not one of maintaining cer
lain moisture levels.
Soil water is a rcstorable nat
uraI resource and plaints shoulc
use as much of it as possible. The
soil should be managed in sue!
a way that root growth is encour
aged to produce its greatest depth
and highest concentration per unii
volume of soil. In this" wav anc
only this way can the soil be in
duced to release its greatest
amount of usable water.
Granted that a severe drying
of the soil may hamper crop
growth, yet on the other hand, it
is one of the best soil-building
processes. Conversely one of the
most deteriorating practices is tc
maintain soil at or near its field
capacity during the entire grow
ing season.
When managing a soil one
■jhould keep in mind the efficiency
oi tecnarge trom summer ram or
irrigation. A crop that has a very
extensive root system which is
allowed to develop to its very
greatest depth can grow for a
much longer period of time be
tween applications of water than
one with a poorly extended root
system. When water does come
1o the soil and cannot percolate
down through the profile to re
charge the soil, Ihe crop will re
main in a state of drought and
will not be able to show recovery.
The use of and need for irrigation
when considered from the soil j
standpoint depend upon two I
things—the available water-hold-1
ing capacity and the rate of in-1
filtration. An irrigation system I
may not be needed often enough i
on a soil of good water-holding
capacity to warrant its carrying
charges. On a soil of very low j
infiltration capacities the water
may have to be added so slowly
that irrigation would be imprac-1
ticak
Much can be done to reduce j
the need of irrigation by match
ing the crop to the soil. Deep- i
rooted crops on low water-hold- j
in£ capacity soils can survive i
much longer periods without
water than shallow-rooted crops
m the same soil. By the same
token shallow-rooted crops will
survive much better in wet soils 1
than deep-rooted ones.
Time of year and maturity of 1
the crop will definitely alter needs
for irrigation. Crops use much
more water in the later stages of
their maturity. It is also true that
during June, July and August,
when days are long and hot, more
water is used than during the
shorter, cooler days of spring and
fall. Therefore, the type of crop,
that is, its rooting habits and pe
riods of growth, will effect a deci
sion on the need for irrigation.
Soil management afTects both :
the chemical and physical condi
tions of soil. When a soil has been
farmed very intensively without
additions of organic matter or
rest periods to rebuild broken
aggregates, the soil becomes very
compact and dense and materially I
reduces the infiltration rate. This
effect can be found in subsoil as
well as the topsoil. A zone of low
permeability found anywhere
within the rooting depth will
hamper the effectiveness of irri
gation. Past, present, and future
management practices should in
fluence the decision for the need
j of irrigation. Irrigation is not a
substitute for poor soil manage
ment. In fact, to remain effective, j
' irrigation demands significantly |
better soil management practices, j
Farming is an occupation which
requires an ever-increasing num
ber of decisions. The more deci
sions that a fanner lias to make
he greater the number of
haiiccs he has of making a mis
take. A man who is farming a
level, well drained, high moisture
holding soil in a good stable
physical condition has few de
cisions to make and mistakes on
soils of this nature are more tol
erable and less devastating than
on lower class soils. Unfortunately
a very small percentage of our
soils fall in this category. As we
deviate from this ideal condition
the number of adapted crops be
comes less and our management
decisions become more numerous.
The use of fertilizer and lime
has a tendency to obliterate cer
tain differences between soils. The
use of contouring, strip cropping,
and diversion terraces helps to
wipe out certain other differences.
Irrigation too can be considered
as bringing different soils closer
together from a production stand
point.
There is one big difference,
however, between irrigation and
the other practices just mention
ed. It is that irrigation is often a
soil-deteriorating practice while
the others are soil-building prac
tices, and the increased number
of decisions of when and how to
irrigate increases the farmer’s
managerial problems instead of
increasing them.
All soils should receive an an
imal increment of organic matter.
Crops should be rotated in such
a manner as to have a sod crop
every few years to afford a rest
period in which to rebuild and
stabilize soil aggregates. When
irrigation is used these practices
become all the more important
and the rotation should be short
ened to afford more frequent rests
than before irrigation was used.
Unfortunately the exact opposite
is generally the case. The farmer
now has the increased investment
in his farm and tries to work it
longer and more intensively. This
leads to more and more problems.
Good soil management permits
a farmer to raise top yields year
after year and at the same time
improve his soil to produce equal
or better yields with less prob
lems instead of more.
Frequently the word soil docs
not mean the same thing to a
farmer that it means to a techni
Ticklers
By George
'‘Dear old Uncle Charles doesn’t believe in spoiling anyone
with gifts. The card says: “This is 8 do-it-yourself gift—,
earn your own wrist watchl"
| cian. Many farmers do not know
i the meaning of structure and ag
| gregalion. They do not under -
| stand exchange capacity or how
| water moves or is stored in the
soil. Is there anything so myste
rious or incomprehensible about
these things that they should not
be presented to the farmer in
plain everyday language that he
can understand? A man cannot
make a rational decision without
knowing the fundamental and
basic facts. When he doesn't know
these facts he must depend upon
someone to make his decisions.
He would much rather know the
facts so that he himself can make
Ins own decision.
The Extension teaching pro
gram should be predicated upon
these principles. The subjects cov
ered in meetings and demonstra
tions should be such things as—
how water acts in the soil, how
nutrients act in the soil, the mean
ing of infiltration, the decompo
sition of organic matter, aggre
gation, soil structure, soil aeration
and other fundamental and basic
principles. We should not only
tell a farmer what to do but what
really happens in the soil. We
should give him sound major
premises, basic principles and
facts to reason with and then
allow him to make his own de
cisions. This adds to his skill and
knowledge as a professional man
—it makes him less dependent
upon others to make his decisions.
This is all the more important for
the irrigation farmer who has the
increased managerial load.
When a farmer does not know
or understand the facts, he will
dismiss decisions from his mind
and ask some other person’s ad
vice. With the use of proper
teaching aids and approach. Ex
tension teaching can encourage
more individuals to depend less
on outside help.
In New Jersey we have tried to
carry out an educational program
designed to bring to the farmer
an understanding of basic facts
so that he can make his ow'n de
cision on whether or not he should
use irrigation.
Like most anything else, no
sharp lines of demarcation exist
between where a man should or
should not use irrigation. It is in
these twilight zones where the
farmer has the tough decisions to
make. Wc feel that irrigation will
generally pay with high value,
fast - growing, shallow - rooted
crops. The more extensive longer
season and perennial crops are
generally not completely ruined
by the average drought period.
Our experience shows that their
yields can frequently be raised
somewhat but in most'cases not
enough to pay all the accumu
lated costs of owning an irriga
tion system. Oftentimes in low
and medium value crops the
greatest number of units per acre
I is not the most economical yield,
i Considering the long pull, for
the next 25 years, a little lower
l?
blit more economical yield cou
pled with good soil building prac- j
tices will probably net the farmer j
a greater total income with less j
management problems and devas- i
lating mistakes.
Proper soil management is the !
big item which can be summed
ip by saying that with or with
out irrigation a farmer must
match his crop to the soil, use
organic matter properly, rotate
with soil-noting crops, keep the
topsoil in place, use lime judi
ciously and use the right amount
of the proper analysis fertilizer.
I
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