Do soil textural properties affect water use efficiency?

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The Soil-Plant-Environment Research (SPER) facility at USDA-ARS, Bushland, TX, was conceived by Terry A. Howell, Sr., and developed by the evapotranspiration (ET) research scientists at Bushland. It consists of a rain shelter and 48 weighing lysimeters containing monolithic soil cores of four soil textural classes of Pullman clay loam, Ulysses silt loam, Amarillo sandy loam, and the Vingo fine sand. Since its opening in 1990, numerous irrigation research projects have evaluated the effect of deficit irrigation and soil profile textural properties on the water use efficiency of maize, cotton, grain sorghum, and sunflower. This research has demonstrated how soil water evaporation and soil hydraulic characteristics have, or in some cases, have not affected crop production and water use efficiency (WUE), defined as the ratio of marketable yield (Y) to ET, or Y/ET. The most important overall findings are that: 1) soil textural class does in several cases have important effects on crop water use and yield, even with full irrigation; and 2) soil textural class effects on crop water use, yield, and WUE are increased when irrigation is limited, increasing the need for careful irrigation management.