Development of an Automated System to Incorporate Holes in Lay-Flat Irrigation Tubing During Initial Deployment in Mississippi Soybean Production Systems, 27-2023

One technology that has been proven to reduce water usage and provide these positive economic impacts is the use of Computerized Hole Selection (CHS).  CHS determines the correct hole size for each individual furrow in a lay-flat irrigation pipe system by accounting for row length, inlet and required individual furrow flow, pipeline pressure and hydraulics, and crown elevation. Two software programs exist for CHS: a research-based tool, Pipe Hole and Universal Crown Evaluation Tool (PHAUCET), (Burch, 2012), and a commercial product, Pipe Planner, developed and maintained by Delta Plastics (2020). From 2013 to 2017, the four irrigation water management practices were evaluated in the region using paired field comparisons (Bryant et al., 2017; Spencer et al., 2019). The paired field comparisons consisted of one field receiving the demonstration of irrigation water management practices while the other field was the producer-managed field, holding other management practices (e.g., cultivar selection) constant. Bryant et al. (2017) implemented these practices on 20 paired furrow-irrigated soybean fields and found no significant difference in yield between irrigation water management and the control (p = 0.67), while irrigation water management reduced water use by 21% (p = 0.0198) and increased irrigation water use efficiency by 36% (p = 0.0194).