Developing Irrigation Strategies for Cotton-Corn Production Systems in Southwest Kansas.

A study was started in southwest Kansas in 2011 to evaluate partitioning of irrigation water among corn and cotton at various timings with application intervals constrained by simulated levels of well capacity. While extreme drought affected the response of corn to applied water, valuable insight was gained on critical timing of cotton irrigation to maximize yields in a water and thermally limited production environment. The largest gains in WUE in cotton were obtained from the application of 1" of water at match-head square. Cotton lint yields increased 48 to 89% over dryland with the applicaton of 1" of irrigation. Yield and net returns of various corn-cotton irrigation strategies will be presented.