Determining Crop Water Use for Corn from Satellite Imagery.

Satellite imagery was analyzed and crop water use was calculated from 18 fields, spread out between Colorado and Nebraska. Fields had corn products grown in strip trials of 12 rows spaced 30 inches apart during the growing seasons of 2014 and 2015.  Fields were selected if they contained at least two of the following commercial products: a Monsanto branded DroughtGard® Hybrids corn product, Monsanto branded product without the DroughtGard® Hybrids trait, Pioneer AquaMax® corn, Pioneer corn product that is not branded as AquaMax®. The field must have achieved a minimum yield of 140 bu/a to be included in the analysis. Data were categorized by water saving traits and crop coefficients were generated.  Monsanto branded corn product with the DroughtGard® Hybrids trait used 1.8 inches less water than the Pioneer® AquaMax® corn product.