Date of Graduation
5-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Advisor/Mentor
Le, Kieu
Committee Member/Reader
Runkle, Benjamin
Committee Member/Second Reader
Moreno-Garcia, Beatriz
Committee Member/Third Reader
Purcell, Larry
Abstract
Rice is one of the most prevalent and relied upon resources around the world. Despite such prominence, cultivation techniques for this crop are not perfect. Precise irrigation amounts and optimal crop rotations are still not completely understood. As the global population continues to grow and resources are depleted, maximizing the efficiency of cropping systems becomes more urgent. The goal of this study was to shed light on these questions using the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model to simulate five fields in soybean-rice rotation in Arkansas. First, the model was calibrated to accurately represent the observed yields in the area. Then, two long-term scenarios were simulated: one in which continuous rice was compared to a soybean-rice rotation in terms of yield, and another in which irrigation amounts were increasingly reduced to see the effects on rice yields. Contrary to expectation, continuous rice showed higher yields in most fields. The results of the reduced irrigation scenario differed by field, but reducing irrigation generally reduced yield in all fields except one with continuous flood irrigation.
Keywords
APEX, rice, soybean, irrigation, rotation, Arkansas
Citation
Carroll, S. (2020). Simulating Soybean-Rice Crop Rotation and Irrigation Strategies in Arkansas Using APEX. Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/baeguht/71