Acre Feet Of Water To Grow Corn
The us nationwide average corn yields are grain 150 bushels per acre or 4 2 us tons per acresilage forage 21 us tons per acreyields can vary quite a bit by state location and year.
Acre feet of water to grow corn. There are roughly 27 000 gallons of water in an acre inch. Let s assume 9 inches will be applied and 65 bushels per acre acre will be produced. In the first three years of research each acre of land in the study produced about 10 bushels of corn for each inch of water consumed. The kernels are sweet and can be preserved easily.
Grain takes less and forages take more. Therefore 325 000 gallons of water are pumped per acre to produce the crop. It is common that 6 9 inches or more can be applied in a pre irrigation event. Water use rates grow to 0 32 inches per day when averaged over a three to five day period.
Trout found that corn yields varied from 210 bushels for a full application of water down to 130 bushels for the lowest irrigation level. That equates to 1 pound of corn for each 60 gallons of water absorbed. Plants are usually small at this stage and their root development limited resulting in much of the water applied not being available to the plants. Non irrigated corn yields averaged 113 bushels acre during this same period.
This variety of corn produces large ears that measure 9 inches long with bright yellow kernels. Water an area 2 feet in diameter around the base of each plant and apply. The stalks reach 6 feet in height. To that you must add a component of water for leaching and an adjustment for air temperature.
A major challenge is to limit the. The evaporative transpiration quotient for any crop is different but known. Here is a winning variety that is triple sweet with a rich flavor that you ll love. Between the 8 leaf stage and tassel emergence corn root depth leaf area and water use grow rapidly reaching peak daily water use rates during pollination.
A 3 foot deep reservoir of soil moisture can hold as little as 3 inches on sands to as much as 6 inches on loam soils. It only reaches 5 feet tall but since it bears corn fast it s worth it. Statewide irrigated corn yields have averaged 184 bushels acre but yields of 220 bushels acre are not uncommon. Soybeans can be stressed somewhat more and require less water.
By the time that corn reaches tassel emergence the plant has achieved 100 percent all of its effective rooting of about 3 feet. Water sweet corn in the morning once a week if there are no heavy downpours giving each plant 1 to 1 1 2 inches of water. This amounts to 1 705 gallons of water per bushel of corn produced. In a much more general sense most row and tree crops take about 3 5 acre feet per acre.
Irrigations that follow cultivation can also result in heavy applications of water.