Journal of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers ISSN:1738-3692(Print) 2093-7709(Online) 한국농공학회논문집

In this study, we analyzed the variability of irrigation water amounts based on the combination of various crops and soil textures using the Irrigation Water Management Model (IWMM). IWMM evaluates the degree of agricultural drought using the Soil Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI). When crops are damaged by the water scarcity under the drought condition indicating that the SMDI values are in negative (SMDI<0), IWMM irrigates appropriate water amounts that can shift the negative SMDI values to “0” to crop fields. To test the IWMM model, we selected the Bandong-ri (BDR) and Jucheon (JC) sites in Gangwon-do and Jeollabuk-do provinces. We derived the soil hydraulic properties using the near-surface data assimilation scheme form the Time Domain Reflectrometry (TDR)-based soil moisture measurements. The daily root zone soil moisture dynamics (R: 0.792/0.588 and RMSE: 0.013/0.018 for BDR/JC) estimated by the derived soil parameters were matched well with the TDR-based measurements for validation. During the long-term (2001~2015) period, IWMM irrigated the minimum water amounts to crop fields, while there were no irrigation events during the rainy days. Also, Sandy Loam (SL) and Silt (Si) soils require more irrigation water amounts than others, while the irrigation water were higher in the order of radish, wheat, soybean, and potato, respectively. Thus, the IWMM model can provide efficient irrigation water amounts to crop fields and be useful for regions at where limited water resources are available.