Research Imperatives for Irrigation Science

Abstract

Economic and environmental pressure requires efficient use of any water intended for irrigation. Irrigation over the next decade will be assisted in this push for efficiency by the pull of research and technology. Six areas of existing research are identified here as being critical for creating the understanding necessary for generating greater irrigation efficiencies. In crop meteorology, they are stomatal behavior and crop evaporation, local advection in aerially confused environments, and regional ET estimation; in soil physics, they are small‐ and largescale soil variability, redistribution of water in the root zone following irrigation, and chemical movement by soil water. Further, it is suggested that the two research fronts of root behavior and direct or remote sensing of crop plants are currently underdeveloped. Expansion in these areas will be crucial in order to create efficient irrigation by the year 2000. Novel techniques, often assisted by new technology, will enhance the pace of acquisition of additional scientific understanding, although our best ally will remain the accepted scientific principles of incisive thinking and perceptive experimentation.