Using soil moisture sensors for irrigation management

There are several tools that can be used to achieve more efficient use of irrigation water that is applied to Mississippi crops. These tools can be used to maintain maximum crop yields and profits with less irrigation water being pumped from the alluvial aquifer (surge valves, PHAUCET, tailwater recovery) and/or to objectively schedule irrigation events (Irrigation Schedulers and soil moisture sensors).

For any of these tools to accomplish the above objectives, they must be installed and set up properly. This is especially true for soil moisture sensors.

The Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District (YMD) recently published fact sheets that provide valuable information about how to place and use data from soil moisture sensors to accurately schedule irrigation of corn and soybeans. These fact sheets are guidelines based on the best available data, and will be updated as new information becomes available.

The use of soil moisture sensors to schedule irrigation according to these guidelines should be used in consort with the other above-mentioned tools to achieve the most efficient application of irrigation water.

Fungicide Resistance Management

Fungicide resistance is becoming a major threat to soybean disease control, and resistance among major soybean pathogens to the various classes of available fungicides can quickly develop if fungicide applications are not properly managed.

To provide information to help combat the development of fungicide resistance, the United Soybean Board funded a grant to “Sustain fungicide effectiveness through fungicide resistance education for growers and crop consultants”.

As part of the outreach efforts for this grant, the Plant Management Network and a team of researchers and specialists led by Dr. Carl Bradley, Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, recently produced a webcast entitled “Principles of Fungicide Resistance: Focusing on Soybean and Corn Production” in its “Focus on Soybean” resource. This presentation provides information about

• The different factors involved in fungicide resistance;


• How fungicide resistance develops;


• Which characteristics of fungal plant pathogens and fungicides lead to greater risks for the development of fungicide resistance; and


• Practices that can be utilized to manage fungicide resistance.

A case example of fungicide resistance development in Cercospora sojina, the pathogen that causes frogeye leaf spot in soybeans, is also presented.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, June 2014, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net