Browsing by Author "Shukla, Manoj K."
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Item Soil Health Assessment and Management Framework for Water-Limited Environments: Examples from the Great Plains of the USA(2023) Ghimire, Rajan; Thapa, Vesh R.; Acosta-Martinez, Veronica; Schipanski, Meagan; Slaughter, Lindsey C. (TTU); Fonte, Steven J.; Shukla, Manoj K.; Bista, Prakriti; Angadi, Sangamesh V.; Mikha, Maysoon M.; Adebayo, Olufemi; Noble Strohm, TessHealthy soils provide the foundation for sustainable agriculture. However, soil health degradation has been a significant challenge for agricultural sustainability and environmental quality in water-limited environments, such as arid and semi-arid regions. Soils in these regions is often characterized by low soil organic matter (SOM), poor fertility, and low overall productivity, thus limiting the ability to build SOM. Soil health assessment frameworks developed for more productive, humid, temperate environments typically emphasize building SOM as a key to soil health and have identified the best management practices that are often difficult to implement in regions with water limitations. This study reviewed existing soil health assessment frameworks to assess their potential relevance for water-limited environments and highlights the need to develop a framework that links soil health with key ecosystem functions in dry climates. It also discusses management strategies for improving soil health, including tillage and residue management, organic amendments, and cropping system diversification and intensification. The assessment of indicators sensitive to water management practices could provide valuable information in designing soil health assessment frameworks for arid and semi-arid regions. The responses of soil health indicators are generally greater when multiple complementary soil health management practices are integrated, leading to the resilience and sustainability of agriculture in water-limited environments.Item Water use and yield responses of chile pepper cultivars irrigated with brackish groundwater and reverse osmosis concentrate(2020) Baath, Gurjinder S.; Shukla, Manoj K.; Bosland, Paul W.; Walker, Stephanie J.; Saini, Rupinder K. (TTU); Shaw, RandallFreshwater availability is declining in most of semi-arid and arid regions across the world, including the southwestern United States. The use of marginal quality groundwater has been increasing for sustaining agriculture in these arid regions. Reverse Osmosis (RO) can treat brackish groundwater, but the possibility of using an RO concentrate for irrigation needs further exploration. This greenhouse study evaluates the water use and yield responses of five selected chile pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars irrigated with natural brackish groundwater and RO concentrate. The four saline water treatments used for irrigation were tap water with an electrical conductivity (EC) of 0.6 dS m−1 (control), groundwater with EC 3 and 5 dS m−1, and an RO concentrate with EC 8 dSm−1. The evapotranspiration (ET) of all chile pepper cultivars decreased and the leaching fraction (LF) increased, particularly in the 5 dS m−1 and 8 dS m−1 irrigation treatments. Based on the water use efficiency (WUE) of the selected chile pepper cultivars, brackish water with an EC ≤ 3 dS/m could be used for irrigation in scarce freshwater areas while maintaining the appropriate LFs. A piecewise linear function resulted in a threshold soil electrical conductivity (ECe) ranging between 1.0–1.3 dSm−1 for the tested chile pepper cultivars. Both piecewise linear and sigmoid non-linear functions suggested that the yield reductions in chile peppers irrigated with Ca2+ rich brackish groundwater were less than those reported in studies using an NaCl-dominant saline solution. Further research is needed to understand the role of supplementary calcium in improving the salt tolerance of chile peppers.