Strategic irrigation of wheat in the Cerrado reduces greenhouse gas emissions by half

Think of the soil as a giant sponge that stores water for plants. Scientists discovered that the perfect time to irrigate wheat is when this sponge has already used 40% of the water it had stored. Researchers tested four irrigation control strategies, equivalent to letting the soil deplete 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% of the available water before irrigating again. The goal was to find the balance point between crop productivity, water savings, and environmental impact. The research results were published in the article Sustainable irrigation management of winter wheat and effects on soil gas emissions (N2O and CH4) and enzymatic activity in the Brazilian savannah, published in the journal Sustainability MDPI. After two years of experiments, the Embrapa Cerrados team concluded that the ideal time for wheat irrigation occurs when the plants have used 40% of the soil water reserve. "This is the ideal point, with a favorable result between productivity and greenhouse gas emission ...