Modeling the Root Zone for Improved Decision Making

By Anonymous

The area immediately surrounding a plant’s roots is the site of physical, chemical, and biological activities that govern the plant’s growth and its influence on the environment.

In the early 1990s, the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Agricultural Systems Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colorado, created the Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) to help growers make a variety of well-informed decisions related to the root zone. Now ARA scientists have developed an enhanced version of the tool, RZWQM2, to serve an even greater user base.

RZWQM2 simulates plant growth and the movement of water, nutrients, and chemicals within and around the root zones of agricultural cropping systems. Growers can use the tool to estimate the environmental and economic impacts of a variety of management decisions, including tillage, crop residue management, crop rotations, and the timing and rate of chemical applications.

For more information, contact Laura McGinnis at the USDA Agricultural Research Service (301-504-1654, laura.mcginnis@ars.usda.gov) or visit www.ars.udas.gov.

Copyright Soil and Water Conservation Society Mar/Apr 2007

(c) 2007 Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.