What counts is the water that actually enters plant roots
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 - 12:30
in Earth & Climate
To help farmers make the best use of limited irrigation water in the arid West, researchers are helping farmers determine how much water major crops actually need. Scientists are measuring crop water-use efficiency not by the traditional measure of crop yield per drop of irrigation water applied, but instead yield per drop of water actually taken in by the crop.