With over 10,000 acres burned in wildland fires in 2014 in Mississippi, accurate fire hazard prediction is of great importance. Soil moisture, fuel moisture, and fire hazard are inextricably linked. Remote estimation of soil moisture in the Southeastern United States for fire hazard modeling is hampered by the use of models engineered for other physiographic regions and the prevalence of deep, fast-draining sands underneath heavy vegetation. United States Geologic Service hydrographs were investigated and compared to nearby soil moisture and precipitation readings in an attempt to identify the links between stream gauge readings and watershed soil moisture. Stream gauge peaks corresponded within a three day window of soil moisture peaks 73.3% of the time, with 43.8% of peaks occurring simultaneously, thus verifying the indicative nature of local hydrographs. With further study, this easily accessed proxy variable could enhance currently used soil moisture models and drought indices.

As the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer declines, it is the duty of soybean producers to become more efficient irrigators. Research was established in 2012 and 2013 in the Mississippi Delta to evaluate plant development and yield of an indeterminate soybean variety with irrigation initiated at the R1 producer standard and compared to initiation timings at the R2, R4, and R5 growth stages once a 2” deficit was reached according to the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith model. Research was also conducted to evaluate seeding rates in irrigated and non-irrigated systems in Starkville and Stoneville, MS in 2013 and 2014. These data indicate that delaying irrigation initiation beyond R1 did not adversely affect yield, and in some instances even provided a small yield increase. Irrigation did show consistent yield benefit regardless of initiation timing over a non-irrigated system. No optimum seeding rate in terms of yield or net return was observed across site years.

Through proper irrigation scheduling and management of damaged cotton, sustainable agricultural withdrawal from the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer can be achieved while maximizing net returns. This research was conducted to 1) develop a sensor based irrigation strategy that maximized cotton lint yield and quality, irrigation, and water use efficiency (IWUE) and 2) quantify the effects of timing of damage, intensity, and foliar N on cotton growth and development. Lint yield, fiber quality, and IWUE were optimized using a season-long irrigation threshold of -90 kPa and irrigation terminated 2-weeks before cracked boll. Regardless of cotton variety (early- or late-maturing) or timing of damage, plant height, number of nodes, and lint yield were negatively correlated with the intensity of damage. Moreover, the application of foliar nitrogen to damaged cotton had no effect on plant growth, lint yield, or fiber quality, regardless of N application timing. These data indicate that lint yield, and fiber quality are optimized when cotton varieties are selected based on yield potential, irrigated at -90 kPa threshold, and irrigations are terminated two weeks before cracked boll.

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