A Drain Spacing Tool That Estimates the Optimum Subsurface Drain Spacing for Maximum Profit

Highlights An empirical equation was embedded in a user-friendly tool to estimate the site-specific design drainage rate. The site-specific design drainage rate was based on the local soil, weather, and economics of the area of interest. The tool uses the site-specific design drainage rate to estimate the optimum drain spacing. The optimum drain spacing maximizes the economic return on investment. Abstract. Properly estimating the subsurface drain spacing is critical to optimizing crop production. The Hooghoudt equation can be used in humid climates to approximate the drain spacing. However, the application of this equation has been limited due to site-specific data requirements and because it is a complicated process that is not usually practical for practitioners. Traditionally, drainage contractors have chosen a drain spacing without using the Hooghoudt equation. The objective of this article is to develop a user-friendly decision-support tool that estimates the site-specific optimum drain spacing for maximum economic return on investment. We developed the Drain Spacing Tool for the Midwest USA based on the Hooghoudt equation and site-specific inputs. The tool automatically acquires the site-specific equivalent saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil profile and depth to the restrictive layer from the gSSURGO database, and the user manually enters the desired drain depth. The site-specific input of design drainage rate (DDR), that is required in the Hooghoudt equation, is estimated from an empirical equation that was developed from a DRAINMOD modeling study. The site-specific inputs for the empirical equation include site-specific 30-year average growing-season rainfall, drain depth, equivalent saturated hydraulic conductivity, and depth to the restrictive layer, all of which are automatically acquired from gSSURGO, except for the rainfall data, which was acquired from the PRISM Climate Group. The site-specific DDR value from the empirical equation was then used in the Hooghoudt equation to estimate the optimum drain spacing that maximizes economic return on investment. In conclusion, the tool estimates the site-specific optimum drain spacing based on the local soil, weather, and economics of the area of interest. Keywords: Decision-support tool, Design drainage rate, DRAINMOD, Farm profitability, Tile drainage.