Effect of Water Stress on Brazilian Soybean Production

Among the strategies used for water management in agriculture, deficit irrigation stands out, which introduces the term water use efficiency (WUE). There is evidence that suggests that deficient irrigation can increase WUE without causing losses in the productivity of several crops; however, information is limited on the level of water replacement that does not cause negative effects on soybeans. Thus, the present work aimed to determine the level of water replacement under deficit that does not cause damage to productivity per area of soybean cultivation, identify water stress through the thermal response patterns of the soybean plant canopy, and verify the relationships between the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) and income and between CWSI and WUE.