Water-Saving Potential of Different Agricultural Management Practices in an Arid River Basin
Water scarcity threatens food security in arid areas, highlighting the importance of water-saving agriculture for food production. Agricultural management practices are developed to improve water-use efficiency, and their water-saving effects are generally evaluated at the field scale rather than th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Water |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/13/2072 |
| _version_ | 1797407950090797056 |
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| author | Wang Zhang Yong Tian Yu Feng Jie Liu Chunmiao Zheng |
| author_facet | Wang Zhang Yong Tian Yu Feng Jie Liu Chunmiao Zheng |
| author_sort | Wang Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Water scarcity threatens food security in arid areas, highlighting the importance of water-saving agriculture for food production. Agricultural management practices are developed to improve water-use efficiency, and their water-saving effects are generally evaluated at the field scale rather than the regional scale. To figure out the regional water-saving potential of irrigation methods and mulching practices, the FAO AquaCrop model was first calibrated and validated at the three experimental stations. With aggregating spatial information, a distributed model was constructed and validated in a typical arid river basin of northwest China. Twelve combinations of soil mulching (plastic and straw) and irrigation methods (basin, furrow, drip, and subsurface drip) were simulated using the model to evaluate the effect of agricultural management practices on crop evapotranspiration (ET), crop water productivity, and regional water consumption. The results showed that soil mulching, advanced irrigation methods, and their combinations reduced noneffective soil evaporation (E) and the E/ET ratios and improved crop water productivity. Plastic mulching combined with subsurface drip irrigation is the most promising practice, increasing the crop water productivity of seed maize and spring wheat by 18.2% and 11.1% on average and reducing regional crop water consumption by 7.7% (75.0 million m<sup>3</sup>) and 7.4% (72.7 million m<sup>3</sup>), respectively. The reduction in irrigation water extraction ranged from 20.6% under furrow irrigation with straw mulching to 68.7% under subsurface drip irrigation with plastic mulching. This study quantitatively assessed the water-saving potential of soil mulching, irrigation methods, and their combinations to reduce agricultural water use, offering practical implications for the management and development of water-saving agriculture in arid areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:50:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-24e51f4145c743dd9ebf5dccdf996a06 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:50:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-24e51f4145c743dd9ebf5dccdf996a062023-12-03T14:28:02ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412022-06-011413207210.3390/w14132072Water-Saving Potential of Different Agricultural Management Practices in an Arid River BasinWang Zhang0Yong Tian1Yu Feng2Jie Liu3Chunmiao Zheng4Institute of Water Sciences, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaInstitute of Water Sciences, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaState Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaWater scarcity threatens food security in arid areas, highlighting the importance of water-saving agriculture for food production. Agricultural management practices are developed to improve water-use efficiency, and their water-saving effects are generally evaluated at the field scale rather than the regional scale. To figure out the regional water-saving potential of irrigation methods and mulching practices, the FAO AquaCrop model was first calibrated and validated at the three experimental stations. With aggregating spatial information, a distributed model was constructed and validated in a typical arid river basin of northwest China. Twelve combinations of soil mulching (plastic and straw) and irrigation methods (basin, furrow, drip, and subsurface drip) were simulated using the model to evaluate the effect of agricultural management practices on crop evapotranspiration (ET), crop water productivity, and regional water consumption. The results showed that soil mulching, advanced irrigation methods, and their combinations reduced noneffective soil evaporation (E) and the E/ET ratios and improved crop water productivity. Plastic mulching combined with subsurface drip irrigation is the most promising practice, increasing the crop water productivity of seed maize and spring wheat by 18.2% and 11.1% on average and reducing regional crop water consumption by 7.7% (75.0 million m<sup>3</sup>) and 7.4% (72.7 million m<sup>3</sup>), respectively. The reduction in irrigation water extraction ranged from 20.6% under furrow irrigation with straw mulching to 68.7% under subsurface drip irrigation with plastic mulching. This study quantitatively assessed the water-saving potential of soil mulching, irrigation methods, and their combinations to reduce agricultural water use, offering practical implications for the management and development of water-saving agriculture in arid areas.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/13/2072AquaCrop modelmulching technologydrip irrigationseed maizespring wheatHeihe River Basin |
| spellingShingle | Wang Zhang Yong Tian Yu Feng Jie Liu Chunmiao Zheng Water-Saving Potential of Different Agricultural Management Practices in an Arid River Basin Water AquaCrop model mulching technology drip irrigation seed maize spring wheat Heihe River Basin |
| title | Water-Saving Potential of Different Agricultural Management Practices in an Arid River Basin |
| title_full | Water-Saving Potential of Different Agricultural Management Practices in an Arid River Basin |
| title_fullStr | Water-Saving Potential of Different Agricultural Management Practices in an Arid River Basin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Water-Saving Potential of Different Agricultural Management Practices in an Arid River Basin |
| title_short | Water-Saving Potential of Different Agricultural Management Practices in an Arid River Basin |
| title_sort | water saving potential of different agricultural management practices in an arid river basin |
| topic | AquaCrop model mulching technology drip irrigation seed maize spring wheat Heihe River Basin |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/13/2072 |
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