Improvement of Water Use Efficiency in Irrigated Agriculture: A Review

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahar Boutraa
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Jabro ◽  
Bart Stevens ◽  
bill Iversen ◽  
brett Allen ◽  
Upendra Sainju

<p>Better management practices have been used to increase soil water storage and reduce evaporation from the soil surface to optimize crop water use efficiency (WUE) in irrigated agriculture. A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of  conventional tillage (CT), No-till (NT) and strip tillage (ST) practices on yield, water use (WU) and WUE of sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.) on a clay loam soil under over-head sprinkler irrigation system in the northern Great Plains. Tillage treatments were replicated five times in a randomized block design. Seasonal WU and WUE for sugarbeet root and sucrose yield were determined for the 2018 and 2019 growing seasons according to the water balance and WUE equations under three tillage practices. Results showed that no significant differences due to tillage treatment were found for crop WU, root yield, sucrose yield, and WUE for sugarbeet root and sucrose in 2018 and 2019 growing seasons. In 2019, the average value of WU across three tillage systems (616 mm) was significantly greater relative to 2018 (468 mm) due to atypical large rainfalls (218mm) occurred in September of 2019. Consequently, WUE values for both root and sucrose yield in 2019 under CT, NT, and ST were significantly greater than those in 2018. While NT and ST practices are promising alternative to CT for agricultural production in this region, further research is needed prior to making any recommendation.</p>


HortScience ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 730-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youssef Rouphael ◽  
Mariateresa Cardarelli ◽  
Giuseppe Colla ◽  
Elvira Rea

Limited water supply in the Mediterranean region is a major problem in irrigated agriculture. Grafting may enhance drought resistance, plant water use efficiency, and plant growth. An experiment was conducted in two consecutive growing seasons to determine yield, plant growth, fruit quality, leaf gas exchange, water relations, macroelements content in fruits and leaves, and water use efficiency of mini-watermelon plants [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. and Nakai cv. Ingrid], either ungrafted or grafted onto the commercial rootstock ‘PS 1313’ (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne × Cucurbita moschata Duchesne), under open field conditions. Irrigation treatments were 1.0, 0.75, and 0.5 evapotranspiration rates. In both years (2006 and 2007), marketable yield decreased linearly in response to an increase in water stress. When averaged over year and irrigation rate, the total and marketable yields were higher by 115% and 61% in grafted than in ungrafted plants, respectively. The fruit quality parameters of grafted mini-watermelons such as fruit dry matter and total soluble solids content were similar in comparison with those of ungrafted plants, whereas titratable acidity, K, and Mg concentrations improved significantly. In both grafting combinations, yield water use efficiency (WUEy) increased under water stress conditions with higher WUE values recorded in grafted than ungrafted plants. The concentration of N, K, and Mg in leaves was higher by 7.4%, 25.6%, and 38.8%, respectively, in grafted than in ungrafted plants. The net assimilation of CO2, stomatal conductance, relative water content, leaf, and osmotic potential decreased under water stress conditions. The sensitivity to water stress was similar between grafted and ungrafted plants, and the higher marketable yield from grafted plants was mainly the result of an improvement in nutritional status and higher CO2 assimilation and water uptake from the soil.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kumar Soothar ◽  
Ashutus Singha ◽  
Shakeel Ahmed Soomro ◽  
Azhar-u-ddin Chachar ◽  
Faiza Kalhoro ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Climate change and increasing demand in non-agricultural sectors profoundly affect the availability and quality of water resources for irrigated agriculture. The FAO AquaCrop simulation model provides a sound theoretical framework to investigate crop yield response to environmental stress. This model has successfully simulated crop growth and yield as influenced by varying soil moisture environments for crops. Integrating crop models that simulate the effects of water on crop yield with targeted experimentation can facilitate the development of irrigation strategies for high yield procurement and improving farm level water management and water use efficiency (WUE) under climatic condition of District Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. Results This study was based on completely randomized block design with three treatments including T1 (30% soil moisture depletion), T2 (50% soil moisture depletion) and T3 (70% soil moisture depletion) with three replicates. In order to determine the crop water requirements under desired treatments, the gypsum blocks were used for computing the daily soil moisture depletion. The result shows that total volume of water applied to crop under T1, T2 and T3 was 9689, 5200 and 2045 m3 ha−1, respectively. As a result, the grain yield under T1, T2 and T3 was 13.2, 12.1 and 14.3 t ha−1, respectively. These results advocate that total yield of crop under T1 and T2 was less as compared to T3. The T3 gave higher yield and WUE compared than other treatments. On the other hand, results revealed that the simulated sunflower yields showed a good agreement with their measured under T3. The simulated grain yield was 15.5 t ha−1, while the measured yield varied from 12.1 to 14.3 t ha−1. This study suggested that WUE under T3 was more as compared to T1 and T2. The results showed that the T3 gave the highest crop yield in relation to WUE and optimize yield of sunflower crop under water scarcity. Conclusion The Aquacrop model could very well predict crop yield and WUE at T3 under experiential region for sunflower production.


Author(s):  
M. Sharath Chandra ◽  
R. K. Naresh ◽  
Jana Harish ◽  
Pebbeti Chandana ◽  
Shipra Yadav ◽  
...  

India is on the verge to reduce its intensity of carbon emissions with an significant impetus to increase grid-based solar photovoltaic capacity, but there is a rising carbon footprint in the agricultural sector. In irrigated agriculture, there is a huge subsidies for electricity and diesel to pump groundwater combined with lack of water withdrawal regulations resulting in both groundwater over-exploitation and increased carbon emissions. To meet global energy demands with renewable energy such as solar Agrophotovoltaic (APV) systems are needed because of the relatively diffuse nature of solar energy requires large surface areas. Huge portions of the land will increase the competition for land-based resources by using solar APV farming, while demand for food production as well as energy grow and compete for limited land resources with increasing population. There was also a marked increase in the late-seasons biomass for APV panels were considerably more water-efficient. In order to minimize conflicts between food and energy production on land use, APV combines biomass cultivation and solar energy production at the same site for increasing land and water use efficiency. In conclusion, this review study suggests that little adaptation of crop practices should be required to move from an open crop to an agri-voltaic crop system, and attention should be focused on minimizing light reduction and selecting plants with maximum radiation efficiency under these fluctuating shade conditions for improving land and water use efficiency. Further, APV increases the economic benefit of agriculture in rural areas will contribute to decentralized, off-grid electrification and thus boost farm productivity. As such, APV can serve as a valuable technical approach to sustainable agriculture, helping to meet energy and food production challenges and also climate change hazards, simultaneously serving land and water resources.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003072702098694
Author(s):  
Marlene de Witt ◽  
Willem Petrus de Clercq ◽  
Francisco José Blanco Velazquez ◽  
Filiberto Altobelli ◽  
Anna Dalla Marta

Increasing pressure on water resources is driving the development of technology to improve water-use efficiency in irrigation. Uptake of these technological advances are essential to ensure long-term water security in catchments, particularly in water-scarce regions and where agricultural activities and urban centres compete for the same resources. Research suggests that uptake of technology lags far behind the development of new products. The study presented in this paper interviewed 29 commercial farmers from the water-scarce Central Breede River Valley in South Africa to investigate their reasons behind the use or non-use of irrigation technology for scheduling, and in particular the uptake of a free, government-funded remote-sensing service called FruitLook. Evaluating the uptake of a free service eliminates monetary cost as one key barrier to uptake. In-depth interviews revealed a high uptake of technology (83%), but use of only one type – soil water measurement. Among the farmers that use water-use efficiency technology, 78% use the same probe service provider. Perceived accuracy and ease of use, as well as personalised after-sales service are the key reasons for this probe’s popularity. While 86% of the farmers have heard about FruitLook, only one farmer uses it for irrigation purposes. The non-use of the free service can mainly be attributed to the time cost associated with the product’s initial set-up, use, and interpretation of information. The study revealed that the integration of information from various products is essential for farmers – too much information in different formats is too time-costly. Developers of new technology should focus on these latter two findings to improve the likelihood of new product uptake.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaa Salih Ati ◽  
Hadeel Amer Jabbar ◽  
Abd-alkareem hamad

"A field experiment was conducted during the agricultural season of 2017-2018 in the site is located at 82"" 10' 33ᵒ North, and longitude 51"" 32' 44ᵒ , East at an altitude of 33m above sea level. In order to evaluate the productivity of irrigation water by method of cultivation on irrigated furrows, when growing crops of wheat. Two factors were experienced in the cultivation of wheat, The first factor is the method of cultivation of five treatments were used included: Treatment of the cultivation of wheat in basins (B), treatment of the cultivation of wheat on bed with 50 cm width (S1), 60cm (S2), 70cm (S3) and 80cm (S4), The second factor is irrigation levels depletion included: 40, 60 and 80% of available water coded as W1, W2 and W3, respectively,. The results were as follows: Actual water consumption values for basin and bed treatments reached 389, 384, 365, 369.20, 367and 341mm for treatment BW1, BW2, BW3,SW1, SW2 and SW3 respectively. Treatment of wheat crops on bed with 80 cm width gave the highest average field water use efficiency reached 6.84 kg m-3 while BW3 treatment gave lowest average field water use efficiency reached 1.47 kg m-3. The highest average crop water use efficiency were found in S4W1ٚ S4W2 reached 2.06 and 2.07 kg m-3, respectively, It was lowest value for crop water use efficiency at BW3 reached 1.06 kg m-3. The percentage increase in the average efficiency of crop water using for bed treatments 40.37, 57.80, 73.39 and 85.32% for treatments S1, S2, S3 and S4 respectively Compared with basin treatment (B).The highest average total grains yield for Treatment of wheat crops on bed with 80 cm width was 7253kg ha-1 , Irrigation levels also affected the total grains yield, irrigation treatment of depletion 40% gave highest average 6300 kg ha-1 , That did not differ significantly from the irrigation treatments of depletion 60% In which the total grain yield was reached 6228 kg ha-1 ,In the interference factors between the cultivation method and the irrigation levels, the interference factors excelled S4W1, S3W2 and S4W2 Without significant differences in the total yield average 7600,7310 and 7600 kg ha-1, Respectively"


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-130
Author(s):  
R. A. Vozhehova ◽  
M. P. Maliarchuk ◽  
I. M. Biliaieva ◽  
O. Y. Markovska ◽  
A. S. Maliarchuk ◽  
...  

Efficient water management in agriculture is an important part of the general programme on water resources preservation. This study is devoted to the determination of the effects of soil processing system and mineral fertilization on the water use efficiency and productivity of grain corn (Zea mays Linnaeus, 1753). The trials were conducted in 2017–2018 on irrigated land in the South of Ukraine. The field experiments were carried out on the experimental plots of the Institute of Irrigated Agriculture of the NAAS in four replications. We studied the following agrotechnological parameters and their combinations: Factor A – primary tillage type and depth within different tillage systems in the short crop rotation (grain corn – grain sorghum – winter wheat – soybean); Factor B – application rates of mineral fertilizers (N0P0, N120P60, N180P60). We established that the highest yield of grain accompanied by the best water use efficiency was provided by the cultivation technology with disk cultivator tillage on the depth of 8–10 cm within the differentiated tillage system in the crop rotation under the maximum nutritive background of N180P60. This agrotechnological variant resulted in a corn grain yield of 14.51 and 14.59 t/ha in 2017 and 2018 years of the study, respectively. The coefficient of water use efficiency, which is the relation of the water used by the crop to the yield, in this variant was the lowest – 39.6 and 42.0 mm/t in 2017 and 2018, respectively, which indicates the optimum response of corn grain to watering. The worst indexes of water use efficiency and corn productivity were determined in the experimental variant with disk cultivator tillage on the depth of 12–14 cm within the subsoil tillage system within the crop rotation under non-fertilized conditions. We determined that strengthening of the crop nutrition under the rational tillage system in crop rotation is helpful in optimization of the crop water use in the irrigated conditions of the South of Ukraine, which is very important in the current conditions of freshwater scarcity.


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