Effects of fertilizer, variety and location on barley production under rainfed conditions in Northern Syria 2. Soil water dynamics and crop water use

Improvement of crop water use efficiency (CWUE), defined as crop yield per volume of water used, is an important goal for both crop management and breeding. While many technologies have been developed for measuring crop water use in crop management studies, rarely have these techniques been applied at the scale of breeding plots. The objective was to develop a high-throughput methodology for quantifying water use in a cotton breeding trial at Maricopa, AZ, USA in 2016 and 2017, using evapotranspiration (ET) measurements from a co-located irrigation management trial to evaluate the approach. Approximately weekly overflights with an unmanned aerial system provided multispectral imagery from which plot-level fractional vegetation cover ( f c ) was computed. The f c data were used to drive a daily ET-based soil water balance model for seasonal crop water use quantification. A mixed model statistical analysis demonstrated that differences in ET and CWUE could be discriminated among eight cotton varieties ( p < 0 . 05 ), which were sown at two planting dates and managed with four irrigation levels. The results permitted breeders to identify cotton varieties with more favorable water use characteristics and higher CWUE, indicating that the methodology could become a useful tool for breeding selection.

Download Full-text

Soil water dynamics and water use in a western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) woodland

Journal of Arid Environments ◽

10.1016/j.jaridenv.2013.11.015 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 102 ◽

pp. 117-126 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Candy Mollnau ◽

Michael Newton ◽

Tamzen Stringham

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Water Use ◽

Water Dynamics ◽

Soil Water Dynamics ◽

Western Juniper ◽

Juniperus Occidentalis

Download Full-text

Modeled crop water use and soil water drainage

Agricultural Water Management ◽

10.1016/0378-3774(91)90003-2 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 117-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Orlan Buller ◽

Harry L. Manges ◽

Loyd R. Stone ◽

Jeffery R. Williams

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Water Use ◽

Water Drainage ◽

Crop Water ◽

Crop Water Use

Download Full-text

Responses of soil water storage and crop water use efficiency to changing climatic conditions: A lysimeter-based space-for-time approach

10.5194/hess-2019-411 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Jannis Groh ◽

Jan Vanderborght ◽

Thomas Pütz ◽

Hans-Jörg Vogel ◽

Ralf Gründling ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Water Use ◽

Grain Quality ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Soil Water Storage ◽

Crop Water ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Crop Water Use ◽

Use Efficiency

Abstract. Future crop production will be affected by climatic changes. In several regions, the projected changes in total rainfall and seasonal rainfall patterns will lead to lower soil water storage (SWS) which in turn affects crop water uptake, crop yield, water use efficiency, grain quality and groundwater recharge. Effects of climate change on those variables depend on the soil properties and were often estimated based on model simulations. The objective of this study was to investigate the response of key variables in four different soils and for two different climates in Germany with different aridity index: 1.09 for the wetter (range: 0.82 to 1.29) and 1.57 for the drier climate (range: 1.19 to 1.77), by using high-precision weighable lysimeters. According to a “space-for-time” concept, intact soil monoliths that were moved to sites with contrasting climatic conditions have been monitored from April 2011 until December 2018. Evapotranspiration was lower for the same soil under the relatively drier climate whereas crop yield was significantly higher, without affecting grain quality. Especially non-productive water losses (evapotranspiration out of the main growing period) were lower which led to a more efficient crop water use in the drier climate. A characteristic decrease of the SWS for soils with a finer texture was observed after a longer drought period under a drier climate. The reduced SWS after the drought remained until the end of the observation period which demonstrates carry-over of drought from one growing season to another and the overall long term effects of single drought events. In the relatively drier climate, water flow at the soil profile bottom showed a small net upward flux over the entire monitoring period as compared to downward fluxes (ground water recharge) or drainage in the relatively wetter climate and larger recharge rates in the coarser- as compared to finer-textured soils. The large variability of recharge from year to year and the long lasting effects of drought periods on SWS imply that long term monitoring of soil water balance components is necessary to obtain representative estimates. Results confirmed a more efficient crop water use under less optimal soil moisture conditions. Long-term effects of changing climatic conditions on the SWS and ecosystem productivity should be considered when trying to develop adaptation strategies in the agricultural sector.

Download Full-text