Irrigation Scheme Selection Based on Water Footprint Analysis of Winter Wheat Production in Piedmont Plains of Hebei Province under Future Climate Scenarios

The statistical downscaling tool of a statistical downscaling model (SDSM) to generate the future climate of the piedmont plain area in Hebei Province for a 30-year period. The Xinji city was selected as a typical example of this area. The crop growth model of the decision support system for agrotechnology transfer (DSSAT) was adopted to estimate the changing trends of the water footprint of winter wheat production in this area under future climate conditions, and to obtain the optimal irrigation scheme of winter wheat for an ‘acceptable yield’. According to the test results, all the temperature indices of the piedmont plain area increased in the two selected future climate scenarios. In addition, the effective precipitation exhibited a slight decrease in scenario A2 and a remarkable increase in scenario B2. Both the total water footprint and green water footprint increased. A yield of 500 kg per mu was taken as the acceptable yield. In scenario A2, to achieve this acceptable yield, it was required to irrigate once in the jointing period with an irrigation rate of 105 mm. In scenario B2, one-time irrigation with an amount of 85 mm was sufficient to reach the acceptable yield.

Download Full-text

Spatial-temporal distribution of climate suitability of winter wheat in North China Plain for current and future climate scenarios

Theoretical and Applied Climatology ◽

10.1007/s00704-020-03450-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaopei Tang ◽

Haijun Liu

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Temporal Distribution ◽

Future Climate ◽

Climate Scenarios ◽

Climate Suitability

Download Full-text

Benchmark levels for the consumptive water footprint of crop production for different environmental conditions: a case study for winter wheat in China

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-20-4547-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 20 (11) ◽

pp. 4547-4559 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

La Zhuo ◽

Mesfin M. Mekonnen ◽

Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Winter Wheat ◽

Crop Production ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Arid Zone ◽

Southern China ◽

Water Productivity ◽

Climate Zones ◽

Wheat Production ◽

Growing Period

Abstract. Meeting growing food demands while simultaneously shrinking the water footprint (WF) of agricultural production is one of the greatest societal challenges. Benchmarks for the WF of crop production can serve as a reference and be helpful in setting WF reduction targets. The consumptive WF of crops, the consumption of rainwater stored in the soil (green WF), and the consumption of irrigation water (blue WF) over the crop growing period varies spatially and temporally depending on environmental factors like climate and soil. The study explores which environmental factors should be distinguished when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of crops. Hereto we determine benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of winter wheat production in China for all separate years in the period 1961–2008, for rain-fed vs. irrigated croplands, for wet vs. dry years, for warm vs. cold years, for four different soil classes, and for two different climate zones. We simulate consumptive WFs of winter wheat production with the crop water productivity model AquaCrop at a 5 by 5 arcmin resolution, accounting for water stress only. The results show that (i) benchmark levels determined for individual years for the country as a whole remain within a range of ±20 % around long-term mean levels over 1961–2008, (ii) the WF benchmarks for irrigated winter wheat are 8–10 % larger than those for rain-fed winter wheat, (iii) WF benchmarks for wet years are 1–3 % smaller than for dry years, (iv) WF benchmarks for warm years are 7–8 % smaller than for cold years, (v) WF benchmarks differ by about 10–12 % across different soil texture classes, and (vi) WF benchmarks for the humid zone are 26–31 % smaller than for the arid zone, which has relatively higher reference evapotranspiration in general and lower yields in rain-fed fields. We conclude that when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of a crop, it is useful to primarily distinguish between different climate zones. If actual consumptive WFs of winter wheat throughout China were reduced to the benchmark levels set by the best 25 % of Chinese winter wheat production (1224 m3 t−1 for arid areas and 841 m3 t−1 for humid areas), the water saving in an average year would be 53 % of the current water consumption at winter wheat fields in China. The majority of the yield increase and associated improvement in water productivity can be achieved in southern China.

Download Full-text

Benchmark levels for the consumptive water footprint of crop production for different environmental conditions: a case study for winter wheat in China

10.5194/hess-2016-47 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

La Zhuo ◽

Mesfin M. Mekonnen ◽

Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Winter Wheat ◽

Crop Production ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Arid Zone ◽

Southern China ◽

Water Productivity ◽

Climate Zones ◽

Wheat Production ◽

Growing Period

Abstract. Meeting growing food demands while simultaneously shrinking the water footprint (WF) of agricultural production is one of the greatest societal challenges. Benchmarks for the WF of crop production can serve as a reference and be helpful in setting WF reduction targets. The consumptive WF of crops, the consumption of rainwater stored in the soil (green WF) and the consumption of irrigation water (blue WF) over the crop growing period, varies spatially and temporally depending on environmental factors like climate and soil. The study explores which environmental factors should be distinguished when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of crops. Hereto we determine benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of winter wheat production in China for all separate years in the period 1961–2008, for rain-fed versus irrigated croplands, for wet versus dry years, for warm versus cold years, for four different soil classes and for two different climate zones. We simulate consumptive WFs of winter wheat production with the crop water productivity model AquaCrop at a 5 by 5 arc min resolution, accounting for water stress only. The results show that (i) benchmark levels determined for individual years for the country as a whole remain within a range of &pm;20 % around long-term mean levels over 1961–2008; (ii) the WF benchmarks for irrigated winter wheat are 8–10 % larger than those for rain-fed winter wheat; (iii) WF benchmarks for wet years are 1–3 % smaller than for dry years, (iv) WF benchmarks for warm years are 7–8 % smaller than for cold years, (v) WF benchmarks differ by about 10–12 % across different soil texture classes; and (vi) WF benchmarks for the humid zone are 26–31 % smaller than for the arid zone, which has relatively higher reference evapotranspiration in general and lower yields in rain-fed fields. We conclude that when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of a crop, it is useful to primarily distinguish between different climate zones. If actual consumptive WFs of winter wheat throughout China were reduced to the benchmark levels set by the best 25 % of Chinese winter wheat production (1224 m3 t−1 for arid areas and 841 m3 t−1 for humid areas), the water saving in an average year would be 53 % of the current water consumption at winter wheat fields in China. The majority of the yield increase and associated improvement in water productivity can be achieved in southern China.

Download Full-text

Simulating Wheat Production Potential Under Near-future Climate Change in Arid Regions of Northeast Iran

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1219301/v1 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Seyed Farhad Saberali ◽

Zahra Shirmohammadi-Aliakbarkhani ◽

Hossein Nastari Nasrabadi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Winter Wheat ◽

Water Scarcity ◽

Arid Regions ◽

Growth Period ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Wheat Production ◽

Near Future ◽

Northeast Iran

Abstract Water scarcity is the key challenge in arid regions, which exacerbates under climate change (CC) and must be considered to assess the impacts of CC on cropping systems. A climate-crop modelling approach was employed by using the CSM-CERES-Wheat model in some arid regions of northeast Iran to project the effects of CC on irrigated wheat production. Current climate data for 1990-2019 and climate projections of three climate models for 2021–2050 under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios were used to run the crop model. Two irrigation scenarios with different irrigation efficiencies were also simulated to investigate the impacts of water scarcity associated with changing climate and irrigation management on wheat productivity. Results indicated that mean temperature is projected to increase at the rates of 1.74–2.73 °C during the reproductive growth period of winter wheat over the study areas. The precipitation projections also indicated that the precipitation rates would decrease over most of the wheat-growing period. The length of the vegetative growth period will extend in some regions and shorten in others under the near future climate. However, the grain filling duration will reduce by about 2–4 days across all regions. The mean seasonal PET is expected to decrease by about 11 mm from 2021 to 2050 over the study areas. A mean overall reduction in winter wheat yield due to future climate conditions would be about 12.3 % across the study areas. However, an increase of 15-30% in the irrigation efficiency will be able to offset yield reductions associated with limited water supply under future climate scenarios. The results suggest that CC will exacerbate limited irrigation water availability, so implementing high-efficiency irrigation systems should be a priority to adapt to climate change in an arid cropping system.

Download Full-text