Water sources for apple trees in Alpine orchards: where does irrigation water go?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Penna ◽  
Jason Frentress ◽  
Damiano Zanotelli ◽  
Francesca Scandellari ◽  
Agnese Aguzzoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
River Water ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Rain Water ◽  
Apple Trees ◽  
General Hypothesis ◽  
The One

<p>Understanding the dynamics and sources of root water uptake in agricultural systems is becoming increasingly important for implementing efficient and sustainable water resources management and, at the same time, for optimizing crop yield and quality under changing climatic conditions. In this work, we adopted the stable isotope approach to investigate the water sources accessed by apple trees in two orchards growing in the upper Etsch/Adige valley (South Tyrol, Eastern Italian Alps). We tested the general hypothesis that soil water, composed of a mixture of rain and irrigation water, was the main source for tree transpiration but that river water and groundwater mixed with soil water and contributed to root uptake for trees growing close to the river and with higher water table. Our results revealed that apple trees during the 2015 and 2016 growing seasons relied mostly on soil water present in the upper 20-40 cm of soils, with an apparently negligible contribution of groundwater and river water, irrespective of the field position across the valley bottom. The isotopic composition of xylem water did not reflect the one of irrigation water (and neither that of groundwater) but rather of rainfall and throughfall, as well as that of soil water. We related this “hidden” tracer signature of irrigation water to the effect of soil evaporation that strongly modified its original isotopic composition: irrigation and rain water infiltrated into the soil and mixed with isotopically fractionated soil water, and trees took up a mixture of water with different isotopic composition compared to the one of the original irrigation source. This work contributes to improve the understanding of water uptake strategies in Alpine apple orchards and paves the way for further analysis on the proportion of irrigation and rain water used by apple trees in mountain agroecosystems.</p>

A simple numerical model to estimate water availability in saline soils

Soil Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Mohammadi ◽  
Mahnaz Khataar
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Soil Salinity ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Weighting Function ◽  
Water Salinity ◽  
Irrigation Water Salinity ◽  
Evapotranspiration Rate

We developed a numerical model to predict soil salinity from knowledge of evapotranspiration rate, crop salt tolerance, irrigation water salinity, and soil hydraulic properties. Using the model, we introduced a new weighting function to express the limitation imposed by salinity on plant available water estimated by the integral water capacity concept. Lower and critical limits of soil water uptake by plants were also defined. We further analysed the sensitivity of model results to underlying parameters using characteristics given for corn, cowpea, and barley in the literature and two clay and sandy loam soils obtained from databases. Results showed that, between two irrigation events, soil salinity increased nonlinearly with decreasing soil water content especially when evapotranspiration and soil drainage rate were high. The salinity weighting function depended greatly on the plant sensitivity to salinity and irrigation water salinity. This research confirmed that both critical and lower limits (in terms of water content) of soil water uptake by plants increased with evapotranspiration rate and irrigation water salinity. Since the presented approach is based on a physical concept and well-known plant parameters, soil hydraulic characteristics, irrigation water salinity, and meteorological conditions, it may be useful in spatio-temporal modelling of soil water quality and quantity and prediction of crop yield.

Soil water in relation to irrigation, water uptake and potato yield in a humid climate

2008 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.C. Starr ◽  
D. Rowland ◽  
T.S. Griffin ◽  
O.M. Olanya
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Potato Yield ◽  
Humid Climate

How do meteorological variables and topography control species-specific water uptake strategy along a forested hillslope?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ginevra Fabiani ◽  
Daniele Penna ◽  
Julian Klaus
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Growth Parameters ◽  
Stream Water ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Grab Sampling ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Species Specific

<p>In the face of current global warming conditions, temperate forest ecosystems are expected to be strongly affected by temperature increase and more frequent and intense water shortage. This leads to severe stress for forest vegetation in many temperate systems. Therefore, understanding the vegetation water use in temperate forests is urgently needed for more effective forest management strategies. Root water uptake (RWU) is a species-specific trait (tree physiology and root architecture) and its spatio-temporal patterns are controlled by a range of site-specific (e.g., topography, geology, pedology) and meteorological factors (e.g., temperature, soil humidity, rainfall.</p><p>In the present study, we use stable water isotopologues as ecohydrological tracers combined with continuous measurement of hydrometeorological (weather variables, groundwater levels, soil moisture, streamflow) and physiological (sap flow, radial stem growth) parameters to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of water uptake for beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl) trees along a hillslope in a Luxemburgish catchment.</p><p>Fortnightly field campaigns were carried out during the growing season (April-October) 2019 to sample water from xylem, soil water at different depths, groundwater, stream water, and precipitation. Soil water isotopic composition and xylem water were extracted via cryogenic distillation. Grab sampling was performed for the other water pools. The isotopic composition was determined through laser spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (for xylem samples only).</p><p>From preliminary results, the isotopic composition of xylem water shows a marked seasonal variability suggesting a plasticity in RWU or a change in the isotopic composition of the water pools over the growing season. Moreover, beech and oak trees exhibit different uptake strategies when water supply is low. Within the range of observed groundwater variation topography does not play a statistically significant role on RWU.</p>

scholarly journals Isotopic approaches to quantifying root water uptake and redistribution: a review and comparison of methods

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youri Rothfuss ◽  
Mathieu Javaux
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Statistical Methods ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Isotopic Analysis ◽  
Root Water Uptake ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Mixing Model ◽  
Stable Isotopic Analysis ◽  
Stable Isotopic ◽  
Physically Based

Abstract. Plant root water uptake (RWU) and release (i.e., hydraulic redistribution – HR, and its particular case hydraulic lift – HL) have been documented for the past five decades from water stable isotopic analysis. By comparing the (hydrogen or oxygen) stable isotopic composition of plant xylem water to those of potential contributive water sources (e.g., water from different soil layers, groundwater, water from recent precipitation or from a nearby stream) authors could determine the relative contributions of these water sources to RWU. Other authors have confirmed the existence of HR and HL from the isotopic analysis of the plant xylem water following a labelling pulse. In this paper, the different methods used for locating / quantifying relative contributions of water sources to RWU (i.e., graphical inference, statistical (e.g., Bayesian) multi-source linear mixing models) are reviewed with emphasis on their respective advantages and drawbacks. The graphical and statistical methods are tested against a physically based analytical RWU model during a series of virtual experiments differing in the depth of the groundwater table, the soil surface water status, and the plant transpiration rate value. The benchmarking of these methods illustrates the limitations of the graphical and statistical methods (e.g., their inability to locate or quantify HR) while it underlines the performance of one Bayesian mixing model, but only when the number of considered water sources in the soil is the highest to closely reflect the vertical distribution of the soil water isotopic composition. The simplest two end-member mixing model is also successfully tested when all possible sources in the soil can be identified to define the two end-members and compute their isotopic compositions. Finally, future challenges in studying RWU with stable isotopic analysis are evocated with focus on new isotopic monitoring methods and sampling strategies, and on the implementation of isotope transport in physically based RWU models.

Apple trees, larches and their water uptake: distinct ecohydrological systems in contrasting environmental settings?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Brighenti ◽  
Giacomo Bertoldi ◽  
Agnese Aguzzoni ◽  
Damiano Zanotellii ◽  
Nikolaus Obojes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Samples ◽  
Meteoric Water ◽  
Stream Water ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Apple Trees ◽  
Water Line ◽  
Meteoric Water Line ◽  
Different Depths ◽  
Different Water Sources

<p>Different water sources can contribute to plant transpiration in Alpine environments, such as rainfall, snowmelt, irrigation and/or stream waters that are temporarily stored in the vadose and saturated zones. Particularly, the proportion of water uptake from different soil depths can strikingly differ depending on the species and the local environmental conditions such as the availability of freshwater resources, and local climatic and pedological settings.</p><p>We aim at estimating the relative contributions of different water sources (i.e., soil water at various depths and groundwater) to tree transpiration with the use of stable water isotopes. Our work is part of a wider national project (WATZON: WATer mixing in the critical ZONe) studying the relationship between plants, soil and water in contrasting natural and semi-natural environments of Italy. Here we report the results of monitoring activities in two different ecosystems in South-Tyrol (Eastern Italian Alps): an apple orchard growing on a deep (>2.5 m) sandy soil of the Adige floodplain (Binnenland), and a sub-alpine conifer forest located on steep slopes with a shallow (10-60 cm) skeletal soil (Mazia, 2000 mt a.s.l.), where we selected European larch (Larix decidua) as a model-species. Water (precipitation, stream water, groundwater), soil at different depths and twigs samples were collected fortnightly from May to November 2020, and weather conditions (automatic stations), soil parameters (moisture and temperature) at different depths and sapflow were continuously recorded over the entire period.</p><p>At both locations, precipitation waters had a heavier isotopic composition than stream water and groundwater, that did not show any significant difference between each other in terms of isotopic signature. While all these potential water sources plotted on the local meteoric water line, shallow soil water samples (5-15 cm) deviated from it revealing a stronger and more variable evaporative fractionation when compared with those of deeper soil (25-65 cm). Xylem water samples from apple trees at Binnenland overlapped with soil water samples, more consistently at 10-30 cm depths. This water mostly derived from infiltrated rainwater but with a non-negligible contribution from groundwater during July and August. In contrast, xylem water from larch trees at Mazia plotted on the local meteoric water line, and had an isotopic composition more similar to that of precipitation than soil water even for samples collected after several days of drying out. As sapflow measurements of larches revealed a continuous transpiration, it is unlikely that trees took up water only soon after precipitation events. Instead, we hypothesize that larches at Mazia likely rely on a water pool which is different from the soil (e.g., rock moisture).</p><p>These contrasting ecohydrological systems reveal different strategies of water use by dwelling plants in natural and anthropic systems, showing a distinct sensitivity and resilience to changing climate.</p>

scholarly journals Macropore flow of old water revisited: where does the mixing occur at the hillslope scale?

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 4333-4380 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Klaus ◽  
E. Zehe ◽  
M. Elsner ◽  
C. Külls ◽  
J. J. McDonnell
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Lower Boundary ◽  
Base Flow ◽  
Macropore Flow ◽  
Hillslope Scale

Abstract. The mechanisms allowing the rapid release of stored water to streams are poorly understood. Here we use a tile drained field site to combine naturally structured soils at the hillslope scale with the advantage of at least partly controlled lower boundary conditions. We performed a series of three irrigation experiments combining hydrometric measurements with stable isotope and bromide tracers to better understand macropore-matrix interactions and stored water release processes at the hillslope scale. Stable isotope concentrations were monitored in the irrigation water, the tile drain discharge and the soil water before and after the experiment. Bromide was measured at mainly every 5–15 min in the tile drain hydrograph. Different initial conditions for each experiment were used to examine how pre-event soil moisture conditions influenced flow and transport. Different amounts of irrigation water were necessary to increase tile drain discharge above the base flow level. Hydrograph separation based on bromide data revealed that irrigation water contributions to peak tile drain discharge were on the order of 20%. Oxygen-18 and deuterium data were consistent with the bromide data and showed that pre-event soil water contributed significantly to the tile drain event flow. However, the isotopic composition of soil water converged towards the isotopic composition of irrigation water through the course of the experiment. Mixing calculations revealed that by the end of the irrigation experiments 20% of the soil water in the entire profile was irrigation water. The isotopic data showed that the pre-event water in the tile drain was mobilized in 20–40 cm soil depth were the macropore-matrix interaction leads to an initiation of macropore flow after a moisture threshold is exceeded.

scholarly journals Coffee and shade trees show complementary use of soil water in a traditional agroforestry ecosystem

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 1649-1668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyssette Elena Muñoz-Villers ◽  
Josie Geris ◽  
María Susana Alvarado-Barrientos ◽  
Friso Holwerda ◽  
Todd Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Root Water Uptake ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Shade Trees ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Soil Layers ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Coffee Plants

Abstract. Globally, coffee has become one of the most sensitive commercial crops, being affected by climate change. Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) grows in traditionally shaded agroforestry systems in tropical regions and accounts for ∼70 % of coffee production worldwide. Nevertheless, the interaction between plant and soil water sources in these coffee plantations remains poorly understood. To investigate the functional response of dominant shade tree species and coffee (C. arabica var. typica) plants to different soil water availability conditions, we conducted a study during near-normal and more pronounced dry seasons (2014 and 2017, respectively) and a wet season (2017) in a traditional coffee plantation in central Veracruz, Mexico. For the different periods, we specifically investigated the variations in water sources and root water uptake via MixSIAR mixing models that use δ18O and δ2H stable isotope composition of rainfall, plant xylem and soil water. To further increase our mechanistic understanding of root activity, the distribution of below-ground biomass and soil macronutrients was also examined and considered in the model as prior information. Results showed that, over the course of the two investigated dry seasons, all shade tree species (Lonchocarpus guatemalensis, Inga vera and Trema micrantha) relied, on average, on water sources from intermediate (>15 to 30 cm depth: 58± 18 % SD) and deep soil layers (>30 to 120 cm depth: 34±21 %), while coffee plants used much shallower water sources (<5 cm depth: 42±37 % and 5–15 cm depth: 52±35 %). In addition, in these same periods, coffee water uptake was influenced by antecedent precipitation, whereas trees showed little sensitiveness to antecedent wetness. Our findings also showed that during the wet season coffee plants substantially increased the use of near-surface water (+56 % from <5 cm depth), while shade trees extended the water acquisition to much shallower soil layers (+19 % from <15 cm depth) in comparison to drier periods. Despite the plasticity in root water uptake observed between canopy trees and coffee plants, a complementary use of soil water prevailed during the dry and wet seasons investigated. However, more variability in plant water sources was observed among species in the rainy season when higher soil moisture conditions were present and water stress was largely absent.

scholarly journals The Stable Isotopic Composition of Different Water Bodies at the Soil–Plant–Atmosphere Continuum (SPAC) of the Western Loess Plateau, China

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1742
Author(s):  
Che ◽  
Zhang ◽  
Argiriou ◽  
Wang ◽  
Du ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
River Water ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Lanzhou City ◽  
Shallow Soil ◽  
Water Plant ◽  
Stable Isotopic

Understanding the isotopic composition and interrelations of different water bodies at the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum (SPAC) is crucial to reveal the processes and mechanisms of regional water cycles. Rainfall, river water, plant, and soil samples from Lanzhou City, China, were collected from April to October 2016. The hydrogen (δ2H) and oxygen (δ18O) of the local precipitation, river water, soil water, plant xylem water, and leaf water were determined. We found that trees mainly uptake the middle (30–60 cm) and deep (60–100 cm) layer soil water during the growing season, and the shrubs mainly uptake the middle soil water. All herbs uptake the shallow soil water (0–30 cm) during the growing season. The δ18O of shallow soil water was found to be isotopic-enriched because of evaporation and exhibited a decline from the shallow soil layer towards the deeper layer. The variation of δ18O and soil water content (SWC) was remarkable in shallow soil, which was mainly due to evaporation and precipitation infiltration, while water in the middle and deep layer was less affected by these phenomena.

scholarly journals Macropore flow of old water revisited: experimental insights from a tile-drained hillslope

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Klaus ◽  
E. Zehe ◽  
M. Elsner ◽  
C. Külls ◽  
J. J. McDonnell
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Lower Boundary ◽  
Hydrograph Separation ◽  
Macropore Flow ◽  
Hillslope Scale

Abstract. The mechanisms allowing the rapid release of stored water to streams are poorly understood. Here we use a tile-drained field site to combine macroporous soils at the hillslope scale with the advantage of at least partly controlled lower boundary conditions. We performed a series of three irrigation experiments combining hydrometric measurements with stable isotope and bromide tracers to better understand macropore–matrix interactions and stored water release processes at the hillslope scale. Stable isotope concentrations were monitored in the irrigation water, the tile-drain discharge and the soil water before and after the experiment. Bromide was measured every 5–15 min in the tile-drain hydrograph. Different initial conditions for each experiment were used to examine how these influenced flow and transport. Different amounts of irrigation water were necessary to increase tile-drain discharge above the baseflow level. Hydrograph separation based on bromide data revealed that irrigation water contributions to peak tile-drain discharge were on the order of 20%. Oxygen-18 and deuterium data were consistent with the bromide data and showed that pre-event soil water contributed significantly to the tile-drain event flow. However, the isotopic composition of soil water converged towards the isotopic composition of irrigation water through the course of the experiment. Mixing calculations revealed that by the end of the irrigation experiments 20% of the soil water in the entire profile was irrigation water. The isotopic data showed that the pre-event water in the tile drain was mobilized in 20–40 cm soil depth where the macropore–matrix interaction leads to an initiation of macropore flow after a moisture threshold is exceeded.

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