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Agronomy
Special Issues
Innovative Approaches to Improve Crop Water Productivity under Irrigated Conditions
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Innovative Approaches to Improve Crop Water Productivity under Irrigated Conditions

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Use and Irrigation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2018) | Viewed by 21946

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Huihui Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Water Management and System Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Interests: irrigation water management; remote sensing; crop water use; ET modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. José Luis Chávez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Irrigated agriculture represents 20 percent of total cultivated land, but contributes 40 percent of the total food produced worldwide. With a growing global population, food demand may increase by nearly 60% by 2050. Irrigated agriculture is facing challenges as water supplies are declining due to climate change and competition from other stakeholders. To sustain irrigated agriculture and meet future food needs, research is required to maximize crop water productivity (yield per unit water used by the crop). Please share your success stories from research in irrigated regions around the world in this Special Issue. Submissions on the following topics (but not limited to) are invited: 1) Innovative and novel application of conventional approaches for irrigation management; 2) Agronomic practices related to crop productivity under limited water; 3) Advanced techniques, such as remote sensing, for farm-scale irrigation scheduling ; 4)  Optimum regulated deficit irrigation strategies; and 5) Decision support tools and modeling.

Dr. Huihui Zhang
Dr. José Luis Chávez
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Irrigation scheduling
  • Deficit irrigation
  • Irrigation systems
  • Cropping systems
  • Crop coefficient and ET
  • Water stress
  • Precision irrigation
  • Crop model

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2301 KiB  
Article
Water-Yield Relationship Responses of Maize to Ridge-Furrow Planting Systems Coupled with Multiple Irrigation Levels in China’s Horqin Sandy Land
by Zhaoquan He, Tonghui Zhang, Xinping Liu and Xue Shang
Agronomy 2018, 8(10), 221; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8100221 - 09 Oct 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4498
Abstract
Water scarcity threatens the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in semi-arid regions, and ridge-furrow planting systems (RFPS) can be a prospective rainwater harvesting approach. In this study, we aimed to develop a promising water-saving strategy to boost maize productivity and water use efficiency (WUE). [...] Read more.
Water scarcity threatens the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in semi-arid regions, and ridge-furrow planting systems (RFPS) can be a prospective rainwater harvesting approach. In this study, we aimed to develop a promising water-saving strategy to boost maize productivity and water use efficiency (WUE). In 2017, we carried out a field experiment to study the effects of various RFPS with multiple irrigation levels on the yield-water relationship of maize (Zea mays L.). Eleven treatments were set up: RFPS with film mulching on both ridges and furrows and without water supply after seed emergence, abbreviated as QF; RFPS with film mulching on continuous ridges, abbreviated as MD, including SMD, MMD, and LMD (S, M, and L—three water supply (irrigation plus precipitation) levels of 650 mm, 500 mm, and 350 mm during the whole growing season); RFPS without film mulching, abbreviated as DD, including SDD, MDD, and LDD; conventional flat planting with no film mulching, abbreviated as GG, including SGG, MGG, and LGG; localized full irrigation (actual amount of irrigation excessively exceeding the quantity needed), abbreviated as NM. A positive linear relationship (R2 = 0.95–1), a quadratic curve, and a negative linear relationship were observed between the irrigation water level and actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc), grain yield, and WUE, respectively. The ETc of QF (292 mm) was substantially lower than that of the other treatments (p < 0.01), saving 649 mm of irrigation water and increasing the yield by 2.24% compared with those of NM. Meanwhile, the WUE and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) of QF reached maximums of 6.3 and 47.36 kg m−3, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of other treatments (p < 0.001). The results showed that planting in an RFPS with film mulching on both ridges and furrows (a ridge-to-furrow ratio of 50:30, with a 38 mm irrigation level) is suitable for maize to obtain high yield and reduce irrigation water use significantly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches to Improve Crop Water Productivity under Irrigated Conditions)
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16 pages, 3523 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Seasonal Irrigation Amount, Evapotranspiration, Yield, and Water Productivity under Semiarid Climate
by Koffi Djaman, Michael O’Neill, Curtis Owen, Daniel Smeal, Margaret West, Dallen Begay, Samuel Allen, Komlan Koudahe, Suat Irmak and Kevin Lombard
Agronomy 2018, 8(6), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8060096 - 16 Jun 2018
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 6629
Abstract
A long-term field experiment was conducted from 2002 to 2014 for the evaluation of yield and water productivity of three winter wheat varieties—Kharkof, Scout 66, and TAM107—under sprinkler irrigation at New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center at Farmington, NM. Winter wheat daily [...] Read more.
A long-term field experiment was conducted from 2002 to 2014 for the evaluation of yield and water productivity of three winter wheat varieties—Kharkof, Scout 66, and TAM107—under sprinkler irrigation at New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center at Farmington, NM. Winter wheat daily evapotranspiration was estimated following the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FAO crop coefficient approach (ETc = Kc ETo), and crop water use efficiency (CWUE), evapotranspiration water use efficiency (ETWUE), and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) were estimated for each growing season. There was inter-annual variation in seasonal precipitation and irrigation amounts. Seasonal irrigation amounts varied from 511 to 787 mm and the total water supply varied from 590 to 894 mm with precipitation representing a range of 7.7–24.2%. Winter wheat daily actual evapotranspiration (ETc) varied from 0.1 to 14.5 mm/day, averaging 2.7 mm/day during the winter wheat growing seasons, and the seasonal evapotranspiration varied from 625 to 890 mm. Grain yield was dependent on winter wheat variety, decreased with years, and varied from 1843.1 to 7085.7 kg/ha. TAM107 obtained the highest grain yield. Winter wheat CWUE, IWUE, and ETWUE were also varietal dependent and varied from 0.22 to 1.01 kg/m3, from 0.26 to 1.17 kg/m3, and from 0.29 to 0.92 kg/m3, respectively. CWUE linearly decreased with seasonal water, and IWUE linearly decreased with seasonal irrigation amount, while CWUE, IWUE, and ETWUE were positively correlated with the grain yield for the three winter wheat varieties, with R2 ≥ 0.85 for CWUE, R2 ≥ 0.69 for IWUE, and R2 ≥ 0.89 for ETWUE. The results of this study can serve as guidelines for winter wheat production in the semiarid Four Corners regions. Additional research need to be conducted for optimizing winter wheat irrigation management relative to planting date and fertilization management to reduce the yield gap between winter wheat actual yield and the national average yield. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches to Improve Crop Water Productivity under Irrigated Conditions)
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17 pages, 3510 KiB  
Article
Olive Water Use, Crop Coefficient, Yield, and Water Productivity under Two Deficit Irrigation Strategies
by Francisco L. Santos
Agronomy 2018, 8(6), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8060089 - 03 Jun 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3932
Abstract
Reports on the annual effects of deficit irrigation regimes on olive trees are critical in shedding light on their impacts on water use, yield, and water productivity in distinct olive growing climate regions of the world. From the account of a four-year experiment, [...] Read more.
Reports on the annual effects of deficit irrigation regimes on olive trees are critical in shedding light on their impacts on water use, yield, and water productivity in distinct olive growing climate regions of the world. From the account of a four-year experiment, the aim of this work is to add insight into such effects on olive growing in southern Portugal. We worked with trees in an intensive ‘Cobrançosa’ orchard (300 trees ha−1) under full irrigation (FI) treatment and two regulated deficit irrigation (DI) treatments designed to replace around 70% and 50% of the FI water supply, respectively. Crop transpiration (T), irrigation water use (IWU), total water use (TWU), irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), yield (Ya), and water productivity (WP) obtained from all treatments were analyzed, as well as their crop coefficients (Kc), simulated with the SIMDualKc software application for root zone and soil water balance based on the FAO dual crop coefficients. As expected, IWUE of the 50DI treatment was the highest among treatments, with 70DI being slightly lower. Ya showed alternate bearing with an “on-off” year sequence and was consistently higher for the 70DI treatment. WP (the ratio of Ya to IWU) values for the 70DI treatment were also consistently the highest among all treatments and years. The mean simulated Kc act values for 70DI and 50DI for the initial, mid-, and end-season compared well to the FAO56 Kc for olive crops. In general, to rank the irrigation treatments, 70DI presented the highest conversion efficiency among all treatments and years, providing a suitable DI alternative for our ‘Cobrançosa’ orchard. The 50DI treatment may be an attractive DI regime to undertake under scarce farm water resources or the expansion of olive hectares under water constraints. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches to Improve Crop Water Productivity under Irrigated Conditions)
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1164 KiB  
Article
Performance of Precision Mobile Drip Irrigation in the Texas High Plains Region
by Susan A. O’Shaughnessy and Paul D. Colaizzi
Agronomy 2017, 7(4), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy7040068 - 20 Oct 2017
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 6372
Abstract
Mobile drip irrigation (MDI) technology adapts driplines to the drop hoses of moving sprinkler systems to apply water as the drip lines are pulled across the field. There is interest in this technology among farmers in the Texas High Plains region to help [...] Read more.
Mobile drip irrigation (MDI) technology adapts driplines to the drop hoses of moving sprinkler systems to apply water as the drip lines are pulled across the field. There is interest in this technology among farmers in the Texas High Plains region to help sustain irrigated agriculture. However, information on the performance of this system and its benefits relative to common sprinkler application technologies in the region are limited. A two-year study was conducted in 2015 and 2016 to compare grain yields, crop water use (ETc) and water use efficiency (WUE) of corn (Zea Mays L.) irrigated with MDI, low elevation spray application (LESA) and low energy precision application (LEPA) methods. Irrigation amounts for each application method were based on weekly neutron probe readings. In both years, grain yield and yield components were similar among application treatment methods. Although WUE was similar for the MDI treatment plots compared with LEPA and LESA during the wet growing season (2015), MDI demonstrated improved WUE during the drier year of 2016. Additional studies using crops with less than full canopy cover at maturity (sorghum and cotton) are needed to document the performance of MDI in the Texas High Plains region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches to Improve Crop Water Productivity under Irrigated Conditions)
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