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Efficient Use of Water and Soil Resources
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Efficient Use of Water and Soil Resources

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Water".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 13015

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Wenzhi Zeng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
Interests: hydrology; crop science; crop modelling; soil science; water and fertilizer management
Dr. Haorui Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Interests: hydrology modelling;drainage water management; irrigation water use efficiency assessment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Influenced by environmental pollution and climate change, the scarcity of soil and water resources is posing a profound challenge to economic development and food security, it is imminent to improve the utilization efficiency of water and soil resources. However, with the evolution of evaluation criteria for the efficient utilization of water and soil resources, more influences from economic, social, climate, ecological, and other factors should be considered in optimation strategies exploration; meanwhile, the use of unconventional soil and water resources gradually attracted more attention, the availability of soil and water resources are required to reclarify; moreover, owing to the advances in optimization algorithm and data processing method, more reliable and accurate statistical and physical models for soil and water resource management need to develop. Overall, the aim of this Special Issue is to original research and review articles that discuss the novel technologies, strategies, and simulations about the efficient utilization of soil and water resources.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • New technologies to improve the efficiency of soil and water resource utilization.
  • Optimation strategies for soil and water resources allocation at different scales under complex and varying environments.
  • Development and utilization of unconventional soil and water resources.
  • Applications of intelligent algorithms and developments of the novel model in soil and water resources management.

Dr. Wenzhi Zeng
Dr. Haorui Chen
Guest Editors

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. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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

  • efficiency of water and soil resources
  • new technologies
  • optimization strategies
  • utilization of unconventional soil and water resources
  • statistical and physical models
  • intelligent algorithms

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1301 KiB  
Article
Soil Infiltration Properties Are Affected by Typical Plant Communities in a Semi-Arid Desert Grassland in China
by Shiling Shi, Feiyan Zhao, Xiaomeng Ren, Zhongju Meng, Xiaohong Dang and Xiaolong Wu
Water 2022, 14(20), 3301; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14203301 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1854
Abstract
A process of infiltration from the soil surface to form soil water is known as soil infiltration; this is the only way for plants to absorb and use soil water. This process is closely related to nutrient migration, surface runoff, and soil erosion. [...] Read more.
A process of infiltration from the soil surface to form soil water is known as soil infiltration; this is the only way for plants to absorb and use soil water. This process is closely related to nutrient migration, surface runoff, and soil erosion. The objectives of this study were to quantify the effect of typical plant communities on soil infiltration performance, reveal the interaction between soil infiltration rate and soil characteristics and plant roots, and determine the primary influencing elements on the Xilamuren grassland. The ring knife method was used to determine the soil infiltration rate at the 0–30 cm soil layer of six typical vegetation communities. The results indicated that the infiltration rate of the Koeleria macrantha community was highest at the soil depth of 0–5 cm, while that of the Convolvulus ammannii community was lowest, reaching 4.25 mm·min−1 and 0.53 mm·min−1, respectively. The soil infiltration rate of different plant communities gradually declined with the increment of soil depth. The strongest correlations were found between bulk density, total porosity, organic matter, root characteristics, and soil infiltration rate. The bulk density, initial water content, capillary porosity, and clay content were the primary influencing factors acting on soil infiltration in the region. Other factors indirectly impacted the infiltration rate by modifying bulk density, which was a crucial limiting factor determining the infiltration rate in the research region. The study’s findings will give theoretical and practical assistance for the prevention and management of soil deterioration and grassland restoration in this area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Use of Water and Soil Resources)
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15 pages, 2771 KiB  
Article
Effects of Water and Nitrogen Management on Water Productivity, Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Leaching Loss in Rice Paddies
by Kaiwen Chen, Shuang’en Yu, Tao Ma, Jihui Ding, Pingru He, Yan Dai and Guangquan Zeng
Water 2022, 14(10), 1596; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14101596 - 16 May 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2896
Abstract
Effective water and nitrogen (N) management strategies are critical for sustainable agricultural development. Lysimeter experiments with two deep percolation rates (low percolation and high percolation, i.e., LP and HP: 3 mm d−1 and 5 mm d−1) and five N application [...] Read more.
Effective water and nitrogen (N) management strategies are critical for sustainable agricultural development. Lysimeter experiments with two deep percolation rates (low percolation and high percolation, i.e., LP and HP: 3 mm d−1 and 5 mm d−1) and five N application levels (N0~N4: 0, 60, 135, 210 and 285 kg N ha−1) were conducted to investigate the effects of controlled drainage on water productivity (WP) and N use efficiency (NUE) in water-saving irrigated paddy fields. The results demonstrated that NH4+-N and NO3−-N were the major components of total nitrogen (TN) in ponded water and leachate, accounting for more than 77.1% and 83.6% of TN, respectively. The risk of N leaching loss increased significantly under treatment of high percolation rates or high N application levels. High percolation loss required greater irrigation input, thus reducing WP. In addition, N uptake increased with increasing N application, but fertilization applied in excess of crop demand had a negative effect on grain yield. NUE was affected by the amount of N applied and increased with decreasing N levels. Water and N application levels had a significant effect on N uptake of rice, but their interaction on N uptake or NUE was not significant. For the LP and HP regimes, the highest N uptake and WP were obtained with N application levels of 285 kg ha−1 and 210 kg ha−1, respectively. Our overall results suggested that the combination of controlled drainage and water-saving irrigation was a feasible mitigation strategy to reduce N losses through subdrainage percolation and to provide more nutrients available for rice to improve NUE, thus reducing diffuse agricultural pollution. Long-term field trials are necessary to validate the lysimeter results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Use of Water and Soil Resources)
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15 pages, 2832 KiB  
Article
Sunflower Photosynthetic Characteristics, Nitrogen Uptake, and Nitrogen Use Efficiency under Different Soil Salinity and Nitrogen Applications
by Tao Ma, Kaiwen Chen, Pingru He, Yan Dai, Yiqun Yin, Suhan Peng, Jihui Ding, Shuang’en Yu and Jiesheng Huang
Water 2022, 14(6), 982; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14060982 - 20 Mar 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3350
Abstract
Understanding salinity and fertilizer interaction is of great importance to improve crop production and fertilizer use efficiency in saline areas. To evaluate the interactive effects of different soil salinity levels and nitrogen (N) applications rates on the sunflower photosynthetic characteristics of N uptake [...] Read more.
Understanding salinity and fertilizer interaction is of great importance to improve crop production and fertilizer use efficiency in saline areas. To evaluate the interactive effects of different soil salinity levels and nitrogen (N) applications rates on the sunflower photosynthetic characteristics of N uptake and N use efficiency, a two-year field experiment was conducted in Hetao Irrigation District, China. The experiment consisted of three initial salinity (IS) levels expressed as the electrical conductivity of a saturated soil extract (ECe) (S0: 1.72–2.61 dS/m; S1: 4.73–5.90 dS/m; S2: 6.85–9.04 dS/m) and four N rates (45, 90, 135, and 180 kg/ha), referred as N0–N3, respectively. The results indicated that the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) of sunflowers treated with S0 and S1 levels both had a significant decrease in the bud stage, and then reached their maximum at anthesis. However, during the crop cycle, the Pn at S2 level only had small fluctuations and still remained at a high level (>40 μmol CO2/(m2 s)) at the early mature stage. When increasing IS levels from S0 to S1, the plant N uptake (PNU) under the same N rates were only decreased by less than 10% at maturity, whereas the decline was expanded to 17.2–45.7% from S1 to S2. Additionally, though applying the N2 rate could not increase sunflower PNU at the S0 and S1 levels, its N use efficiency was better than those under N3. Meanwhile, at the S2 level, the application of the N0 rate produced a higher N productive efficiency (NPE) and N uptake efficiency (NUPE) than the other N rates. Therefore, our study proposed recommended rates of N fertilizer (S0 and S1: 135 kg/ha, S2: 45 kg/ha) for sunflowers under different saline conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Use of Water and Soil Resources)
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16 pages, 5638 KiB  
Article
Study of Comprehensive Utilization of Water Resources of Urban Water Distribution Network
by Chi Xu, Zhenyang Peng, Hongya Zhang and Zijie He
Water 2021, 13(19), 2791; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13192791 - 08 Oct 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1443
Abstract
China is a country where the levels of water resources per capita are extremely low. With the rapid development of urbanization, water resource shortages have become a bottleneck existing in more and more cities. This study considers the comprehensive management of urban flood [...] Read more.
China is a country where the levels of water resources per capita are extremely low. With the rapid development of urbanization, water resource shortages have become a bottleneck existing in more and more cities. This study considers the comprehensive management of urban flood control, water supply, water and the ecological environment, catches the main contradiction between “water deficient” and “water rich” in cities, puts forward a comprehensive utilization pattern for urban water resources by emphasizing the utilization of rain–flood resources. After a simulation study, a better regulation pattern is brought out and achieve multiple benefits based on the river system of Gucheng Lake, which is located in Nanjing, Gaochun district, by optimizing conventional regulation. The results show that two parameters, the low water level (LWL) below which Gucheng Lake stops supplying ecological water, and the high water level (HWL) where Gucheng Lake stops importing water from rivers, are the key parameters to decide the regulation benefits, and the LWL of 9 m and HWL of 12 m is the best combination in river network regulation, the annual potential utilizable of rain–flood resources of Gucheng Lake river system can reach 57 million m3 per year, through the comprehensive utilization of the rain–flood resources, the negative effect of flood is effectively reduced and the disaster is controlled on one hand; and the water demand of urban and rural water supply, 100,000 m3/day, is effectively guaranteed as well as the regional ecological environment is improved on the other hand. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Use of Water and Soil Resources)
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18 pages, 4720 KiB  
Article
Experimental Study of the Effect of Controlled Drainage on Soil Water and Nitrogen Balance
by Niannian Yuan, Yujiang Xiong, Yalong Li, Baokun Xu and Fengli Liu
Water 2021, 13(16), 2241; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13162241 - 17 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2518
Abstract
Field experiments and micro test pit experiments are conducted at the Four Lake Watershed with a shallow groundwater table in the Hubei province of China in order to study the effect of controlled pipe drainage on soil moisture and nitrogen under different experiment [...] Read more.
Field experiments and micro test pit experiments are conducted at the Four Lake Watershed with a shallow groundwater table in the Hubei province of China in order to study the effect of controlled pipe drainage on soil moisture and nitrogen under different experiment scales. Soil moisture and nitrogen contents are continuously observed at the effective soil depth; water and nitrogen balance are calculated after several heavy rainfalls. The results showed that controlled pipe drainage significantly reduced the fluctuation of soil water content in the entire growth stage. There is a positive correlation between the soil moisture and the control water level in the test pits but no obvious correlation between them in the field experiments, which is related to the vertical and lateral recharge of groundwater in the field. After rainfall, soil organic matter mineralization was enhanced, and the control pipe drainage measures increased the relative content of soil mineralized ammonia nitrogen, which enhanced the stability of soil nitrogen and helped to reduce the loss of nitrogen. The calculation of soil water and nitrogen balance in the field and micro-area after rainfall showed that the soil water storage increased in the effective soil layer under the control water level of 30 cm and 50 cm after rainfall, and the amount of nitrogen mineralization was larger than that under the free drainage treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Use of Water and Soil Resources)
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