Cover crop evapotranspiration under semi-arid conditions using FAO dual crop coefficient method with water stress compensation     

G. Bodner  W. Loiskandl 《Agricultural Water Management》2007,93(3):85-98

Cover cropping is a common agro-environmental tool for soil and groundwater protection. In water limited environments, knowledge about additional water extraction by cover crop plants compared to a bare soil is required for a sustainable management strategy. Estimates obtained by the FAO dual crop coefficient method, compared to water balance-based data of actual evapotranspiration, were used to assess the risk of soil water depletion by four cover crop species (phacelia, hairy vetch, rye, mustard) compared to a fallow control. A water stress compensation function was developed for this model to account for additional water uptake from deeper soil layers under dry conditions. The average deviation of modelled cumulative evapotranspiration from the measured values was 1.4% under wet conditions in 2004 and 6.7% under dry conditions in 2005. Water stress compensation was suggested for rye and mustard, improving substantially the model estimates. Dry conditions during full cover crop growth resulted in water losses exceeding fallow by a maximum of +15.8% for rye, while no substantially higher water losses to the atmosphere were found in case of evenly distributed rainfall during the plant vegetation period with evaporation and transpiration concentrated in the upper soil layer. Generally the potential of cover crop induced water storage depletion was limited due to the low evaporative demand when plants achieved maximum growth. These results in a transpiration efficiency being highest for phacelia (5.1 g m⁻² mm⁻¹) and vetch (5.4 g m⁻² mm⁻¹) and substantially lower for rye (2.9 g m⁻² mm⁻¹) and mustard (2.8 g m⁻² mm⁻¹). Taking into account total evapotranspiration losses, mustard performed substantially better. The integration of stress compensation into the FAO crop coefficient approach provided reliable estimates of water losses under dry conditions. Cover crop species reducing the high evaporation potential from a bare soil surface in late summer by a fast canopy coverage during early development stages were considered most suitable in a sustainable cover crop management for water limited environments.  相似文献   

Evaluating a multi-level subsurface drainage system for improved drainage water quality   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

J.W. Hornbuckle  E.W. Christen  R.D. Faulkner 《Agricultural Water Management》2007

This paper describes a multi-level drainage system, designed to improve drainage water quality. Results are presented from a field scale land reclamation experiment implemented in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area of New South Wales, Australia. A traditional single level drainage system and a multi-level drainage system were compared in the experiment in an irrigated field setting. The single level drainage system consisted of 1.8 m deep drains at 20 m spacing. This configuration is typical of subsurface drainage system design used in the area. The multi-level drainage system consisted of shallow closely spaced drains (3.3 m spacing at 0.75 m depth) underlain by deeper widely spaced drains (20 m spacing at 1.8 m depth). Data on drainage flows and salinity, water table regime and soil salinity were collected over a 2-year period.  相似文献   

Controlled water table management as a strategy for reducing salt loads from subsurface drainage under perennial agriculture in semi-arid Australia   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

John?W.?HornbuckleEmail author  Evan?W.?Christen  James?E.?Ayars  Richard?D.?Faulkner 《Irrigation and Drainage Systems》2005,19(2):145-159

Recent community based actions to ensure the sustainability of irrigation and protection of associated ecosystems in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) of Australia has seen the implementation of a regional Land and Water Management Plan. This aims to improve land and water management within the irrigation area and minimise downstream impacts associated with irrigation. One of the plan objectives is to decrease current salt loads generated from subsurface drainage in perennial horticulture within the area from 20 000 tonnes/year to 17 000 tonnes/year. In order to meet such objectives Controlled Water table Management (CWM) is being investigated as a possible ‘Best Management Practice’, to reduce drainage volumes and salt loads.During 2000–2002 a trial was conducted on a 15 ha subsurface drained vineyard. This compared a traditional unmanaged subsurface drainage system with a controlled drainage system utilizing weirs to maintain water tables and changes in irrigation scheduling to maximize the potential crop use of a shallow water table. Drainage volumes, salt loads and water table elevations throughout the field were monitored to investigate the effects of controlled drainage on drain flows and salt loads.Results from the experiment showed that controlled drainage significantly reduced drainage volumes and salt loads compared to unmanaged systems. However, there were marked increases in soil salinity which will need to be carefully monitored and managed.  相似文献   

Introduction: Governing Maintenance Provision in Irrigation     

W. Huppert  M. Svendsen  H. Murray-Rust 《Irrigation and Drainage Systems》2003,17(1-2):1-4

  相似文献   

Irrigation and food security in the 21st century   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Ian Carruthers  Mark W. Rosegrant  David Seckler 《Irrigation and Drainage Systems》1997,11(2):83-101

Global food projections indicate that food prices in the next threedecades will likely be stable or decline, but progress inreducing malnutrition in developing countries will be slow. Smallshortfalls in crop productivity growth would lead to rising foodprices and worsening malnutrition. Increased food production fromirrigation is essential, and will require expansion of irrigatedarea and water supplies, and improved efficiency of use of existingwater supplies. Neither of these growth factors will prove easy, andboth will require complex institutional and policy reforms. Failureto meet food production needs through efficient expansion andintensification of irrigated agriculture would increase pressure onland resources and hasten the process of environmental degradation.Irrigation and water development strategies have been hampered bya lack of understanding of the links between water scarcity, foodproduction, food security, and environmental sustainability.Research to improve this understanding would have high payoffs.  相似文献   

Diagnosis of regional evaporation by remote sensing to support irrigation performance assessment     

W. G. M. Bastiaanssen  T. Van der Wal  T. N. M. Visser 《Irrigation and Drainage Systems》1996,10(1):1-23

The success of water management in large irrigation schemes with composites of soil, crop, wetness and micro-meteorological conditions is difficult to quantify. Performance assessment indicators, being among others a function of evaporation, are useful tools to evaluate the actual functioning of an irrigation system. The inevitable spatial variability of evaporation in large irrigation schemes makes its determination with conventional point measurements almost impossible. A new remote sensing evaporation parameterization algorithm has been tested with high resolution Landsat Thematic Mapper data for the Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt. Although the implementation of such an algorithm requires assumptions to be made, the current case study shows that these assumptions do not hamper the estimation of actual and potential evaporation at regional scale. The actual evaporation has been used to express the uniformity of crop water use which is related to the equity of irrigation water distribution. The coefficient of variance in actual evaporation between 53 differenent irrigation districts is 10% on average. The relative evaporation was considered to determine whether the crop was adequately irrigated. The relative evaporation was more than 75% for 48 out of 53 irrigation districts. It is concluded, that improved information on actual crop growth conditions through remote sensing provides an essential insight into the planning of real-time and seasonal irrigation water deliveries.  相似文献   

A study of water distribution from a branch to distributary canals: A case study of Gugera Branch,Punjab, Pakistan     

Muhammad Nawaz Bhutta  Muhammad Latif  Jacob W. Kijne 《Irrigation and Drainage Systems》1991,5(3):229-247

This study was conducted on Gugera Branch of Lower Chenab Canal, Punjab, Pakistan. Sample distributaries off taking from Gugera Branch were selected for the study. The existing conditions of water distribution among the distributaries were studied. Field data were collected during the whole of 1988. Field observations suggested that the variability at the head of distributaries is much greater than the variability in the Gugera Branch under existing operational practices. The distribution of water among the distributaries is rarely in accordance with design criteria. Some channels get priority over other channels. The annual closure period varied from 17 to 41 days for different channels. The discharge at the head of distributaries remained lower than the standard operational range for 69 to 183 days in a year. The data suggested that a regulating gate at the head of the distributary can reduce discharge variation up to 2.4 times compared with a Karrees System (wooden stop logs used for water regulation). The data indicated that the adjustments in the head gate of a distributary on daily basis can substantially improve discharge conditions at the head of distributary. Rotational schedules are not being followed as per design and need to be improved. Most of the existing head discharge relationships of discharge measuring structures are not reliable. A frequent calibration of these structures is recommended.  相似文献   

The Viejo Retamo secondary canal     

M. G. Bos  W. Wolters  A. Drovandi  J. A. Morabito 《Irrigation and Drainage Systems》1991,5(1):77-88

The intended operation of the Rio Tunuyan irrigation scheme in the province of Mendoza, Argentina, is to divide flow proportionately over the entire area in accordance with registered water-rights. The main division of flow is by regulators at the heads of the lateral canals, which serve areas of appr. 15,000 ha. Taking the sub-lateral or secondary canal Viejo Retamo as an example, this paper discusses the flow division downstream of these regulators. The operation of the canal is evaluated with two performance indicators:

-the ratio of volume of water intended to be supplied to the tertiary units over the volume of water actually supplied, and

-the misallocation of water in volume.

In the Rio Tunuyan scheme, there is also a relation between the evapotranspiration of crops and the groundwater level: if less than 60% of the supplied canal water evapotranspires, the groundwater level rises.  相似文献   

Finding niches for whole-farm design models – contradictio in terminis?     

B. Sterk  M.K. van Ittersum  C. Leeuwis  W.A.H. Rossing  H. van Keulen  G.W.J. van de Ven 《Agricultural Systems》2006

Whole-farm design models quantitatively analyze the effects of a variety of potential changes at the farm system level. Science-driven technical information is confronted with value-driven objectives of farmers or other social groupings under explicit assumptions with respect to exogenous variables that are important drivers of agricultural systems (e.g., market conditions). Hence, farm design is an outcome of objective specification and the potential of a system. In recent publications, whole-farm design modelling has been proposed to enhance (farm) innovation processes. A number of operational modelling tools now offers the opportunity to assess the true potential of whole-farm design modelling to enhance innovation. In this paper, we demonstrate that it is not trivial to find niches for the application of goal-based farm models. Model outcomes appeared not to match questions of farm managers monitoring and learning from their own and other farmers’ practices. However, our research indicates that whole-farm design modelling possesses the capabilities to make a valuable contribution to reframing. Reframing is the phenomenon that people feel an urge to discuss and reconsider current objectives and perspectives on a problem. Reframing might take place in a situation (i) of mutually felt dependency between stakeholders, (ii) in which there is sufficient pressure and urgency for stakeholders to explore new problem definitions and make progress. Furthermore, our research suggests that the way the researcher enters a likely niche to introduce a model and/or his or her position in this niche may have significant implications for the potential of models to enhance an innovation process. Therefore, we hypothesize that the chances of capitalizing on modelling expertise are likely to be higher when researchers with such expertise are a logical and more or less permanent component of ongoing trajectories than when these researchers come from outside to purposefully search for a niche.  相似文献   

Farm salinity appraisal with water reuse     

K.C.?Tarboton  W.W.?WallenderEmail author  N.S.?RaghuwanshiEmail author 《Irrigation and Drainage Systems》2004,18(3):255-273

The need for a better understanding of the interaction between irrigation practices and the elevation and quality of the water table is of paramount importance for developing irrigation management strategies to ameliorate the regional problems of elevated saline water tables in the San Joaquin Valley, California. An area of approximately 3000 ha which includes portions of the Diener Ranch and the adjacent University of California, Westside Research and Extension Center, located south of Five Points in the Westlands Water District on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley was chosen for extensive field measurements. Field work consisted of four main activities namely, field instrumentation, collection of records of field activities, periodic data collection, and analyses of field data. Field measurements of water table carried out during 1994 indicated that the water table elevation was sensitive to the irrigation practices. There was a general increase in the area with a water table close to the surface during the irrigation season, and a return to water table elevations similar to the starting conditions at the end of the season. During the study period, the surface water quality deteriorated more in areas irrigated with reuse water and persisted through the end of the season. Depth averaged electrical conductivity for the study area over 6.5 m decreased between December 1993 and December 1994. Vertical hydraulic gradients in the saturated zone, were found to be an order of magnitude larger than horizontal gradients. The direction of vertical gradients changed, with downward gradients following pre-irrigations and upward gradients later in the season, when crop water requirements increased. Based on the results of the field study, it can be concluded that the irrigation management practices have a direct effect on local water table response as well as on water quality. Therefore, irrigation practices that promote less deep percolation losses may be helpful in controlling the water table rise.  相似文献