Abstract
Drip irrigation under film mulching is widely promoted to replace traditional border irrigation in order to meet water saving demand in arid and semiarid regions. Our study aims to investigate quantitatively the change in crop yield, water-use efficiency (WUE) and nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) under film mulching drip irrigation. We conducted a 4-year contrastive experiment containing two treatments on flux measurement: (1) border irrigation (BI) under film mulching; (2) drip irrigation (DI) under film mulching. Soil water and nitrate transport and utilization in the Soil–Plants–Atmosphere Continuum system, and crop dry matter were all simulated based on an integrated model of a soil-crop system: water, heat, carbon and nitrogen simulator (WHCNS). Results showed soil water content (SWC), soil NO3−-N content, evapotranspiration (ET), and crop dry matter (Wtotal) produced by the model were in agreement with those measured. Our study showed the irrigation and nitrogen input and output were significantly changed after BI was replaced by DI. Compared with BI treatment, DI treatment decreased ET consumption by 9% annually over four years, while it increased WUE and NUE on the farmland on average by about 28% and 39% yearly. The increase of WUE and NUE were mainly due to a significant decrease of about 56% and 68% in water and nitrogen leakage loss in DI treatment, respectively, during 2014–2017. Our study confirmed the economic and environmental benefits of the DI technology and showed its improvement prospect in the research field. Meanwhile, the results contributed to the improvement and more effective application of DI in a larger region, and provided a data basis for further study on water and fertilizer saving characteristics of DI technology.
Highlights
Growth in world population has aggravated the water crisis
This study focuses on the irrigation shift from border irrigation (BI) to drip irrigation (DI)
The results show that switching from BI to DI reduced the amount of irrigation water input, decreased ET consumption and water drainage loss, and improved water-use efficiency (WUE) in the growth period
Summary
Growth in world population has aggravated the water crisis. Agriculture contributes about 92%of total freshwater worldwide [1], and the 20% of cultivation land under irrigation guarantees 40%of world food supplies [2]. Growth in world population has aggravated the water crisis. Of total freshwater worldwide [1], and the 20% of cultivation land under irrigation guarantees 40%. Of world food supplies [2]. The input of water and nutrients is crucial in agricultural production. The goals of agronomy have always been high yield, high efficiency and low negative impact (mainly in terms of waste of resources and damage to the environment) [3,4]. Great interest has been aroused among scholars in how to enhance water- and fertilizer-use efficiency and reduce water consumption and fertilizer loss in agriculture, in irrigated agriculture.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
