Identifying Irrigation Strategies for Improved Agricultural Water Productivity in Irrigated Maize Production through Crop Simulation Modelling

Geneille E. Greaves,Yu-Min Wang

doi:10.3390/su9040630

Abstract

Identifying irrigation strategies that improve agricultural water use efficiency (WUE) have a pivotal role to play in sustainable water development. In this study, the AquaCrop model was used to examine the impact of different irrigation scheduling options on yields to identify viable strategies to enhance WUE for irrigated maize. Two scheduling scenarios at water application depths ranging from 20 to 50 mm were investigated: schedules based on allowable depletion of total available water (TAW) in the root zone and interval schedules based on irrigating at predefined daily intervals. For both scenarios, simulated yields, seasonal water applied and percent percolation loss were within the range of 9.16 to 10.22 ton/ha, 180 to 950 mm and 0–61%, respectively. The WUE in terms of water applied (WUEIrr) and crop evapotranspiration (WUEET) ranged from 1.07 to 5.48 kg/m3 and 2.42 to 4.42 kg/m3, respectively. The results revealed that depletion levels of 40–50% TAW at water depths of 20–40 mm could be used to obtain high WUE without significant yield penalty. Moreover, a good balance between yield, improved WUEET and percolation reduction was observed at water depths of 30–40 mm for daily intervals with water applied during the vegetative-reproductive stage of 7–5, 10–5 and 10–7. The identified strategies can contribute to the development of best management practices for water conservation.

Highlights

Irrigation is a major driver in ensuring food security and essential ecosystem functions
Liou et al [17] observe that the average annual rainfall is about three-times higher than the world average, only a small portion is stored over the land and accessible for use given the steep mountainous terrain, resulting in most of the precipitation flowing directly into the sea
A depletion of 50–55% is typically recommend [24], the results indicate that a depletion schedule of 60% (T4) with large water application depths is viable for this location for priorities of improving agricultural water use

Summary

Introduction

Irrigation is a major driver in ensuring food security and essential ecosystem functions. When combined with frequency analysis and historic climatic input data, cropping models can effectively identify optimal management strategies, in terms of both timing and dose irrigation application, under varying weather conditions [3,4]. In this context, models provide valuable information about the trade-offs among different scenarios, in terms of crop productivity against improved water use efficiency (WUE), providing decision support for selecting irrigation projects, and contribute to the minimization of subjectivity in policy or project decisions

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion