Agricultural Water Use Efficiency Research Articles

How can agricultural water use efficiency be promoted in China? A spatial-temporal analysis

China’s agricultural sector experienced rapid growth in the last two decades, with a tripled increase in sectorally total economic output from 2000 to 2017. However, expanding large-scale production also leads to substantial consumption of water resources. Using the panel data of China’s 31 provinces from 2000 to 2015, this study adopts the stochastic frontiers analysis model to measure the country’s agricultural water use efficiency (AWUE). We also develop a spatial econometric model to identify the main factors that influence AWUE. The results show that the AWUE of each province ascended during the observation period, presenting obvious spatial correlations and unbalanced development at the provincial level. The per capita disposable income of rural households and the proportion of high school or above education are key influencing factors of AWUE. Additionally, factors such as the total sown area of crops, the total storage capacity of reservoirs, and the number of water-saving machines, electric and diesel motors also exert certain influences. Therefore, improving the rural residents' income and the educational level of practitioners, promoting the scale of arable land, providing training for water-saving technology, and deploying water-efficient irrigation equipment can contribute to the sustainable agriculture of China.

The impact of nutrient-rich food choices on agricultural water-use efficiency

When distributed equally, the total amount of food produced worldwide could sufficiently meet current global demand. Still, malnutrition in the form of nutrient deficiencies continues to prevail in both low- and high-income countries. At the same time, natural resource use for agriculture is reaching or exceeding environmental boundaries. By integrating a comprehensive micronutrient scoring method with data on agricultural water demand, this analysis aims to re-evaluate the global water-use efficiency of dietary nutrient production. A stronger reliance on more nutrient-dense foods could lead to higher water-use efficiencies, though dietary water footprints were likely to increase overall. With a more detailed focus on plant and animal foods, we find that most dietary protein sources show comparable water-use efficiencies, and thus can be drivers for agricultural water demand. Animal foods, besides having a unique nutrient profile, often do not compete directly with crops for the same water resources. However, a significant reduction in the demand for utilizable freshwater resources could be achieved by reducing the amount of feed crops in ruminant diets. Water-use efficiency in the production of food must not only take into account quantities and yields, but also the nutrients and dietary impacts. Animal and plant foods show little difference in this demand efficiency, and best serve as complimentary rather than substitutable foods.

WATER STRESS EFFECT ON WHEAT AT DIFFERENT MECHANICAL SEEDING SYSTEMS

Judicial water use, as well as improving water use efficiency in agriculture is new challenge. Conservation tillage, as well as mechanical seeding system, offers various benefits over intensive tillage system. Considering this, the study was conducted to find out the water requirements and appropriate deficit irrigation schedule of wheat on different seeding system. This study consisted of following irrigation treatments, like I1 = Irrigation at CRI stage, I2 = Irrigation at CRI and vegetative stages, I3 = Irrigation at CRI and grain filling stages and I4 = Irrigation at CRI, vegetative and grain filling stages on four mechanical seeding methods, like T1 = Bed planting, T2 = PTOS, T3 = Strip tillage, and T4 = Zero tillage and laid out in a split plot design with three replications. From the result based on the grain yield and water productivity, bed planting (T1) and three levels of irrigation (I4) was found as the best combination for wheat cultivation. Besides, at water scarcity area bed planting (T1), with two irrigation I2 (CRI and vegetative) was the suitable reduce irrigation scheduling for wheat cultivation. In different seeding methods, bed planting was increased yield about 10.58%, followed by PTOS and yield was identical in PTOS and ST. Comparatively, lowest yield was observed in zero. In irrigation treatment, three irrigations (I4) was observed, the best scheduling for wheat on all seeding system and yield was increased 11.98% in I4, followed by I2 and lowest yield was found in I1. The result also revealed that the soil moisture contribution was decreased with increased applied water, as well as number of irrigation.

A Multi-Objective Hierarchical Model for Irrigation Scheduling in the Complex Canal System

Due to population growth, environmental pollution and climate change, the lack of water resources has become a critical factor which threatens sustainable agricultural development. Reasonable irrigation scheduling strategies can reduce the waste of water and enhance agricultural water-use efficiency. In the present study, the decomposition-coordination theory was adopted to analyze the hierarchical canal system. A novel nonlinear multi-level multi-objective optimization model for complex canal systems was established, taking account of the multiple demands from decision makers and realistic factors of canal operation. An interactive method of the technique for order preference using similarity algorithm and genetic algorithm was proposed to solve the developed model. The developed model was successfully applied for the operational strategy making of a canal system located in the arid area of northwest China. The results indicated that the optimization model could help shorten the operational duration by two days, achieve about 26% reduction of irrigation water consumption, and improve the efficiency of water delivery from 0.566 to 0.687. That will be very favorable for the promotion of the agricultural water productivity, the relief of water shortage crisis and the sustainable development of agriculture. The outcomes can provide a wide range of support for decision making and make irrigation decision-making more scientific and systematic.

Assessing China’s agricultural water use efficiency in a green-blue water perspective: A study based on data envelopment analysis

Uneven water resources and growing food demand due to an increasing population bring challenges to China. One important mechanism to address these challenges is to enhance water use efficiency (WUE). This requires information on current efficiencies in water use for agricultural production. In this study, we provide a benchmarking tool to assess relative agricultural WUE in 31 provinces in China during 2003-2013. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used with both green-blue water and blue-only scenarios. Results show that China’s agricultural WUE has improved evidently after 2008. Overall technical efficiency (TE) and the pure technical efficiency (PTE) in China based on the green-blue scenario are relatively high, with the average potential increase less than 10% (8% and 4%, respectively). However, there is a larger potential for blue water use efficiency (14% and 7% respectively). The PTE in Northern China (NC) is higher than that in Southern China (SC) while the TE in NC is lower under green-blue scenario. Moreover, the TE and PTE in NC are lower than that in SC under blue-only scenario. These results indicate that green water management techniques in NC are superior to SC but the scale efficiency (SE) in NC is lower. There are four provinces where the efficiency values are on the frontier in four cases, i.e. two scenarios (green-blue and blue-only) and two assumptions in DEA, but fourteen provinces where the efficiency values are not on the frontier in any case and most of them were located in SC. Our results also suggest that improving SE can substantially contribute to national WUE, but exploring the solutions to enhance blue water use efficiency in China is also a key task in the future works. The research results have important implications for China and different provinces to improve agricultural WUE by water policies and management.

The effect of the urban wastewater treatment ratio on agricultural water productivity: based on provincial data of China in 2004\u20132010

China’s urbanization has always required the support of rural areas. By 2014, urban wastewater pollution had become a serious problem in China and this drew the public’s attention to the urban water environment. As a result, the government now requires a new type of urbanization, with simultaneous development of high-quality rural areas. Improving the economic, social and environmental influence of urban development on rural areas helps to improve urbanization and make rural areas more sustainable. This article focuses on a particular question: Have urban wastewater emissions affected the efficiency of agricultural water use? Using provincial panel data for 2004–2010, we analyze how the increase in the urban wastewater treatment ratio has changed China’s agricultural water productivity. The effect is shown to be prominent, irrespective of whether the urbanization ratio is high or low. This effect is most significant when the urbanization ratio is highest or when society pays more attention to urban environmental governance. The influence has regional heterogeneity and is also affected by various other policy settings. The results provide helpful guidance for cities as they focus on rural impacts as part of the new type of urbanization policies.

Robust fractional programming approach for improving agricultural water-use efficiency under uncertainty

Water-use efficiency and uncertainty treatment are foci in the modeling of agricultural water management systems. To address these challenging issues, a robust fractional programming (RFP) method that coupled fractional programming with robust optimization was developed in this study to improve agricultural water-use efficiency under uncertainty. RFP improved upon the fractional programming by being able to tackle highly uncertain information without known distributions. It also extended the capability of the robust optimization method in addressing ratio optimal problems. To demonstrate its effectiveness and applicability, RFP was applied to a long-term agricultural water resources management problem in arid north-west China, where water scarcity and low water-use efficiency hindered local development. It generated benefit- and risk-explicit plans for crop pattern adjustments. Vegetables were recommended as the preferred crop. A number of scenarios combining different fluctuation and protection levels were analyzed and interpreted with practical implications. It was observed that higher water-use efficiency could be achieved through reducing parametric uncertainty and risk-aversion levels. Simulation experiments validated that the benefits claimed by the RFP model were sufficiently conservative and could be reliably achieved. The comparisons of RFP results against the baseline operations and those from two other alternatives demonstrated that, RFP could result in higher resource-use efficiency and controllable system-violation risks. The developed approach is also applicable to other optimization problems aiming at enhancing resource-use efficiency under uncertainty.

Nitrogen and Water Use Efficiency in Conservation Agriculture

Conservation agriculture is resource conserving strategy for improving productivity and profitability of farming through efficient utilization of available resources with minimum foot print to the environment. Conservation Agriculture helps in carbon sequestration, soil erosion control, ground water recharge and moisture conservation. Conservation agriculture has been found to improve physical, chemical and biological properties of soil compared to conventional practices and ultimately helps in increasing nutrient and water use efficiency. Optimizing soil fertility and soil moisture simultaneously is possible through CA practice which ultimately increases resource use efficiency.Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 6(2): 63-66

Productivity, Technological Attributes and Water Use Efficiency of Sugarcane Cultivars Under Regulated Deficit Irrigation

Irrigation systems with high water application uniformity, adapted cultivars, and management of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) are some ways to increase water use efficiency in agriculture. RDI is a practice that aims to provide a smaller amount of water than that consumed by crops without significantly affecting agricultural yield. Objectives of this study were to evaluate the technological characteristics (Bx, Juice POL, Fiber, TRS and Cane POL), water use efficiency (WUE), number of stalks, and sugar and stalk yield of five sugarcane cultivars subjected to RDI and non-irrigation. The experiment was conducted at the School of Agricultural and Veterinatian Sciences, São Paulo State, Brazil. The treatments were distributed in a partially balanced incomplete-block design. The RDI provided 50% of the evapotranspiration water by the crop. At each 30 mm water deficit a 15 mm depth was applied. The evaluated sugarcane cultivars were ‘CTC 4’, ‘IACSP 93-3046’, ‘RB 86-7515’, ‘IACSP 95-5000’, and ‘IAC 91-1099’. The total irrigation depth applied during the cycle was 180 mm. The RDI reduced the technological characteristics of sugarcane. However, it increased the productivity of the stalks and sugar, and did not change the number of stalks per hectare, nor the water use efficiency. Among the cultivars, ‘IAC91-1099’ showed the highest sugar yield (21.81 t ha-1), stalk yield (146.5 t ha-1), and water use efficiency (146.7 kg ha-1 mm-1). The cultivar ‘CTC4’ showed little responsiveness to RDI, presenting a lower number of stalks per hectare and water use efficiency in relation to its growth under non-irrigation conditions.

Assessment of yield and water productivity of clementine trees under surface and subsurface drip irrigation

Irrigation systems aimed to optimize water use efficiency in agriculture have become essential due to the increasing water limitations that agriculture is currently facing. Assessment of crop responses to different irrigation systems and strategies are therefore encouraged to find the most efficient options for each specific case. The main objective of this study was to assess the performance of a citrus crop under a surface (SI) and subsurface drip irrigation (SSI) with 7 (SI7, SSI7) or 14 emitters (SI14, SSI14) per plant, as well as a third SS treatment (SSIA), identical to SSI7 but equipped with and additional drip line buried between the tree rows. Evaluations were made in terms of yield, fruit composition, irrigation water productivity (IWP) and water savings. Results showed that, on average, water savings were 23.0% in the SSI treatment compared to the SI treatment without significant differences in either yield or fruit composition. IWP was higher in SI14, SSI14 and SSIA than in SI7 and SSI7 treatments. SSIA was the treatment with the lowest irrigation volumes and the highest yield and compared to SI7 allowed, over the three years, water savings in the range between 22.4 and 27.9%. Results from this study illustrate that there is opportunity to substantially save water in citrus production and that further research in this direction is needed to contribute to better optimize the water resources in agriculture.

Spatial differences and influencing factors of regional agricultural water use efficiency in Heilongjiang Province, China

Abstract Improving the water use efficiency in agriculture is an important way to solve the problem of water shortage in agricultural areas and to improve the efficiency of water resource utilization. An evaluation indicator system of regional agricultural water use efficiency was constructed using data from 13 cities in Heilongjiang Province from 2013 to 2015. In addition, the comprehensive ranking of agricultural water use efficiency in each year was obtained by using an iterative combination method to correct the evaluation of individual models, including the analytic hierarchy process), matter element model and projection pursuit model (PPM). The results showed that the agricultural water use efficiency in Heilongjiang Province exhibited some regional differences in the 3 years evaluated spatially. And then, factors that influenced agricultural water use efficiency were analysed according to various criteria, and the rankings of cities and strategies were proposed to improve the agricultural water use efficiency according to this analysis. The results of the present study will have important theoretical and practical significance for guiding the scientific and rational formulation of agricultural water use strategies and improving the efficiency of agricultural water use in Heilongjiang Province.

Effect of Sand Mulches of Different Particle Sizes on Soil Evaporation during the Freeze–Thaw Period

Reducing ineffective evaporation is a feasible means to improve water use efficiency in agriculture, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. A field experiment assessed the impact of sand mulches (1-cm thickness) with a particle size of 0.5–1.5 mm (XS) and 1.5–2.0 mm (CS) on soil evaporation during winter in Northern China. Results showed that CS and XS increased by at least 11.93% and 14.92% compared to bare soil (LD), respectively. However, the sand mulches showed significant distinctions in soil evaporation at different stages. Soil evaporation was the highest in LD, while CS evaporated the least in the unstable freezing stage (P1) and stable freezing stage (P2); in the thawing stage (P3), XS evaporated the most, while LD evaporated the least. Ten factors affecting evaporation were analyzed using the principal component analysis method to elaborate the mechanisms of soil evaporation. Mean soil moisture at depths from 0 to 15 cm was a factor that affected the evaporation of XS and CS in the test. Soil moisture was evaporated by vapor when the frost penetration was dense and the frost impeded the vapor movement. The evaporation rates were steady and weak in this period, and soil moisture had slight impact on soil evaporation, especially XS and CS treatment with higher water content at the surface. The research is significant for preventing evaporation and the improvement of water-use efficiency.

Advances in Water Use Efficiency in Agriculture: A Bibliometric Analysis

Water use efficiency in agriculture (WUEA) has become a priority given increasing limitations on hydric resources. As a result, this area of research has increased in importance, becoming one of the most prolific lines of study. The main aim of this study was to present a review of worldwide WUEA research over the last 30 years. A bibliometric analysis was developed based on the Scopus database. The sample included 6063 articles. The variables analyzed were: articles per year, category, journal, country, institution, author, and keyword. The results indicate that a remarkable growth in the number of articles published per year is occurring. The main category is environmental science and the main journal Agricultural Water Management. The countries with the highest number of articles were China, the United States of America, and India. The institution that published the most articles was the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the authors from China also were the most productive. The most frequently used keywords were irrigation, crop yield, water supply, and crops. The findings of this study can assist researchers in this field by providing an overview of worldwide research.

Impacts of water and land resources exploitation on agricultural carbon emissions: The water-land-energy-carbon nexus

Exploring the effect of water & land resource exploitation on agricultural carbon emissions helps explain agricultural “water-land-energy-carbon” (WLEC) nexus and improve the efficiency of agricultural water and land use. Based on the estimation of agricultural carbon emissions and provincial Matching Degree of Water and Land Resources (MDWL), this paper discussed the relationship between water & land resource exploitation and agricultural carbon emissions by Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model, and put forward policy suggestions for the future low-carbon development of agriculture in China. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The agricultural carbon emissions increased from 53.42 × 106tC in 2005–65.12 × 106tC in 2013, with an increasing rate of 21.89%. The carbon emission and its intensity have great spatial differences. (2) The MDWL of China fluctuated from 2005 to 2013, during which the MDWL in 2010 was the highest (1.56 × 106m3/km2). It has huge spatial difference across China. Generally, the MDWL of southern and eastern provinces was higher than that of northern and western provinces. (3) The order of contributing effect of each factor on agricultural carbon emissions is: economic output of water resources > the ratio of water and land resources > population factor > land use area per capita > agricultural carbon emission intensity. In those factors, agricultural carbon emission intensity is the main inhibitory factor, while the economic output of water resources is the main contributing factor. (4) The ratio of water and land resources has different effect on agricultural carbon emissions in different provinces. Generally, the inhibitory effect was much higher in the provinces with high MDWL than that of provinces with relatively lower MDWL. (5) To improve agricultural energy efficiency and promote carbon emission reduction, the agricultural technology should be improved, and land consolidation, large-scale operation, water-saving irrigation and the fallow rotation system of crops should be adopted.

京津冀城市群用水效率及其与城市化水平的关系

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 京津冀城市群用水效率及其与城市化水平的关系 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201801250198 作者: 作者单位: 中国科学院生态环境研究中心,中国科学院生态环境研究中心 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金重大项目（41590841）；国家重点研发计划（2017YFC0505701） Interactions between water use efficiency and urbanization level in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei megaregion, China Author: Affiliation: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences,Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:深入分析京津冀城市群用水效率与城市化水平的相互关系，揭示不同城市城市化水平对水资源利用效率的影响，有助于缓解水资源短缺问题。结合超效率数据包络模型，定量分析了京津冀城市群不同行业的用水效率，从人口、经济、社会与土地等不同城市化角度，全面分析了城市发展水平与生活、工业、农业三大行业用水效率之间的相互关系。主要结论为：①2006-2015年，京津冀城市群生活和工业用水效率总体上略微下降，而农业用水效率明显上升；不同城市之间存在明显差别，唐山、衡水与沧州市各行业用水效率均较高，邯郸和邢台市各行业用水效率均偏低。②城市发展水平对不同行业用水效率的影响存在明显差异。城市化水平的提升可以显著提高生活用水效率，但对工业和农业用水效率具有不同程度的负向影响。综合用水效率仅受到经济城市化的显著影响，相关系数达0.19，表明提高用水效率的关键是进一步调整经济产业结构。③城市化水平与用水效率梯度的匹配状态较差。一方面，京津冀13个城市中达到匹配的城市仅有4个，占京津冀城市总数的30.77%，匹配程度较低。另一方面，不存在城市化水平和用水效率双高型的城市，匹配层次较低。综上所述，针对京津冀城市化发展与用水效率的失衡关系，应审视水资源投入产出结构并尝试行业联动等节水发展模式。 Abstract:To reveal the the contradictions between sustainable development and water availability, it is necessary to conduct in-depth analysis of the interactions between urbanization level and water use efficiency between cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei megaregion. In this study, we took the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei megaregion as a case and used the super efficiency data envelopment model to evaluate water use efficiency during the period of 2006-2015, and then explored the interactions between urbanization level and water use efficiency. The main results were: (1) from 2006 to 2015, the domestic and industrial water use efficiency decreased slightly, whereas the efficiency of agricultural water use increased significantly;There existed obvious difference on water use efficiency between cities, i.e.,water use efficiency of all industries were high in Tangshan, Hengshui, and Cangzhou, but low in Xingtai and Handan; (2) the impacts of urbanization level on water use efficiency varied between cities. Urbanization development could significantly increase the domestic water use efficiency, while it had different extent of negative impacts on industrial and agricultural water use efficiency.The comprehensive water use efficiency was only significantly related with economic urbanization level(R2=0.19), indicating that further adjustment of economic structure would be effective to improve water use efficiency;(3) overall, by the comparison of urbanization level and water use efficiency, most cities didn't match. There were only 4 matching cities, accounting for 30.77% of the numbers of cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei megaregion. Moreover, there was no city with both high urbanization level and high water use efficiency, indicated that it was essential to improve the matching status. Regarding the unbalanced interactions between urbanization levels and water use efficiencies, more attention should be paid to promote the water use efficiency, such as optimize the input-output structure and explore some water saving development models. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Water competition between cities and agriculture driven by climate change and urban growth

Urban water demand will increase by 80% by 2050, while climate change will alter the timing and distribution of water. Here we quantify the magnitude of these twin challenges to urban water security, combining a dataset of urban water sources of 482 of the world’s largest cities with estimates of future water demand, based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Fifth Assessment scenarios, and predictions of future water availability, using the WaterGAP3 modelling framework. We project an urban surface-water deficit of 1,386–6,764 million m³. More than 27% of cities studied, containing 233 million people, will have water demands that exceed surface-water availability. An additional 19% of cities, which are dependent on surface-water transfers, have a high potential for conflict between the urban and agricultural sectors, since both sectors cannot obtain their estimated future water demands. In 80% of these high-conflict watersheds, improvements in agricultural water-use efficiency could free up enough water for urban use. Investments in improving agricultural water use could thus serve as an important global change adaptation strategy. Rising population and changes in water supply under climate change affect cities globally. This study finds that in 27% of cities studied, water demand is likely to exceed availability by 2050, with many other cities competing with agriculture on water needs.

Evaluación de la eficiencia del uso del agua en la agricultura apoyada por imágenes satélites

Palacios-Velez, E., Palacios-Sanchez, L. A., & Espinosa- Espinosa, J. L. January-February, 2018). Evaluation of water use efficiency in irrigated agriculture supported by satellite images. Water Technology and Sciences (in Spanish), 9 (1), 31- 38, DOI: 10.24850/j-tyca-2018-01-02. To evaluate the water use efficiency is a necessary condition to improve water productivity. The overall water use efficiency is the product of conveyance efficiency in the largest and minor irrigation canal systems, multiplied by the application efficiency at the users´ plots. Conveyance efficiency is achieved by measuring the water delivered at the irrigated plots between the amounts of water taken from the sources of supply. These measurements are generally carried out by the personnel operating the irrigation systems. In most of the districts, these measurements are usually carried mandatory to report to the National Water Commission, with a variable precision. However, the water application efficiency in the users´ plots is much more difficult to be done, because the measurement of water consumption by plants is not easy to assess. Indeed, the efficiency in plot irrigation, is the ratio of crop water evapotranspiration between the amounts of water applied, both measurements are difficult to perform. However, in recent years it has been possible to estimate water consumption by crops using satellite imagery. Thus, in this paper, a methodology used in the Mayo River Irrigation District in Sonora, Mexico is shown for the last agricultural cycle 2015-2016 using Landsat 7 and 8 satellite images, with acceptable results. This methodology is based on the PLEIADES project 2007 – 2010.

Water for agriculture, irrigation management

This chapter aims to illustrate some of the recent methodologies that can be employed for improving water use efficiency in agriculture by optimizing irrigation management based on crop water requirements.

Desenvolvimento de sistema de nano irrigação como diafragma de argila para redução de perda de água na produção vegetal em países de baixa renda

Water resources will be more affected as the effects of climate change continues to manifest in the environment. Since agriculture in the poor countries of the world still remain largely rainfed, the effect of climate change will leave greater impact on agriculture in those countries. Any effort made to improve water use efficiency in agriculture is worthwhile. This paper presents a report of the development of nano-irrigation system using molded clay for emitter diaphragm. The clay material was sourced locally from the deposit around the pottery community in Isan-Ekiti, Nigeria. Varying quantities of sawdust was mixed with clay before molding. As a result, seven different treatments of clay: sawdust ratios were made viz; 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50 and 40:60. The mold samples were sundried and later fired in the kiln at 700 o C. This process helped to strengthen the molds and eliminate the sawdust burnouts. From the water discharge test conducted by connecting the emitter to the discharge end of a water-hose the 80:20 treatment showed a discharge of 8.6 x 10- 6 l/s (approximately 1 liter/day). The corresponding discharges from 70:30, 60:40, 50:50 and 40:60 were 4.3 x 10-5 l/s (2 liter/day), 1.6 x 10-5 l/s (approximately 4 liter/day), 1.4 x 10-5 l/s (approximately 5 liter/day) and 1.2 x10-5 l/s (approximately 7 liter/day). Compared to the commercial drippers manufacture by Netafim Ltd the discharge was far more efficient in curtailing irrigation water loss. The 70:30 sample was found more suitable for meeting the discharge of water quantity equivalent of the water requirement of pumpkin and okra vegetables. This was confirmed in the field experiment conducted with the crop in question. On the material utilization platform, the developed emitter is 100 times cost effective when compared to cooking pot and the economic return to the rural women far outweighs that of other pottery wares.

Effects on Water Management and Quality Characteristics of Ozone Application in Chicory Forcing Process: A Pilot System

Agriculture is the largest user of world water resources, accounting for 70% of all consumption. Reducing water consumption and increasing water use efficiency in agriculture are two of the main challenges that need to be faced in the coming decades. Radicchio Rosso di Treviso Tardivo (RTT) is a vegetable that requires a water forcing process prior to final commercialization which presents a significant environmental impact due to the high water volumes used and then dispersed into the environment. The experiment was aimed at reducing the water use in the forcing process of RTT, by developing a pilot system with recycled water in a closed loop through ozone treatment. Concerning water quality, the redox potential value was higher in the ozonized system, whereas turbidity, pH and electrical conductivity of the ozonized system did not change significantly from the control. Yield and quality of plants obtained in the ozonized system did not significantly differ from the control plants except for the antioxidant activity that was higher in plants forced using the water treated with ozone. Our initial results suggest that the ozone treatment could be applied in the forcing process and is suitable for growers, saving up to 95% of water volumes normally used for this cultivation practice.