Water Use Index Research Articles

Improved Salinity Tolerance-Associated Variables Observed in EMS Mutagenized Wheat Lines.

Salinity tolerance-associated phenotypes of 35 EMS mutagenized wheat lines originating from BARI Gom-25 were compared. Vegetative growth was measured using non-destructive image-based phenotyping. Five different NaCl concentrations (0 to 160 mM) were applied to plants 19 days after planting (DAP 19), and plants were imaged daily until DAP 38. Plant growth, water use, leaf Na+, K+ and Cl− content, and thousand kernel weight (TKW) were measured, and six lines were selected for further analysis. In saline conditions, leaf Na+, K+, and Cl− content variation on a dry weight basis within these six lines were ~9.3, 1.4, and 2.4-fold, respectively. Relative to BARI Gom-25, two (OA6, OA62) lines had greater K+ accumulation, three (OA6, OA10, OA62) had 50–75% lower Na+:K+ ratios, and OA62 had ~30% greater water-use index (WUI). OA23 had ~2.2-fold greater leaf Na+ and maintained TKW relative to BARI Gom-25. Two lines (OA25, OA52) had greater TKW than BARI Gom-25 when grown in 120 mM NaCl but similar Na+:K+, WUI, and biomass accumulation. OA6 had relatively high TKW, high leaf K+, and WUI, and low leaf Na+ and Cl−. Phenotypic variation revealed differing associations between the parameters measured in the lines. Future identification of the genetic basis of these differences, and crossing of lines with phenotypes of interest, is expected to enable the assessment of which combinations of parameters deliver the greatest improvement in salinity tolerance.

A viable drought vulnerability index for outermost small islands in Indonesia

The rate and duration of precipitation in many outermost small islands within the Indonesian region have been projected to decrease during the dry season due to prolonged droughts. Thus, drought mitigation plans for these islands must be adaptive and continually improved. As a result of recent advances, drought periods can be monitored and relevant information communicated using water requirement assessment embedded within a geographical information system (GIS)-based model. Although improved tools and models have been used to analyse data concerning water conditions, only a few studies have focused on drought in the outermost small islands in Indonesia. The main purpose of this study was to inform regulatory agencies on the drought status of these small islands. Thus, the viable drought vulnerability index (DVI) was developed to contribute to the construction of a support system to make relevant decisions about the drought status of the islands. Specific parameters were selected to develop and analyse DVI, involving three considerations: meteorological, physical, and socio-economic aspects. This study focused on the analysis of data from water resources availability (rainfall, surface water, and groundwater), population, and interpretations from GIS to establish the rainfall index (RI), water use index (WUI), water supplying vegetation index (WSVI), and critical-land rate index (CRI) to develop a viable DVI. The results provide a clear understanding for all stakeholders concerning the drought problem and use a viable index and vulnerable map as valuable tools for water management in the study area. The results also confirm that a GIS approach is effective in identifying and measuring the vulnerability index in the outermost small island area, aiding in the implementation of better adaptive drought management practices for sustainable development.

Use of Phenomics for Differentiation of Mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) Genotypes Varying in Growth Rates Per Unit of Water.

In the human diet, particularly for most of the vegetarian population, mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly source of protein. Being a short-duration crop, mungbean fits well into different cropping systems dominated by staple food crops such as rice and wheat. Hence, knowing the growth and production pattern of this important legume under various soil moisture conditions gains paramount significance. Toward that end, 24 elite mungbean genotypes were grown with and without water stress for 25 days in a controlled environment. Top view and side view (two) images of all genotypes captured by a high-resolution camera installed in the high-throughput phenomics were analyzed to extract the pertinent parameters associated with plant features. We tested eight different multivariate models employing machine learning algorithms to predict fresh biomass from different features extracted from the images of diverse genotypes in the presence and absence of soil moisture stress. Based on the mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and R squared (R2) values, which are used to assess the precision of a model, the partial least square (PLS) method among the eight models was selected for the prediction of biomass. The predicted biomass was used to compute the plant growth rates and water-use indices, which were found to be highly promising surrogate traits as they could differentiate the response of genotypes to soil moisture stress more effectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is perhaps the first report stating the use of a phenomics method as a promising tool for assessing growth rates and also the productive use of water in mungbean crop.

The potency of water availability and its use by the community around the Mount Merbabu National Park

Water is one of the basic needs for every living thing, including humans. This study aims to determine the availability of water in the two springs, the utilization of water by the community around MMNP, the vegetation characteristics of the spring catchment areas, and the Water Use Index (WUI). Data of water availability was taken using the volumetric method. Water utilization by the community is collected by doing the interviews with the respondents. The vegetation characteristics is analyzed based on the vegetation density by using the NDVI method. Meanwhile, the Water Use Index (WUI) is obtained from a comparison between water demand and water supply. The results showed that the water debit available in the Tuk Simuncar and Tuk sipendok was 23.22 liters/second and 31.20 liters/second which were classified as class IV. The area of Tuk simuncar is dominated by high density vegetation (75 Ha), while Tuk Sipendok is dominated by moderate density vegetation (102.28 Ha). The community around MMNP uses 211 liters of water for household needs, 59 liters for livestock, and 10 liters for agriculture. The Water Use Index (WUA) of the two springs has a value of 0.3 which is included in the low level.

Assessment Of Cost‐Effective Alternatives For Improving Irrigation Systems In The Nile Delta

AbstractPreliminary studies were conducted to test new design criteria incorporated in the Sefsafa Canal (SC) with the aim of reducing water application costs without sacrificing irrigation performance. For comparison, we also studied the Meet‐Yazied Canal (MYC) (which is run without the new techniques). The cost‐reduction measures used in this study included reduction of pump discharge rates and the use of electricity instead of diesel. We found that the location of farms along the irrigation canal had little effect on pump operation hours and amount of applied water; instead, crop patterns were the most important factor in this regard. The water use index (WUI), which is the ratio of applied water to required water, was higher in the SC than in the MYC and El‐Mesk Canal (MC). Decreasing the pump discharge increased the amount of applied water to meet crop water requirements. During the winter, the WUI values of 1.11–1.16 achieved discharge rates of 70–80 l s−1 and were considered the optimal values of WUI. Further studies are required to avoid excessive application of water during the summer. The application of new techniques prompted farmers to irrigate their fields at night, thereby reducing water losses and installation and operational costs, and promoting equitable water distribution along the entire irrigation canal and throughout the command area. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

FERTILIZER CONCENTRATION AND IRRIGATION METHOD AFFECTS GROWTH AND FLOWERING OF TWO BEDDING PLANTS

Zonal geranium (Pelargonium × hortorum ‘Real Mintaka’) and petunias (Petunia × hybrid Hort. Vilm.-Andr. ‘Giove’) were grown in closed soilless systems to evaluate the effects of irrigation system (drip and subirrigation) and nutrient solution concentration (half and full) during spring growing season in terms of substrate electrical conductivity (EC(s)), growth, quality, crop evapotranspiration, and growth index water use efficiency (WUE(GI)). For both crops, at the end of the cultural cycle the highest EC(s) in the upper and lower layers were recorded in plants fertilized with the full strength solution, whereas the effect of irrigation system was less pronounced where the highest EC(s) was recorded in subirrigation but only in the upper layer. The highest EC(s) recorded with subirrigation under full strength nutrient solution on geranium had a negative effect on plant growth parameters (shoot dry weight, root-to-shoot ratio, final leaf area, and growth index) and on number of flowers, while no significant effects were observed for petunia, indicating that this bedding plant can be considered more tolerant to salinity. No significant differences among treatments were recorded for the petunia WUE(GI), whereas for geranium the lowest value of WUE(GI) was observed in the subirrigation treatment using half strength nutrient solution.

EVALUATING THE IMPROVED IRRIGATION NETWORKS IN EGYPT

This study summarizes the results of evaluating the improved canals in Egypt. These results constituted a part of an evaluation programme that was conducted by Water Management Research Institute (WMRI) to evaluate the first phase of the Irrigation Improvement Project (IIP1). This part of the evaluation programme was built on measuring specific hydraulic indicators, such as Relative Water Supply (RWS) and Water Use Index (WUI) in improved and unimproved canals to assess achieving the targets of the improvement project. The programme concluded that most of the targets were not achieved yet illustrating that the main reason was the inappropriate operation of the system. The study illustrated that the chance to achieve the improvement targets should be mainly through the effective operation of the system. The introduced operation system was the continuous flow system, with which water supply will be provided to different branch canals continuously and on volumetric basis and an internal rotation will be applied between lifting points. The monitoring results showed that the actual applied system is a hybrid system between rotational system and continuous flow system. Under this hybrid system, the branch canals are open almost continuously, but water is distributed based on maintaining specific water levels downstream the head regulators without calculating the water volume or implementing an internal rotation between the lifting points. This system encourages farmers and especially head farmers in rice regions to use more water. The main recommendation of the study was to conduct intensive investigations to adapt the continuous flow to another suitable system that fit with the current circumstance of the irrigation networks and the current capacities of the irrigation directorates and Water Users Associations (WUAs). This introduced system might be an adapted version of the rotational system. The other recommendations include forming the improvement targets in a shape of certain responsibilities to encourage irrigation directorates achieving these targets and having certain strategies to face the environmental problems.

The influence of irrigation system and nutrient solution concentration on potted geranium production under various conditions of radiation and temperature

Zonal geranium ( Pelargonium × hortorum ‘Real Mintaka’) were grown in closed soilless systems to evaluate the effects of irrigation system (drip and subirrigation) and nutrient solution concentration (half and full) under various conditions of radiation and temperature (winter and summer) in terms of substrate electrical conductivity (EC s), growth, quality, crop evapotranspiration (ET c) and growth index water use efficiency (WUE GI) and nutrient uptake. At he end of the cultural cycle the highest EC s in the upper and lower layers were recorded in the spring season on plants grown in subirrigation using a full nutrient solution concentration. The highest shoot biomass, leaf area, plant growth index, and quality index were recorded in the winter season on plants grown in both drip-irrigation and subirrigation using half and full nutrient solution concentration, whereas the lowest value was observed in the spring season on plants grown with subirrigation using the full nutrient solution concentration. The highest maximum air temperature recorded during the first 20 days after transplanting in the spring growing season was presumably responsible for the reduction in shoot biomass production, growth and quality index, and in time of geranium flowering compared to the plants grown in the winter season. The ET c was 44% higher in spring than in winter season treatment, while the effect of the irrigation system was less pronounced with an increase in 11% in the subirrigation treatment compared with the drip-irrigation system. WUE GI was not stable and showed a seasonal variability. Solar radiaton ( R s), air temperature ( T a) and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) were greatly higher in the spring season, which influenced WUE GI negatively. The WUE GI improved especially when R s, T a and VPD were below 12 MJ m 2, 20 °C and 0.6 kPa, respectively. The highest N, and Mg uptake were recorded in the winter season, especially on plants grown with subirrigation at 2 dS m −1. The highest P, K, and Ca uptake values were measured during winter season using subirrigation system, and on plants grown under full strength nutrient solution. The variation of the nitrate concentration and EC in the nutrient solution during the spring growing cycle was less pronounced in the subirrigation than with a drip-irrigation system which represents an important aspect for the simplification of the closed loop management of the nutrient solution.

Audit of water consumption in hotels in Hong Kong

This Note reports an audit of water consumption in 17 hotels in Hong Kong, based on water consumption data for 1995. An averaged water use index (WUI) based on unit floor area for the 17 hotels has been derived. A number of factors potentially affeeting the WUI values for hotels have been examined. The difficulties in assessing water consumption in hotel buildings are discussed and a method for properly assessing water use performance in hotel buildings is proposed.