Assessment of secondary soil salinity prevention and economic benefit under different drip line placement and irrigation regime in northwest China

Ruoshui Wang, Shuqin Wan, Yaohu Kang and Chaoyin Dou

Agricultural Water Management, 2014, vol. 131, issue C, 41-49

Abstract: This study was conducted in order to evaluate the prevention of secondary soil salinity and the economic benefits of different drip line designs and irrigation regimes in northwest China. A three-year experiment (2008–2010) was carried out in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China and included five water treatments and two drip line designs. Irrigation was triggered by the soil matric potential (SMP) threshold at 20-cm soil depth, at −10, −20, −30, −40 and −50kPa for single and double lateral irrigation placements after cotton was established. Soil salinity was significantly affected by the irrigation regime and drip line design. The single line design was more efficient at salt leaching and the areas of low electrical conductivity zones in the soil profile existing throughout the growth season were directly proportional to the SMP threshold. Moreover, the critical SMP value (CSV), which is the lowest SMP threshold that can prevent salinization of soil, was significantly related to soil depth and drip line placement. The lowest CSV of −43kPa was obtained under single line design within the 0–40cm soil depth interval. Seed cotton yields were positively correlated with the SMP thresholds and planting years; and the highest yield of 6.41 Mg/ha was achieved under the double lateral design for SMP of −20kPa in 2010. Economic evaluation showed that total investment cost was around 10% lower for single compared to double lateral design, whereas double laterals produced more net income. From the combined point of economic return and soil salinization prevention, a SMP threshold of −20kPa with double line design was found to be most appropriate for scheduling of cotton drip irrigation and agronomic practices in Xinjiang.

Keywords: Drip irrigation; Salt accumulation; Net return; Arid region; Irrigation water use efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377413002527
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:131:y:2014:i:c:p:41-49

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2013.09.011

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().