Synergistic regulation of irrigation and drainage based on crop salt tolerance and leaching threshold

Yi Liu, Yue Hu, Chenchen Wei, Wenzhi Zeng, Jiesheng Huang and Chang Ao

Agricultural Water Management, 2024, vol. 292, issue C

Abstract: The implementation of current drip irrigation scheduling, which only considers crop water demands (referred to as empirical drip irrigation) during the growth period and uncontrolled leaching during fallow periods, exacerbates issues of soil salinization and water scarcity in the Xinjiang region. In pursuit of more scientifically effective irrigation and leaching methods, this study employed the H2DSWAP model coupled by the HYDRUS-2D and a Soil–Water–Atmosphere–Plant model (SWAP) for scenario experiments. Results showed that prolonged irrigation without drainage (winter-free irrigation) led to an annual upward trend in salt accumulation within the root zone (0–100 cm) through drip irrigation under film mulch. In regions with shallow groundwater levels (≤ 2.0 m), an exclusive focus on crop water requirements and neglecting leaching demands for salts led to a gradual reduction in crop yield, reducing by 86.8 % after 12 years of operation. Conversely, by considering both water and salt stress thresholds during the growth stage for irrigation, optimal crop yields can be maintained. However, salt predominantly accumulated within the 60–100 cm soil layer, inducing recurrent leaching during the growth period due to continual salt migration in this layer. This occurrence resulted in wasted water resources, uneven soil salt distribution, and ultimately diminished crop yields. The simulation findings for diverse winter irrigation scenarios suggested that the salinity content in the deep root zone (60–100 cm) could function as a leaching threshold for determining the necessity of winter irrigation, approximating a value of 11 g kg−1. In comparison to conventional irrigation and drainage practices, the irrigation and drainage coordinated regulation model proposed in this study contributes to salt removal, effectively restraining the waste of water resources caused by frequent winter irrigation.

Keywords: Drip irrigation; Soil salinization; Scenario experiments; Coupled model; Salt migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424000143
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:292:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424000143

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2024.108679

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 ().