Improving Water Use Efficiency through Reduced Irrigation for Sustainable Cotton Production

Hafiz Shahzad Ahmad, Muhammad Imran, Fiaz Ahmad, Shah Rukh, Rao Muhammad Ikram, Hafiz Muhammad Rafique, Zafar Iqbal, Abdulaziz Abdullah Alsahli, Mohammed Nasser Alyemeni, Shafaqat Ali and Tanveer-ul-Haq
Additional contact information
Hafiz Shahzad Ahmad: Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Muhammad Imran: Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Fiaz Ahmad: Physiology Section, Central Cotton Research Institute, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Shah Rukh: Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Rao Muhammad Ikram: Department of Agronomy, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Hafiz Muhammad Rafique: Pesticide Quality Control Laboratory, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Zafar Iqbal: Soil and Water Testing Laboratory Mianwali, Mianwali 42200, Pakistan
Abdulaziz Abdullah Alsahli: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Nasser Alyemeni: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Shafaqat Ali: Department of Environmental Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
Tanveer-ul-Haq: Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, MNS University of Agriculture, Multan 60000, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: The socio-economic development of a country is highly dependent on water availability. Nowadays, increasing water scarcity is a major global challenge. Continuing improvements in water-use efficiency are essential for cotton production sustainability. Reduced irrigation in cotton could be a solution to water shortage in the arid climate without compromising the cotton yield. Therefore, a two-year field study was conducted to assess the effect of two levels of irrigation i.e., 50% and 100% of available water content (AWC) on the yield of four cotton genotypes (CIM-678, CIM-343, CRIS-613, and CYTO-510). The maximum seed cotton yield was observed in CIM-678, which was 2.31 and 2.46 Mg ha −1 under 100% AWC during 2018 and 2019, respectively, and was non-significantly reduced by 7.7 and 8.94%, owing to deficit irrigation. The maximum water use efficiency (WUE) of 0.55 and 0.64 Kg ha −1 mm −1 was observed under 50% AWC in CIM-678, which was significantly higher than WUE at 100% AWC during both years. Leaf area index and physiological parameters such as photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance were not significantly affected by deficit irrigation. So, it was concluded that the reduced irrigation technique performed well without significant yield loss, improve WUE, and saved 37 cm of water that could be used for other crops or to increase the area of the cotton crop.

Keywords: available water contents (AWC); water use efficiency (WUE); irrigation; time-domain refractometry (TDR); soil moisture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/4044/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/4044/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:4044-:d:530557

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().