Ecological and economic impacts of different irrigation and fertilization practices: case study of a watershed in the southern Iran

Azar Sheikhzeinoddin () and Abdoulkarim Esmaeili ()
Additional contact information
Azar Sheikhzeinoddin: Shiraz University
Abdoulkarim Esmaeili: Shiraz University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2017, vol. 19, issue 6, No 20, 2499-2515

Abstract: Abstract Best management practices, such as conservation tillage, the optimum level of irrigation, fertilization, are frequently used to reduce non-point source pollution from agricultural land and improve water quality. In this study, we used the soil and water assessment tool to model the impacts of different irrigation (adjusted to crop need), cropping and fertilization practices on total nitrogen loss. The economic impacts of these practices on crop net farm income were also evaluated. For this purpose, the model was calibrated through comparing model outputs with observations to ensure reliable hydrologic, crop yield and nitrate leaching simulations. The results showed that by reducing water or fertilizer or combination of both, we can reduce nitrate leaching. For wheat and corn, the best scenario was S1n1 (combination between reduction by 10 % of water and nitrogen fertilizer application, simultaneously) and S2n3 (combination of 20 and 30 % reduction in water and fertilizer application), respectively. These scenarios are both ecologically and economically desirable. Also, decreasing nitrogen fertilization by 50 % for corn would decrease the nitrate pollution from 101.1 to 32.3 kg N ha−1; therefore, this strategy is ecologically desirable but economically unsound. So, there are opportunities for environmental decision makers to encourage farmers to implement these strategies. Also, since the nitrogen leaching cannot decrease without a reduction in net farm income for crops such as corn; hence, the losses of farmers should be compensated.

Keywords: Environmental preference; Fertilization management; Irrigation management; Nitrate losses; Net farm income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-016-9868-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:endesu:v:19:y:2017:i:6:d:10.1007_s10668-016-9868-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-016-9868-6

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().