Gas-Water Production of a Continental Tight-Sandstone Gas Reservoir under Different Fracturing Conditions

A numerical model of hydraulic fracture propagation is introduced for a representative reservoir(Yuanba continental tight sandstone gas reservoir in Northeast Sichuan).Different parameters are considered,i.e.,the interlayer stress difference,the fracturing discharge rate and the fracturing fluid viscosity.The results show that these factors affect the gas and water production by influencing the fracture size.The interlayer stress difference can effectively control the fracture height.The greater the stress difference,the smaller the dimensionless reconstruction volume of the reservoir,while the flowback rate and gas production are lower.A large displacement fracturing construction increases the fracture-forming efficiency and expands the fracture size.The larger the displacement of fracturing construction,the larger the dimensionless reconstruction volume of the reservoir,and the higher the fracture-forming efficiency of fracturing fluid,the flowback rate,and the gas production.Low viscosity fracturing fluid is suitable for long fractures,while high viscosity fracturing fluid is suitable for wide fractures.With an increase in the fracturing fluid viscosity,the dimensionless reconstruction volume and flowback rate of the reservoir display a non-monotonic behavior,however,their changes are relatively small.

Consistency of Water Production Function Models of Two Crops

On basis of test information, the research performed analysis on water production function models of two crops, which indicated that water model of crops in whole growth stage and water model of crops indifferent growth stages have consistency as well as differences, providing references for optimization of irrigation water. Meanwhile, the research analyzed the deficiency of optimization on irrigation water for crops just by Jensen model.

Influential Factors of Water Productivity of Maize in Oasis of Arid Areas——A Case Study of Linze County

[Objective] The aim was to research influential factors of water productivity of maize in oasis in arid areas. [Method] In middle reach of Heihe River in Linze County of Zhangye City, maize, a major crop in irrigated area in the oasis, was studied and nine influential factors were chosen through grey relation analysis. [Result] According to grey relation analysis, top five factors influencing water produc- tivity of maize during 1995-2009 were as follows： applied quantity of chemical fertil- izers〉labour input〉seeds〉mulch amount〉pesticide amount, which indicated that controllable factors, instead of uncontrollable ones, dominate in influence of water productivity of maize in oasis in arid areas. [Conclusion] With water resource limited, investment of controllable factors in high-efficient agricultural production should be the major strategy to improve water productivity of maize in oasis of arid areas.

Influence of Seed Priming on Performance and Water Productivity of Direct Seeded Rice in Alternating Wetting and Drying

Direct seeded rice is promising alternative to traditional transplanting, but requires appropriate crop and water management to maintain yield performance and achieve high water productivity. Present study evaluated the effect of seed priming and irrigation on crop establishment, tillering, agronomic traits, paddy yield, grain quality and water productivity of direct seeded rice in alternate wetting and drying （DSR-AWD） in comparison with direct seeded rice at field capacity （DSR- FC）. Seed priming treatments were osmo-priming with KCI （2.2%）, CaCI2 （2.2%） and moringa leaf extracts （MLE, 3.3%） including hydro-priming as control. Among the treatments, seed osmo-primed with MLE emerged earlier and had higher final emergence, followed by osmo-priming with CaCI2. Tillering emergence rate and number of tillers per plant were the highest for seed priming with CaCI2 in DSR- AWD. Total productive and non-productive tillers, panicle length, biological and grain yields, harvest index were highest for seed priming with MLE or CaCI2 in DSR-AWD. Similarly, grain quality, estimated in terms of normal grains, abortive and chalky grains, was also the highest in DSR-AWD with MLE osmo-priming. Benefit cost ratio and water productivity was also the highest in DSR-AWD for seed priming with MLE. In conclusion, seed priming with MLE or CaCI2 can be successfully employed to improve the direct seeded rice performance when practiced with alternate wetting and drying irrigation.

Effect of irrigation regime on grain yield,water productivity,and methane emissions in dry direct-seeded rice grown in raised beds with wheat straw incorporation

Dry direct-seeded rice grown in raised beds is becoming an important practice in the wheat–rice rotation system in China.However,little information has been available on the effect of various irrigation regimes on grain yield,water productivity(WP),nitrogen use efficiency(NUE),and greenhouse gas emission in this practice.This study investigated the question using two rice cultivars in 2015 and 2016 grown in soil with wheat straw incorporated into it.Rice seeds were directly seeded into raised beds,which were maintained under aerobic conditions during the early seedling period.Three irrigation regimes:continuous flooding(CF),alternate wetting and drying(AWD),and furrow irrigation(FI),were applied from 4.5-leaf-stage to maturity.Compared with CF,both AWD and FI significantly increased grain yield,WP,and internal NUE,with greater increases under the FI regime.The two cultivars showed the same tendency in both years.Both AWD and FI markedly increased soil redox potential,root and shoot biomass,root oxidation activity,leaf photosynthetic NUE,and harvest index and markedly decreased global warming potential,owing to substantial reduction in seasonalThe results demonstrate that adoption of either AWD or FI could increase grain yield and resource-use efficiency and reduce environmental risks in dry direct-seeded rice grown on raised beds with wheat straw incorporation in the wheat–rice rotation system.

Effect of Phosphorus and Irrigation Levels on Yield,Water Productivity,Phosphorus Use Efficiency and Income of Lowland Rice in Northwest Pakistan

With decreasing availability of water for agriculture and increasing demand for rice production, an optimum use of irrigation water and phosphorus may guarantee sustainable rice production. Field experiments were conducted in 2003 and 2004 to investigate the effect of phosphorus and irrigation levels on yield, water productivity （WP）, phosphorus use efficiency （PUE） and income of low land rice. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with split plot arrangements replicated four times. Main plot consisted of five phosphorus levels, viz. 0 （P0）, 50 （P50）, 100 （P100）, 150 （P15o）, and 200 （P200） kg/hm2, while subplots contained of irrigation times, i.e. 8 （I8）, 10 （I10）, 12 （I12）, and 14 （I14） irrigation levels, each with a water depth of 7.5 cm. Mean values revealed that P150 in combination with I10 produced the highest paddy yield （9.8 t/hm2） and net benefit （1 231.8 US$/hm2） among all the treatments. Phosphorus enhanced WP when applied in appropriate combination with irrigation level. The highest mean WP [13.3 kg/（hm2-mm）] could be achieved at Plso with 18 and decreased with increase in irrigation level, while the highest mean PUE （20.1 kg/kg） could be achieved at P100 with I10 and diminished with higher P levels. The overall results indicate that P150 along with I10 was the best combination for sustainable rice cultivation in silty clay soil.

Responses of water productivity to irrigation and N supply for hybrid maize seed production in an arid region of Northwest China

Water and nitrogen（N） are generally two of the most important factors in determining the crop productivity. Proper water and N managements are prerequisites for agriculture sustainable development in arid areas. Field experiments were conducted to study the responses of water productivity for crop yield（WP_（Y-ET）） and final biomass（WP_（B-ET）） of film-mulched hybrid maize seed production to different irrigation and N treatments in the Hexi Corridor, Northwest China during April to September in 2013 and also during April to September in 2014. Three irrigation levels（70%–65%, 60%–55%, and 50%–45% of the field capacity） combined with three N rates（500, 400, and 300 kg N/hm^2） were tested in 2013. The N treatments were adjusted to 500, 300, and 100 kg N/hm^2 in 2014. Results showed that the responses of WP_（Y-ET） and WP_（B-ET） to different irrigation amounts were different. WP_（Y-ET） was significantly reduced by lowering irrigation amounts while WP_（B-ET） stayed relatively insensitive to irrigation amounts. However, WP_（Y-ET） and WP_（B-ET） behaved consistently when subjected to different N treatments. There was a slight effect of reducing N input from 500 to 300 kg/hm^2 on the WP_（Y-ET） and WP_（B-ET）, however, when reducing N input to 100 kg/hm^2, the values of WP_（Y-ET） and WP_（B-ET） were significantly reduced. Water is the primary factor and N is the secondary factor in determining both yield（Y） and final biomass（B）. Partial factor productivity from applied N（PFP_N） was the maximum under the higher irrigation level and in lower N rate（100–300 kg N/hm^2） in both years（2013 and 2014）. Lowering the irrigation amount significantly reduced evapotranspiration（ET）, but ET did not vary with different N rates（100–500 kg N/hm^2）. Both Y and B had robust linear relationships with ET, but the correlation between B and ET（R^2=0.8588） was much better than that between Y and ET（R^2=0.6062）. When ET increased, WP_（Y-ET） linearly increased and WP_（B-ET） decreased. Taking the indices of Y, B, WP_（Y-ET）, WP_（B-ET） and PFP_N into account, a higher irrigation level（70%–65% of the field capacity） and a lower N rate（100–300 kg N/hm^2） are recommended to be a proper irrigation and N application strategy for plastic film-mulched hybrid maize seed production in arid Northwest China.

Influence of Crop Nutrition on Grain Yield,Seed Quality and Water Productivity under Two Rice Cultivation Systems

The system of rice intensification （SRI） is reported to have advantages like lower seed requirement,less pest attack,shorter crop duration,higher water use efficiency and the ability to withstand higher degree of moisture stress than traditional method of rice cultivation.With this background,SRI was compared with traditional transplanting technique at Indian Agricultural Research Institute,New Delhi,India during two wet seasons （2009-2011）.In the experiment laid out in a factorial randomized block design,two methods of rice cultivation [conventional transplanting （CT） and SRI] and two rice varieties （Pusa Basmati 1 and Pusa 44） were used under seven crop nutrition treatments,viz.T 1,120 kg/hm2 N,26.2 kg/hm2 P and 33 kg/hm2 K;T 2,20 t/hm2 farmyard manure （FYM）;T 3,10 t/hm2 FYM＋ 60 kg/hm2 N;T 4,5 t/hm2 FYM＋ 90 kg/hm2 N;T 5,5 t/hm2 FYM＋ 60 kg/hm2 N＋ 1.5 kg/hm2 blue green algae （BGA）;T 6,5 t/hm2 FYM＋ 60 kg/hm2 N＋ 1.0 t/hm2 Azolla,and T 7,N 0 P 0 K 0 （control,no NPK application） to study the effect on seed quality,yield and water use.In SRI,soil was kept at saturated moisture condition throughout vegetative phase and thin layer of water （2-3 cm） was maintained during the reproductive phase of rice,however,in CT,standing water was maintained in crop growing season.Results revealed that CT and SRI gave statistically at par grain yield but straw yield was significantly higher in CT as compared to SRI.Seed quality was superior in SRI as compared to CT.Integrated nutrient management （INM） resulted in higher plant height with longer leaves than chemical fertilizer alone in both the rice varieties.Grain yield attributes such as number of effective tillers per hill,panicle length and panicle weight of rice in both the varieties were significantly higher in INM as compared to chemical fertilizer alone.Grain yields of both the varieties were the highest in INM followed by the recommended doses of chemical fertilizer.The grain yield and its attributes of Pusa 44 were significantly higher than those of Pusa Basmati 1.The seed quality parameters like germination rate and vigor index as well as N uptake and soil organic carbon content were higher in INM than those in chemical fertilizer alone.CT rice used higher amount of water than SRI,with water saving of 37.6% to 34.5% in SRI.Significantly higher water productivity was recorded in SRI as compared to CT rice.

Spatial and Temporal Variation in Water Productivity and Grain Water Utilization Assessment of Heilongjiang Province,Northeast China

Improving crop water productivity is necessary for ensuring food security. To quantify the water utilization in grain production from multiple perspectives, gross inflow water productivity(WPg), generalized agricultural water productivity(WPa), evapotranspiration water productivity(WPET) and irrigation water productivity(WPI) were examined in this study. This paper calculated and analyzed the temporal and spatial variation in these water productivity(WP) indices in the irrigated land of Heilongjiang Province. The results showed that almost all of the municipal WP indices increased from 2007 to 2015. The four indices showed large differences in scientific connotation and numerical performance, and their degrees of spatial variation were ranked as WPI>WPa>WPg>WPET. The spatial patterns of WP indices in different years were similar; the central and southern regions on the Songnen Plain and the eastern region had high WP values, while those of the northern region were low. Each WP index was used to evaluate the relationship between the input of water resources and the output of grain between different regions. Most cities had the potential to improve WP by reducing the input of irrigation water. Furthermore, the results provided recommendations to decision makers to plan for efficient use of water resources in different cities.

Modeling the Effect of Planting Dates and Nitrogen Application Rates on Potatoes Water Productivity in Jordan Valley

Agricultural sector in Jordan is facing serious challenges in meeting the growing needs of food security because of its low water availability. Maintaining and enhancing agricultural water productivity under such prevailing environmental constraints are hard to achieve. Potatoes water productively in Jordan Valley was modeled using Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) under six nitrogen applications (0, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 140 kg/ha) and twelve planting dates every two weeks from October 1 to March 15 scenarios. The potatoes yield increased from 0% to 100% nitrogen treatment and then no considerable increase occurred. The potatoes’ crop yield increased from October 1st to January 15 and then decreased after which until the last day of planting date. The seasonal cumulative crop evapotranspiration for potatoes about doubled from 0% to 60% nitrogen treatment and then kept increasing gradually until the last treatment. The growing season cumulative crop evapotranspiration for potatoes increased gradually from October 1 to March 1. The water productivity increased from 0% nitrogen treatment to 100% and then decreased. The potatoes’ water productivity increased from October 1 until November 15 and then decreased to the end. From these results, we recommend that 100% of nitrogen requirements should be applied. The best window for potatoes’ planting date is the last two weeks in November.

Characterization of Water Production and Its Implication to Forest Management

Nowadays, forests are being managed for multiple uses. The basic requirement of multiple use forestry is to identify and quantify forest values and to determine management objectives. The priorities of management objectives, however, must be decided. In this study, a model predicting water production for multi-objective forest management was developed. The model was based on data from permanent sample plots. The data were gathered from 132 sample plots. Approximately 80% of the observations were used for model development and 20% for validation. The model was designed for even-aged forests, as well as for forests with mixed and pure species composition. The explicatory variable in the model was number of trees. All parameter estimates were found highly significant （P 〈 0.001） in predicting water production. The model fit and validation tests were fairly good. The water production model presented in this study was considered to have an appropriate level of reliability. planning, but, it should be limited to the conditions for which the data It can be used in the overall multi-objective forest management were gathered.

Calculating the Yield, Water Utilize Efficiency and Water Productivity for Carrot Crop under Climate Change Effects

The present work analyzed the yield, water utilize efficiency and water productivity for carrot Crop under climate change effects. In this research, river water was used with irrigation ratios with drain water to irrigate the carrots (Daucus carota L.) crop during the winter growing season 2021-2022 in free field and utilizing furrow irrigation method with calculation the water use efficiency and water productivity to three sites. The study was conducted in the three sites in the Babil province in Town of Sadat-AlHindya reached 80 km from Baghdad city. Site 1 was used 33% drain water and 67% river water while site 2 was used 83% drain water and 17% river water but the site 3 was used 100% river water. The reduction of yield in site 1 was 17.3% and in site 2 was 75%. The reducing of WUE in site 1 was 23% and in site 2 was 77%. The decrease of WP in site 1 was 22.98% and in site 2 was 82.28%. The value of water stress coefficient (Ks) because irrigation by water salanity and soil salanty was 0.83, 0.78 and 0.92 in site 1,site 2 and site 3, respectively, water salanity and soil salanty reduction in productivity by 9%, 14% and 7% in production of site 1, site 2 and site 3, respectively in every irrigating.

Optimized Operation of a Solar-Driven Thermoelectric Dehumidification System for Fresh Water Production

The work presents a parametric analysis of the performance of a solar-driven thermoelectric system to dehumidify air and produce fresh water. The system is combined with a solar distiller humidifying ambient air to enhance distillate output to meet the specified fresh water needs for a residential application. The presented system is a totally renewable energy-based system taking advantage of the clean solar energy. A model is developed to simulate the air dehumidification process using TEC （thermoelectrically cooled） channels. An optimization problem for setting system operational parameters is formulated to meet the fresh water requirement of 10 liters per day for a typical residential application in the Lebanese coastal humid climate. Using five TEC channels of length of 1.2 m and area of 0.07 - 0.05 m^2 integrated with 1.2 m^2 solar distiller is capable of meeting the water demand, where the air mass flow rate introduced to each TEC channel is optimally set at 0.0155 kg/s. The optimal electrical current input to the TEC modules from the photovoltaic solar panels varied depending on the month and is set at 2.2 A in June, 2.1 A in July and 2.0 A in August, September and October per each TEC module.

Soil fertility effect on water productivity of maize in the upper blue nile basin, Ethiopia

Maize (Zea mays) is among the major cereals grown in the high rainfall areas of the subSaharan Africa’s (SSA) such as the Ethiopian part of the Blue Nile basin. However, its productivity is severely constrained by poor soil, water and crop management practices. This study simulated the water productivity of the crop under varying soil fertility scenarios (poor, near optimal and none limiting) using hybrid seeds under rainfed conditions using the FAO AquaCrop model. The result indicated that grain yield of maize increased from 2.5 tons.ha–1 under poor to 6.4 and 9.2 tons.ha–1 with near optimal and non-limiting soil fertility conditions. Correspondingly, soil evaporation decreased from 446 mm to 285 and 204 mm, while transpiration increased from 146 to 268 and 355 mm. Consequently, grain water productivity was increased by 48% and 54%, respectively, with the near optimal and non-limiting soil fertility conditions. The water productivity gain mainly comes from reduced evaporation and increased transpiration without significantly affecting water left for downstream ecosystem services. This has a huge implication for a basin scale water management planning for various purposes.

Agronomic, Water Productivity and Economic Analysis of Irrigated Rice under Different Nitrogen and Water Management Methods

The most limiting factors for irrigated rice farming are water and nitrogen. Efficient water and nitrogen management has remained critical for sustainable rice production in irrigated rice farming system. Due to rapid global population growth and climate change, future rice production will depend heavily on developing strategies and practices that use water and nitrogen efficiently. The study therefore set to evaluate agronomic, water productivity and economic analysis of irrigated rice under various nitrogen and water management methods. To achieve the set objectives, field and pot experiments were carried out at the Soil and Irrigation Research Centre, University of Ghana, Kpong in 2015 and 2016 cropping season. The field experiment was laid in a split plot design with water management treatments as main plots and N fertilizer as subplot treatment. The pot experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with five replications. The water management treatments were;continuous submergence (SC), alternate wet and dry soil condition (AWD) and moist soil condition (MC). Nitrogen fertilizer rates were;no N fertilizer (N0), 60 kg N/ha (N1) and 90 kg N/ha (N2). Data such as yield and yield parameters of rice, water use, water productivity, costs and returns were recorded. Results obtained from both pot and field experiments revealed that rice yields were at par in AWD and SC but yields were lower in MC treatment. With N fertilizer, higher yields were observed with 90 kg N/ha. The interaction effect of submerged with 90 kg N/ha gave the highest grain yield. N fertilizer effect on water use and water productivity was ranked as N2 > N1 > N0 while water management effect on water use and water productivity was ranked in this order: SC > AWD > MC and MC > AWD > SC respectively.

Yield and Water Productivity of Chickpea (<i>Cicer arietinum</i>L.) as Influenced by Different Irrigation Regimes and Varieties under Semi Desert Climatic Conditions of Sudan

A field experiment was conducted at Hudeiba Research Station Farm, located at Ed-Damer, Sudan during 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 winter seasons to investigate the effect of different irrigation regimes and varieties on chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) yield, yield components and water productivity. The treatments include three irrigation regimes;irrigation every 10 days (I1 = full irrigation), irrigation every 15 days (I2 = moderate stress) and irrigation every 20 days (I3 = severe stress) and two varieties (Borgieg and Wad Hamid). The treatments were arranged in factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications. Irrigation water being applied, grain yield, yield components (number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and the 100 seeds weight) and crop water productivity (CWP) and irrigation water productivity (IWP) were recorded. Results showed that the number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100-seeds weight, grain yield and irrigation water applied were significantly (p ≤ 0.001) affected by irrigation regimes. The highest values of these traits obtained with full irrigation, whereas the lowest values were recorded under severe water stress conditions. Results also indicated that, moderate and severe water stress regimes saved irrigation water by 24% and 32%, respectively compared with full irrigation. This study indicated that treatment I1 which was irrigated every 10-days did not produce the highest IWP, while treatment I2 which irrigated every 15-days gave the highest IWP. The lowest IWP occurred at severe water stress regime (I3). It could be concluded that moderate water stress might be adopted. Contrarily, the adoption of severe water stressed that produce high water savings would lead to yield losses that might be economically not acceptable. The late maturing chickpea variety of Borgieg significantly (p ≤ 0.05) out-yielded the early maturing variety Wad Hamid by 11%. Borgieg displayed the highest values of CWP and IWP.

Yield and Water Productivity of Drip-Irrigated Potato under Different Nitrogen Levels and Irrigation Regime with Saline Water in Arid Tunisia

Field studies were conducted on a sandy soil during autumn of 2010 and 2011 in an arid region of Tunisia to investigate the effects of nitrogen and irrigation regimes with saline water on yield and water productivity (WP) of potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Spunta) and soil salinity. For the two years, irrigation treatments consisted in water replacements of cumulated crop evapotranspiration (ETc) at levels of 100% (I100, full irrigation), 60% (I60) and 30% (I30), when the readily available water in I100 treatment was depleted, while the nitrogen treatments (N) were 0, 100, 200, and 300 kg/ha (No, N100, N200, and N300). Results showed that soil salinity values remained lower than those of electrical conductivity of irrigation water (ECiw) and were the lowest under treatment I100 and the highest with I30 treatment. Relatively low ECe values were also observed under I60 treatment. The highest potato yields for the two years were obtained with I100 treatment. Compared to I100, significant reductions in potato yields were observed under I60 and I30 deficit irrigation treatments resulting from a reduction in tubers number/m2 and tuber weight. The water productivity (WP) was found to significantly vary among treatments, where the highest and the lowest values were observed for I30 and I100 treatments, respectively. Potato yield and WP increased with an increase in nitrogen rates. The rate of 300 kg N/ha was seen to give good yield and higher WP of potato under full (I100) and deficit (I60) irrigation treatments. However, application of N adversely affected potato yield and WP, when N level applied above 200 kg N/ha at I30. The WP was improved by N supply, but its effect decreased as the irrigation level increased. The IWP at I100, which produced the highest potato yield, was 8.5 and 9.9 kg/m3 with N300 but this increased to 11.9 and 15.6 kg/m3 at I30 with N200, in 2010 and 2011, respectively. These results suggested that potato in arid region could be cultivated with acceptable yields while saving irrigation water and reducing nitrogen supply but it was essential to exploit the interaction effect between these two parameters to maximize resource use efficiency.

Analysis of cotton water productivity in Fergana Valley of Central Asia

Cotton water productivity was studied in Fergana Valley of Central Asia during the years of 2009, 2010 and 2011. Data was collected from 18 demonstration fields (13 in Uzbekistan, 5 in Tajikistan). The demonstration field farmers implemented several improved agronomic and irrigation water management practices. The average values of crop yield, estimated crop consumptive use (ETa) and total water applied (TWA) for the demonstration sites were, respectively, 3700 kg/ha, 6360 m3/ha, and 8120 m3/ha. The range of values for TWA and ETa were, respectively, 5000 m3/ha to 12,000 m3/ha and 4500 m3/ha to 8000 m3/ha. A quadratic relationship was found between TWA and ETa. The average yield of the adjacent fields was 3300 kg/ha, whereas the average yield of cotton in Fergana Valley as a whole was 2900 kg/ha, indicating 28% and 14% increase in crop yield, respectively, from, demonstration fields and adjacent fields. There was no significant difference in crop yields between the wet years (2009 and 2010) and the dry year (2011), which is explained by the quadratic relationship between TWA and ETa. The water productivity values ranged from 0.35 kg/m3 to 0.89 kg/m3, indicating a significant potential for improving water productivity through agronomic and irrigation management interventions. The ratio of average ETa divided by average TWA gave an average application efficiency of 78% (some fields under-irrigated and some fields over-irrigated), the remaining 22% of water applied leaving the field. Since more than 60% of the water used for irrigation in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is pumped from, even if all this 22% of water returns to the stream, substantial energy savings would accrue from improving the average application efficiency at field level. The range of values for TWA indicates the inequity in water distribution/accessibility. Addressing this inequity would also increase water productivity at field and project level.

Evapotranspiration, Grain Yield, and Water Productivity of Spring Oat (Avena sativa L.) under Semiarid Climate

Spring oat (Avena sativa) is produced for grain, hay, and green manure and can be integrated into a cropping system as a cover crop. Twenty-eight oat genotypes (G1, G2, G3, …., G28), selected for their adaptability to the Southwestern United States, were evaluated for their yield performance under sprinkler irrigation during four growing seasons (2005-2008) at the Agricultural Science Center at Farmington, New Mexico State University. The genotypes were arranged in randomized complete blocs design with four replications. Irrigation scheduling was based on evapotranspiration and the depletion criterion of 40% to 45% total available water (TAW) was practiced to prevent the plants from experiencing any water stress. Crop evapotranspiration estimated by the FAO crop coefficient and reference evapotranspiration approach was low about 2 mm/day during crop initial stage and increased with plant growth and reached the maximum during crop mid-season or reproductive stage. It decreased during crop late season. Daily crop evapotranspiration varied from 0.5 to 12.6 mm in 2008 and the seasonal Spring oat evapotranspiration varied from 535.8 to 591 mm. Averaged across the four growing seasons, oat evapotranspiration was 570.4 mm. The results showed that Spring oat plant height varied significantly with genotypes and ranged from 59.1 to 100.8 cm. Oat grain yield significantly varied with years and genotypes. Grain yield varied from 3386 to 6498 kg/ha and average yield was 4245, 4265, 5477, and 4025 kg/ha during the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. The best performing genotypes were G1, G2, G7, G19, G20, G21 and G23 with average yield greater than 4800 kg/ha while G3, G13, G17 and G27 showed the lowest yield among the genotypes. Oat crop water use efficiency (CWUE) varied with genotype and years and ranged from 0.53 to 1.07 kg/m3 and averaged 0.65, 0.78, 0.91 and 0.70 kg/m3 in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. The highest CWUE was achieved by G19 and the lowest CWUE was obtained by G13. Irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) which represents the quantity of yield produced per cubic meter of water, varied from 0.57 to 1.20 kg/m3 while evapotranspiration water use efficiency (ETWUE) varied with genotype and year and ranged from 0.57 to 1.21 kg/m3 with the overall IWUE mean of 0.83 kg/m3 and ETWUE mean of 0.81 kg/m3.

Evaluation of irrigation water salinity and leaching fraction on the water productivity for crops

In arid and semi-arid irrigated croplands,the excessive accumulation of soluble salts in the root zone is an extensive problem that seriously limits crop yield and water productivity(WP).To avoid affects the yield potential of crops,the application of extra irrigation for leaching of excessive salts from the root zone was required.Quantitative knowledge of effects of the irrigation water salinity and leaching fraction(LF)on the relative yield(RY)and the unit water productivity of crop evapotranspiration(UWPET)and the unit water productivity of irrigation water(UWPI)were becoming gradually important.This article provided theoretical models for estimating the UWPs(UWPET and UWPI)and optimizing leaching fraction according to irrigation water salinity.In the present study,eight levels of irrigation water salinity(ECw=0.25,0.50,0.75,1,2,3,4,and 5 dS/m)and 39 levels of LF values ranging from 0.04 to 0.80 were set and tested to assessing their effects on the RY and UWPs for four typical crops(barley,bean,wheat,and maize)with different salt tolerance levels.Almost every curve determined between the UWPs and LFs for the four crops had an inflection point.It was indicated that the UWPET and UWPI could be maximized by optimizing the LF under different irrigation water salinities.Furthermore,the linear regression relationships were established to estimate the maximum values of UWPs and their corresponding optimal LFs for four crops by using the irrigation water salinity.Moreover,the theoretical models for estimating the UWPs were validated by data of wheat from previous literature,and the models could be suitable with acceptable relative errors when LFs ranging from 0.07 to 0.17.