Water Consumption and Maize Yield for Alternative Furrow Irrigation in Western Heilongjiang Province

Aiming at less and un-uniform distribution rainfall problems, the serious draught in spring, low crop production and water efficiency in sandy soil area of Heilongjiang Province, the experiment of alternative furrow irrigation was conducted in Dumeng County in 2009. The purpose of the experiment was to find the water consumption law and its influence on maize yield. The results showed that the highest water consumption was during the heading stage and the highest daily consumption of water was during the filling stage. The stimulation effect of alternative furrow irrigation on yield was obvious in the appropriate irrigation level. The best irrigation pattern for the highest yield was as follows： the seedling stage was 325 m3. hm^-2; the jointing stage was 400 m3-hm^-2; and the filling stage was 288 m3- hm-2. The water consumption during each growing period was that the seedling was 38.85 mm; the jointing was 108.11 mm; the heading was 124.39 ram; the filling was 88.96 ram; the milk was 60.21 ram; and the harvesting was 47.89 mm.

Soil Water Distribution and Irrigation Uniformity Under Alternative Furrow Irrigation

Field experiments were conducted to investigate the spatial-temporal distribution and the uniformity of soil water under alternative furrow irrigation in spring maize field in Cansu Province. Results showed that during the crop growing season, alternative drying and wetting furrows could incur crops to endure a water stress. thus the adsorptive ability of root system could be enhanced. As there was no zero flux plane between irrigated furrows and non-irrigated furrows under alternative furrow irrigation, lateral infiltration of water was obviously increased, thus decreasing the deep percolation. Compared with the conventional irrigation, although the water consumption in alternative furrow irrigation was reduced, the uniformity of soil water was not obviously affected.

Alternate Furrow Irrigation: A Practical Way to Improve Grape Quality and Water Use Efficiency in Arid Northwest China

Field experiments were conducted for two years to investigate the benefits of alternate furrow irrigation on fruit yield, quality and water use efficiency of grape （Vitis vinifera L. cv. Rizamat） in the arid region of Northwest China. Two irrigation treatments were included, i.e., conventional furrow irrigation （CFI, two root-zones were simultaneously irrigated during the consecutive irrigation） and alternate partial root-zone furrow irrigation （AFI, two root-zones were alternatively irrigated during the consecutive irrigation）. Results indicate that AFI maintained similar photosynthetic rate （Pn） but with a reduced transpiration rate when compared to CFI. As a consequence, AFI improved water use efficiency based on evapotranspiration （WUEEr, fruit yield over water consumed） and irrigation （WUE~, fruit yield over water irrigated） by 30.0 and 34.5%, respectively in 2005, and by 12.7 and 17.7%, respectively in 2006. AFI also increased the edible percentage of berry by 2.91-4.79% significantly in both years. Vitamin C （Vc） content content of berry was increased by 25.6-37.5%, and tritrated acidity （TA） was reduced by 9.5-18.1% in AFI. This resulted in an increased total soluble solid content （TSS） to TA ratio （TSS/TA） by 11.5-16.7% when compared to CFI in both years. Our results indicate that alternate furrow irrigation is a practical way to improve grape fruit quality and water use efficiency for irrigated crops in arid areas.

Stem flow of seed-maize under alternate furrow irrigation and double-row ridge planting in an arid region of Northwest China

Maize is widely planted throughout the world and has the highest yield of all the cereal crops. The arid region of North- west China has become the largest base for seed-maize production, but water shortage is the bottleneck for its long-term sustainability. Investigating the transpiration of seed-maize plants will offer valuable information for suitable planting and irrigation strategies in this arid area. In this study, stem flow was measured using a heat balance method under alternate furrow irrigation and double-row ridge planting. Meteorological factors, soil water content （e）, soil temperature （Ts） and leaf area （LA） were also monitored during 2012 and 2013. The diurnal stem flow and seasonal dynamics of maize plants in the zones of south side female parent （SFP）, north side female parent （NFP） and male parent （MP） were investigated. The order of stem flow rate was： SFP〉MP〉NFP. The relationships between stem flow and influential factors during three growth stages at different time scales were analyzed. On an hourly scale, solar radiation （Rs） was the main driving factor of stem flow. The influence of air temperature （Ta） during the maturity stage was significantly higher than in other periods. On a daily scale, Rs was the main driving factor of stem flow during the heading stage. During the filling growth stage, the main driving factor of NFP and MP stem flow was RH and Ts, respectively. However, during the maturity stage, the environ- mental factors had no significant influence on seed-maize stem flow. For different seed-maize plants, the main influential factors were different in each of the three growing seasons. Therefore, we identified them to accurately model the FP and MP stem flow and applied precision irrigation under alternate partial root-zone furrow irrigation to analyze major factors affecting stem flow in different scales.

Field performance of alternate wetting and drying furrow irrigation on tomato crop growth, yield, water use efficiency, quality and profitability

Sustainable irrigation method is now essential for adaptation and adoption in the areas where water resources are limited. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to test the performance of alternate wetting and drying furrow irrigation（AWDFI） on crop growth, yield, water use efficiency（WUE）, fruit quality and profitability analysis of tomato. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with six treatments replicated thrice during the dry seasons of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. Irrigation water was applied through three ways of furrow： AWDFI, fixed wetting and drying furrow irrigation（FWDFI） and traditional（every） furrow irrigation（TFI）. Each irrigation method was divided into two levels： irrigation up to 100 and 80% field capacity（FC）. Results showed that plant biomass（dry matter） and marketable fruit yield of tomato did not differ significantly between the treatments of AWDFI and TFI, but significant difference was observed in AWDFI and in TFI compared to FWDFI at same irrigation level. AWDFI saved irrigation water by 35 to 38% for the irrigation levels up to 80 and 100% FC, compared to the TFI, respectively. AWDFI improved WUE by around 37 to 40% compared to TFI when irrigated with 100 and 80% FC, respectively. Fruit quality（total soluble solids and pulp） was found greater in AWDFI than in TFI. Net return from AWDFI technique was found nearly similar compared to TFI and more than FWDFI. The benefit cost ratio was viewed higher in AWDFI than in TFI and FWDFI by 2.8, 8.7 and 11, 10.4% when irrigation water was applied up to 100 and 80% FC, respectively. Unit production cost was obtained lower in AWDFI compared to TFI and FWDFI. However, AWDFI is a useful water-saving furrow irrigation technique which may resolve as an alternative choice compared with TFI in the areas where available water and supply methods are limited to irrigation.