TY - JOUR
T1 - Partial rootzone irrigation increases water use efficiency, maintains yield and enhances economic profit of cotton in arid area
AU - Tang, Li Song
AU - Li, Yan
AU - ZHANG, Jianhua
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank all the staffs of Fukang Station of Desert Ecology for their excellent field and lab assistance. This research was funded by one of National Basic Research Program of China ( 2009CB421302 ) and a grant from Natural Science Founding of China (Grant No. 40571031 ). JZ is grateful for the grant support from Hong Kong Research Grants Council ( HKBU 262307 ) and Hong Kong University Grants Committee ( AoE/B-07/99 ).
PY - 2010/10
Y1 - 2010/10
N2 - Partial rootzone irrigation (PRI) can substantially reduce irrigation amount and has been demonstrated as a promising irrigation method for crops in arid or semiarid areas. Many earlier researches have shown that PRI reduces leaf transpiration by narrowing stomatal opening. In this study we verified the hypothesis that PRI can also save irrigation water by substantially reducing soil evaporation. Field experiment was conducted in an arid area where cotton production almost completely relies on irrigation. Water was applied to furrows in the cotton field either alternatively (AFI, alternative furrow irrigation), or evenly to all the furrows (CFI, conventional furrow irrigation), or to one fixed furrow in every two (FFI, fixed furrow irrigation). Our results show that surface evaporation constitutes a large fraction of the irrigation water loss from cropped field (more than 20%), and with the two PRI treatments nearly 40% of the evaporative water loss is saved. Transpiration accounted for 48%, 58% and 57% of the total amount of irrigation respectively for the CFI, AFI and FFI treatments. This result suggests that PRI increases the proportion of applied water that is transpired, and therefore leads to a higher water use efficiency than regular irrigation. Overall, when irrigation was reduced by 30%, the average final yield loss of AFI was only 4.44%, a non-significant reduction statistically. The FFI had a significant reduction in yield of 12.01% in comparison to CFI. Moreover, PRI brings in earlier flowering and a higher economical return due to early harvested cotton. This indicates that the final economical output could compensate for the loss of cotton yield due to water-saving. With very little extra cost to implementation, PRI proves a very promising method in cotton production in arid zone.
AB - Partial rootzone irrigation (PRI) can substantially reduce irrigation amount and has been demonstrated as a promising irrigation method for crops in arid or semiarid areas. Many earlier researches have shown that PRI reduces leaf transpiration by narrowing stomatal opening. In this study we verified the hypothesis that PRI can also save irrigation water by substantially reducing soil evaporation. Field experiment was conducted in an arid area where cotton production almost completely relies on irrigation. Water was applied to furrows in the cotton field either alternatively (AFI, alternative furrow irrigation), or evenly to all the furrows (CFI, conventional furrow irrigation), or to one fixed furrow in every two (FFI, fixed furrow irrigation). Our results show that surface evaporation constitutes a large fraction of the irrigation water loss from cropped field (more than 20%), and with the two PRI treatments nearly 40% of the evaporative water loss is saved. Transpiration accounted for 48%, 58% and 57% of the total amount of irrigation respectively for the CFI, AFI and FFI treatments. This result suggests that PRI increases the proportion of applied water that is transpired, and therefore leads to a higher water use efficiency than regular irrigation. Overall, when irrigation was reduced by 30%, the average final yield loss of AFI was only 4.44%, a non-significant reduction statistically. The FFI had a significant reduction in yield of 12.01% in comparison to CFI. Moreover, PRI brings in earlier flowering and a higher economical return due to early harvested cotton. This indicates that the final economical output could compensate for the loss of cotton yield due to water-saving. With very little extra cost to implementation, PRI proves a very promising method in cotton production in arid zone.
KW - Arid area
KW - Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)
KW - Evaporation
KW - Partial rootzone irrigation
KW - Transpiration
KW - Water use efficiency
KW - Yield
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77954538524&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agwat.2010.05.006
DO - 10.1016/j.agwat.2010.05.006
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:77954538524
SN - 0378-3774
VL - 97
SP - 1527
EP - 1533
JO - Agricultural Water Management
JF - Agricultural Water Management
IS - 10
ER -