IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v208y2018icp393-405.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing controlled drainage in irrigated farmers’ fields: A case study in the Moghan plain, Iran

Author

Listed:
  • Jouni, Hamidreza Javani
  • Liaghat, Abdolmajid
  • Hassanoghli, Alireza
  • Henk, Ritzema

Abstract

Conventional free subsurface drainage practices in the Moghan Plan, in northwest Iran, result in low irrigation efficiency and excessive volumes of drainage water causing extensive environmental problems. Controlled drainage (CD) is promoted to boost crop yields and reduce subsurface drainage flows and leaching of nutrients. This study was conducted to test management options for CD in irrigated farmers’ fields in the Moghan plain. Three options were tested: subsurface drains at 2 m with free outflow (FD), controlled drainage at 70 cm below soil surface (CD70) and controlled drainage with a varying depth depending on the crop stage (CDch). Irrigation gifts were based on the daily measured soil water content and thus varied per drainage treatment. In winter, wheat and barley were grown followed by maize in summer. For each crop and treatment, three replicates were made. The highest crop yields (for all crops) were found with CDch, followed by CD70. For wheat, the yields were respectively 27% and 41% higher in the CD70 and CDch compared to FD. For barley these increase was respectively 23% (CD70) and 34% (CDch) and for maize (forage yields) 19% (CD70) and 25% (CDch). The same trends were observed in water use efficiencies (WUE): compared to FD, the WUE was 26% in CD70 and 40% higher in CDch; for barley these increases were respectively 19% (CD70) and 32% (CDch), and for maize (forage yields) 30% (CD70) and 44% (CDch). Controlled drainage not only reduced subsurface drainage rates, but also nitrate and phosphorous losses. The average drain discharges with CDch were respectively 33%, 45% and 44% lower than FD for wheat, barley and maize. Flow-weighted NO3 concentration in drainage discharge of CD70 and CDch were, respectively, 15% and 9% for wheat, 9% and 13% for barley, and 8% and 7% for maize lower than in FD. Soil salinity decreased in FD, but slightly increased in the CD treatments. Thus, although controlled drainage clearly has advantages above free drainage practices, to optimize CD management options, more research is needed on the long-term effects of controlled drainage on soil salinity.

Suggested Citation

  • Jouni, Hamidreza Javani & Liaghat, Abdolmajid & Hassanoghli, Alireza & Henk, Ritzema, 2018. "Managing controlled drainage in irrigated farmers’ fields: A case study in the Moghan plain, Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 393-405.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:208:y:2018:i:c:p:393-405
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2018.06.037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037837741830917X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.06.037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ali, M.H. & Talukder, M.S.U., 2008. "Increasing water productivity in crop production--A synthesis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1201-1213, November.
    2. Christianson, L.E. & Harmel, R.D., 2015. "The MANAGE Drain Load database: Review and compilation of more than fifty years of North American drainage nutrient studies," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 277-289.
    3. Liu, H.L. & Yang, J.Y. & Tan, C.S. & Drury, C.F. & Reynolds, W.D. & Zhang, T.Q. & Bai, Y.L. & Jin, J. & He, P. & Hoogenboom, G., 2011. "Simulating water content, crop yield and nitrate-N loss under free and controlled tile drainage with subsurface irrigation using the DSSAT model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(6), pages 1105-1111, April.
    4. Mejia, M. N. & Madramootoo, C. A. & Broughton, R. S., 2000. "Influence of water table management on corn and soybean yields," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 73-89, November.
    5. Sunohara, Mark D. & Gottschall, Natalie & Craiovan, Emilia & Wilkes, Graham & Topp, Edward & Frey, Steven K. & Lapen, David R., 2016. "Controlling tile drainage during the growing season in Eastern Canada to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and bacteria loading to surface water," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 159-170.
    6. Ritzema, H.P., 2016. "Drain for Gain: Managing salinity in irrigated lands—A review," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 18-28.
    7. Abdullah Darzi-Naftchali & Henk Ritzema, 2018. "Integrating Irrigation and Drainage Management to Sustain Agriculture in Northern Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, May.
    8. Lalonde, V. & Madramootoo, C. A. & Trenholm, L. & Broughton, R. S., 1996. "Effects of controlled drainage on nitrate concentrations in subsurface drain discharge," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 187-199, January.
    9. Ball Coelho, B. & Lapen, D. & Murray, R. & Topp, E. & Bruin, A. & Khan, B., 2012. "Nitrogen loading to offsite waters from liquid swine manure application under different drainage and tillage practices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 40-50.
    10. Bluemling, Bettina & Yang, Hong & Pahl-Wostl, Claudia, 2007. "Making water productivity operational--A concept of agricultural water productivity exemplified at a wheat-maize cropping pattern in the North China plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-3), pages 11-23, July.
    11. Gunn, Kpoti M. & Fausey, Norman R. & Shang, Yuhui & Shedekar, Vinayak S. & Ghane, Ehsan & Wahl, Mark D. & Brown, Larry C., 2015. "Subsurface drainage volume reduction with drainage water management: Case studies in Ohio, USA," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 131-142.
    12. Sanchez Valero, Caroline & Madramootoo, Chandra A. & Stampfli, Nicolas, 2007. "Water table management impacts on phosphorus loads in tile drainage," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(1-2), pages 71-80, April.
    13. van Halsema, Gerardo E. & Vincent, Linden, 2012. "Efficiency and productivity terms for water management: A matter of contextual relativism versus general absolutism," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 9-15.
    14. Bonaiti, Gabriele & Borin, Maurizio, 2010. "Efficiency of controlled drainage and subirrigation in reducing nitrogen losses from agricultural fields," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 343-352, December.
    15. Negm, Lamyaa M. & Youssef, Mohamed A. & Jaynes, Dan B., 2017. "Evaluation of DRAINMOD-DSSAT simulated effects of controlled drainage on crop yield, water balance, and water quality for a corn-soybean cropping system in central Iowa," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 57-68.
    16. Wesstrom, Ingrid & Messing, Ingmar, 2007. "Effects of controlled drainage on N and P losses and N dynamics in a loamy sand with spring crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 229-240, February.
    17. Ball Coelho, B. & Murray, R. & Lapen, D. & Topp, E. & Bruin, A., 2012. "Phosphorus and sediment loading to surface waters from liquid swine manure application under different drainage and tillage practices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 51-61.
    18. Oktem, Abdullah & Simsek, Mehmet & Oktem, A. Gulgun, 2003. "Deficit irrigation effects on sweet corn (Zea mays saccharata Sturt) with drip irrigation system in a semi-arid region: I. Water-yield relationship," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 63-74, June.
    19. Ritzema, H.P. & Nijland, H.J. & Croon, F.W., 2006. "Subsurface drainage practices: From manual installation to large-scale implementation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(1-2), pages 60-71, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. GhassemiSahebi, Fakhroddin & Mohammadrezapour, Omolbani & Delbari, Masoomeh & KhasheiSiuki, Abbas & Ritzema, Henk & Cherati, Ali, 2020. "Effect of utilization of treated wastewater and seawater with Clinoptilolite-Zeolite on yield and yield components of sorghum," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    2. El-Ghannam, Mohamed K. & Aiad, Mahmoud. A. & Abdallah, Ahmed M., 2021. "Irrigation efficiency, drain outflow and yield responses to drain depth in the Nile delta clay soil, Egypt," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    3. Wang, Zhiyu & Shao, Guangcheng & Lu, Jia & Zhang, Kun & Gao, Yang & Ding, Jihui, 2020. "Effects of controlled drainage on crop yield, drainage water quantity and quality: A meta-analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    4. Rong Tang & Xiugui Wang & Xudong Han & Yihui Yan & Shuang Huang & Jiesheng Huang & Tao Shen & Youzhen Wang & Jia Liu, 2022. "Effects of Combined Main Ditch and Field Ditch Control Measures on Crop Yield and Drainage Discharge in the Northern Huaihe River Plain, Anhui Province, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-25, August.
    5. Yan Shan & Mingbin Huang & Paul Harris & Lianhai Wu, 2021. "A Sensitivity Analysis of the SPACSYS Model," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-30, July.
    6. Dou, Xu & Shi, Haibin & Li, Ruiping & Miao, Qingfeng & Yan, Jianwen & Tian, Feng & Wang, Bo, 2022. "Simulation and evaluation of soil water and salt transport under controlled subsurface drainage using HYDRUS-2D model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    7. Wen, Yeqiang & Shang, Songhao & Rahman, Khalil Ur & Xia, Yuhong & Ren, Dongyang, 2020. "A semi-distributed drainage model for monthly drainage water and salinity simulation in a large irrigation district in arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    8. Mohamed Rafik Noor Mohamed Qureshi & Ali Saeed Almuflih & Janpriy Sharma & Mohit Tyagi & Shubhendu Singh & Naif Almakayeel, 2022. "Assessment of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Interventions towards the Avenues of Sustainable Production–Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-24, July.
    9. Phakathi, Sandile & Sinyolo, Sikhulumile & Marire, Juniors & Fraser, Gavin, 2021. "Farmer-led institutional innovations in managing smallholder irrigation schemes in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces, South Africa," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    10. Masoud Pourgholam-Amiji & Abdolmajid Liaghat & Arezoo Ghameshlou & Mojtaba Khoshravesh & Muhammad Mohsin Waqas, 2020. "Investigation Of The Yield And Yield Components Of Rice In Shallow Water Table And Saline," Big Data In Agriculture (BDA), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 2(1), pages 36-40, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. El-Ghannam, Mohamed K. & Aiad, Mahmoud. A. & Abdallah, Ahmed M., 2021. "Irrigation efficiency, drain outflow and yield responses to drain depth in the Nile delta clay soil, Egypt," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    2. Sunohara, Mark D. & Gottschall, Natalie & Craiovan, Emilia & Wilkes, Graham & Topp, Edward & Frey, Steven K. & Lapen, David R., 2016. "Controlling tile drainage during the growing season in Eastern Canada to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and bacteria loading to surface water," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 159-170.
    3. Xu Dou & Haibin Shi & Ruiping Li & Qingfeng Miao & Feng Tian & Dandan Yu & Liying Zhou & Bo Wang, 2021. "Effects of Controlled Drainage on the Content Change and Migration of Moisture, Nutrients, and Salts in Soil and the Yield of Oilseed Sunflower in the Hetao Irrigation District," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Van Zandvoort, Alisha & Clark, Ian D. & Flemming, Corey & Craiovan, Emilia & Sunohara, Mark D. & Gottschall, Natalie & Boutz, Ronda & Lapen, David R., 2017. "Using 13C isotopic analysis to assess soil carbon pools associated with tile drainage management during drier and wetter growing seasons," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 232-243.
    5. Barbara Kęsicka & Rafał Stasik & Michał Kozłowski & Adam Choryński, 2023. "Is Controlled Drainage of Agricultural Land a Common Used Practice?—A Bibliographic Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Youngseok Song & Moojong Park, 2021. "A Study on the Development of Reduction Facilities’ Management Standards for Agricultural Drainage for Disaster Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-15, August.
    7. Wang, Zhiyu & Shao, Guangcheng & Lu, Jia & Zhang, Kun & Gao, Yang & Ding, Jihui, 2020. "Effects of controlled drainage on crop yield, drainage water quantity and quality: A meta-analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    8. King, K.W. & Hanrahan, B.R. & Stinner, J. & Shedekar, V.S., 2022. "Field scale discharge and water quality response, to drainage water management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    9. Mariusz Sojka & Michał Kozłowski & Rafał Stasik & Michał Napierała & Barbara Kęsicka & Rafał Wróżyński & Joanna Jaskuła & Daniel Liberacki & Jerzy Bykowski, 2019. "Sustainable Water Management in Agriculture—The Impact of Drainage Water Management on Groundwater Table Dynamics and Subsurface Outflow," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-18, August.
    10. Williams, M.R. & King, K.W. & Fausey, N.R., 2015. "Drainage water management effects on tile discharge and water quality," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 43-51.
    11. Singh, Ajay, 2019. "Poor-drainage-induced salinization of agricultural lands: Management through structural measures," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 457-463.
    12. Bohne, B. & Storchenegger, I.J. & Widmoser, P., 2012. "An easy to use calculation method for weir operations in controlled drainage systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 46-53.
    13. Shokrana, Md Sami Bin & Ghane, Ehsan & Abdalaal, Yousef & Nejadhashemi, A. Pouyan, 2023. "Predicting the effect of weir management on the discharge of a controlled drainage system in a changing climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    14. Cicek, H. & Sunohara, M. & Wilkes, G. & McNairn, H. & Pick, F. & Topp, E. & Lapen, D.R., 2010. "Using vegetation indices from satellite remote sensing to assess corn and soybean response to controlled tile drainage," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 261-270, December.
    15. He, Yupu & Jianyun, Zhang & Shihong, Yang & Dalin, Hong & Junzeng, Xu, 2019. "Effect of controlled drainage on nitrogen losses from controlled irrigation paddy fields through subsurface drainage and ammonia volatilization after fertilization," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 231-237.
    16. Tolomio, Massimo & Borin, Maurizio, 2018. "Water table management to save water and reduce nutrient losses from agricultural fields: 6 years of experience in North-Eastern Italy," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 1-10.
    17. Ramesh P. Rudra & Balew A. Mekonnen & Rituraj Shukla & Narayan Kumar Shrestha & Pradeep K. Goel & Prasad Daggupati & Asim Biswas, 2020. "Currents Status, Challenges, and Future Directions in Identifying Critical Source Areas for Non-Point Source Pollution in Canadian Conditions," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-25, October.
    18. Bou Lahdou, Guy & Bowling, Laura & Frankenberger, Jane & Kladivko, Eileen, 2019. "Hydrologic controls of controlled and free draining subsurface drainage systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 605-615.
    19. Feng, Genxiang & Zhu, Chengli & Wu, Qingfeng & Wang, Ce & Zhang, Zhanyu & Mwiya, Richwell Mubita & Zhang, Li, 2021. "Evaluating the impacts of saline water irrigation on soil water-salt and summer maize yield in subsurface drainage condition using coupled HYDRUS and EPIC model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    20. Nyathi, M.K. & Van Halsema, G.E. & Beletse, Y.G. & Annandale, J.G. & Struik, P.C., 2018. "Nutritional water productivity of selected leafy vegetables," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 111-122.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:208:y:2018:i:c:p:393-405. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.