IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v266y2022ics0378377422001275.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

AquaCrop modeling to explore optimal irrigation of winter wheat for improving grain yield and water productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Chao
  • Xie, Ziang
  • Wang, Qiaojuan
  • Tang, Min
  • Feng, Shaoyuan
  • Cai, Huanjie

Abstract

Water shortage is the main constraint resulting in low crop yields in arid and semiarid areas, where irrigation is essential to sustain agricultural production. Unreasonable irrigation will not effectively improve crop yield but will cause a waste of water resources and a decrease in water productivity. The objectives of this study were intended to investigate the variability of yield and water productivity (WP) as a function of irrigation amount, time, and frequency and to explore optimal irrigation of winter wheat for improving grain yield and water productivity over a 60-year of long-term meteorological data (1961—2020). A water-driven model, AquaCrop model, was used to reproduce crop growth and yield responses to changes in water supply, with a total of 625 irrigation scenarios of irrigation amount and time. The results showed that there has been no significant change in seasonal ET0 (reference evapotranspiration) of winter wheat over the last 60 years. Instead, seasonal precipitation during the winter wheat growing cycle displayed a decreasing trend, potentially increasing the risk of meteorological drought. Despite the crop ET has remained stable at around 370 mm for the past 60 seasons, the grain yield and WP have steadily increased as the cumulative temperature increased. In all three typical meteorological years, crop average yield and ET were considerably improved under irrigation conditions compared with that in non-irrigated (rainfed). The total irrigation amounts of 90, 120, and 150 mm with two irrigation times in the wet, normal, and dry years, respectively, could achieve higher yields as well as the WP and IWP. Consequently, the optimal irrigation schedules in the wet, normal, and dry years were determined to be first irrigation in the wintering stage with 90 mm and second irrigation in the jointing stage with 0, 30, 60 mm, respectively. This work demonstrates that the AquaCrop model has a reliable accuracy for revealing crop growth and production under water deficit conditions and provides a technical means of application for formulating optimal irrigation schedules.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Chao & Xie, Ziang & Wang, Qiaojuan & Tang, Min & Feng, Shaoyuan & Cai, Huanjie, 2022. "AquaCrop modeling to explore optimal irrigation of winter wheat for improving grain yield and water productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:266:y:2022:i:c:s0378377422001275
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107580
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377422001275
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107580?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. Molden, D., 1997. "Accounting for water use and productivity," IWMI Books, Reports H021374, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Xu, Jiatun & Cai, Huanjie & Wang, Xiaoyun & Ma, Chenguang & Lu, Yajun & Ding, Yibo & Wang, Xiaowen & Chen, Hui & Wang, Yunfei & Saddique, Qaisar, 2020. "Exploring optimal irrigation and nitrogen fertilization in a winter wheat-summer maize rotation system for improving crop yield and reducing water and nitrogen leaching," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    3. Zhang, Xiying & Qin, Wenli & Chen, Suying & Shao, Liwei & Sun, Hongyong, 2017. "Responses of yield and WUE of winter wheat to water stress during the past three decades—A case study in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 47-54.
    4. Iqbal, M. Anjum & Shen, Yanjun & Stricevic, Ruzica & Pei, Hongwei & Sun, Hongyoung & Amiri, Ebrahim & Penas, Angel & del Rio, Sara, 2014. "Evaluation of the FAO AquaCrop model for winter wheat on the North China Plain under deficit irrigation from field experiment to regional yield simulation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 61-72.
    5. Tari, Ali Fuat, 2016. "The effects of different deficit irrigation strategies on yield, quality, and water-use efficiencies of wheat under semi-arid conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 1-10.
    6. Ran, Hui & Kang, Shaozhong & Li, Fusheng & Tong, Ling & Ding, Risheng & Du, Taisheng & Li, Sien & Zhang, Xiaotao, 2017. "Performance of AquaCrop and SIMDualKc models in evapotranspiration partitioning on full and deficit irrigated maize for seed production under plastic film-mulch in an arid region of China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 20-32.
    7. Xu, Jiatun & Cai, Huanjie & Saddique, Qaisar & Wang, Xiaoyun & Li, Liang & Ma, Chenguang & Lu, Yajun, 2019. "Evaluation and optimization of border irrigation in different irrigation seasons based on temporal variation of infiltration and roughness," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 64-77.
    8. Wang, Xiaowen & Li, Liang & Ding, Yibo & Xu, Jiatun & Wang, Yunfei & Zhu, Yan & Wang, Xiaoyun & Cai, Huanjie, 2021. "Adaptation of winter wheat varieties and irrigation patterns under future climate change conditions in Northern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    9. Li, Jiang & Song, Jian & Li, Mo & Shang, Songhao & Mao, Xiaomin & Yang, Jian & Adeloye, Adebayo J., 2018. "Optimization of irrigation scheduling for spring wheat based on simulation-optimization model under uncertainty," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 245-260.
    10. Andarzian, B. & Bannayan, M. & Steduto, P. & Mazraeh, H. & Barati, M.E. & Barati, M.A. & Rahnama, A., 2011. "Validation and testing of the AquaCrop model under full and deficit irrigated wheat production in Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 1-8.
    11. Toumi, J. & Er-Raki, S. & Ezzahar, J. & Khabba, S. & Jarlan, L. & Chehbouni, A., 2016. "Performance assessment of AquaCrop model for estimating evapotranspiration, soil water content and grain yield of winter wheat in Tensift Al Haouz (Morocco): Application to irrigation management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 219-235.
    12. Li, Zhoujing & Hu, Kelin & Li, Baoguo & He, Mingrong & Zhang, Jiwang, 2015. "Evaluation of water and nitrogen use efficiencies in a double cropping system under different integrated management practices based on a model approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 19-34.
    13. Attia, Ahmed & Rajan, Nithya & Xue, Qingwu & Nair, Shyam & Ibrahim, Amir & Hays, Dirk, 2016. "Application of DSSAT-CERES-Wheat model to simulate winter wheat response to irrigation management in the Texas High Plains," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 50-60.
    14. Kang, Shaozhong & Zhang, Lu & Liang, Yinli & Hu, Xiaotao & Cai, Huanjie & Gu, Binjie, 2002. "Effects of limited irrigation on yield and water use efficiency of winter wheat in the Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 203-216, June.
    15. Molden, David J., 1997. "Accounting for water use and productivity," IWMI Books, International Water Management Institute, number 113623.
    16. Araya, A. & Habtu, Solomon & Hadgu, Kiros Meles & Kebede, Afewerk & Dejene, Taddese, 2010. "Test of AquaCrop model in simulating biomass and yield of water deficient and irrigated barley (Hordeum vulgare)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(11), pages 1838-1846, November.
    17. Shang, Songhao & Mao, Xiaomin, 2006. "Application of a simulation based optimization model for winter wheat irrigation scheduling in North China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 314-322, October.
    18. Wen, Yeqiang & Shang, Songhao & Yang, Jian, 2017. "Optimization of irrigation scheduling for spring wheat with mulching and limited irrigation water in an arid climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 33-44.
    19. Li, Jiamin & Inanaga, Shinobu & Li, Zhaohu & Eneji, A. Egrinya, 2005. "Optimizing irrigation scheduling for winter wheat in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 8-23, July.
    20. Chao Chen & Walter Baethgen & Andrew Robertson, 2013. "Contributions of individual variation in temperature, solar radiation and precipitation to crop yield in the North China Plain, 1961–2003," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 767-788, February.
    21. Guo, Ruiping & Lin, Zhonghui & Mo, Xingguo & Yang, Chunlin, 2010. "Responses of crop yield and water use efficiency to climate change in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(8), pages 1185-1194, August.
    22. Saseendran, S.A. & Trout, T.J. & Ahuja, L.R. & Ma, L. & McMaster, G.S. & Nielsen, D.C. & Andales, A.A. & Chávez, J.L. & Ham, J., 2015. "Quantifying crop water stress factors from soil water measurements in a limited irrigation experiment," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 191-205.
    23. Chen, Chao & Wang, Enli & Yu, Qiang, 2010. "Modelling the effects of climate variability and water management on crop water productivity and water balance in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(8), pages 1175-1184, August.
    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. Li, Mengna & Zhou, Shiwei & Shen, Shuaijie & Wang, Jiale & Yang, Yuhao & Wu, Yangzhong & Chen, Fu & Lei, Yongdeng, 2024. "Climate-smart irrigation strategy can mitigate agricultural water consumption while ensuring food security under a changing climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    2. Zeng, Ruiyun & Lin, Xiaomao & Welch, Stephen M. & Yang, Shanshan & Huang, Na & Sassenrath, Gretchen F. & Yao, Fengmei, 2023. "Impact of water deficit and irrigation management on winter wheat yield in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    3. Wang, Bo & van Dam, Jos & Yang, Xiaolin & Ritsema, Coen & Du, Taisheng & Kang, Shaozhong, 2023. "Reducing water productivity gap by optimizing irrigation regime for winter wheat-summer maize system in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    4. Ding, Dianyuan & Yang, Zijie & Wu, Lihong & Zhao, Ying & Zhang, Xi & Chen, Xiaoping & Feng, Hao & Zhang, Chao & Wendroth, Ole, 2024. "Optimizing nitrogen-fertilizer management by using RZWQM2 with consideration of precipitation can enhance nitrogen utilization on the Loess Plateau," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    5. Chen, Junxu & Zhang, Chenglong & Guo, Ping, 2022. "A credibility-based interval multi-objective crop area planning model for agricultural and ecological management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    6. Zhang, Ting & Zuo, Qiang & Ma, Ning & Shi, Jianchu & Fan, Yuchuan & Wu, Xun & Wang, Lichun & Xue, Xuzhang & Ben-Gal, Alon, 2023. "Optimizing relative root-zone water depletion thresholds to maximize yield and water productivity of winter wheat using AquaCrop," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    7. Xiaoli Shi & Wenjiao Shi & Na Dai & Minglei Wang, 2022. "Optimal Irrigation under the Constraint of Water Resources for Winter Wheat in the North China Plain," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-15, November.

    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. Er-Raki, S. & Bouras, E. & Rodriguez, J.C. & Watts, C.J. & Lizarraga-Celaya, C. & Chehbouni, A., 2021. "Parameterization of the AquaCrop model for simulating table grapes growth and water productivity in an arid region of Mexico," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    2. Wang, Bo & van Dam, Jos & Yang, Xiaolin & Ritsema, Coen & Du, Taisheng & Kang, Shaozhong, 2023. "Reducing water productivity gap by optimizing irrigation regime for winter wheat-summer maize system in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    3. Zhao, Jie & Han, Tong & Wang, Chong & Jia, Hao & Worqlul, Abeyou W. & Norelli, Nicole & Zeng, Zhaohai & Chu, Qingquan, 2020. "Optimizing irrigation strategies to synchronously improve the yield and water productivity of winter wheat under interannual precipitation variability in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    4. Zeng, Ruiyun & Yao, Fengmei & Zhang, Sha & Yang, Shanshan & Bai, Yun & Zhang, Jiahua & Wang, Jingwen & Wang, Xin, 2021. "Assessing the effects of precipitation and irrigation on winter wheat yield and water productivity in North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    5. Ran, Hui & Kang, Shaozhong & Li, Fusheng & Du, Taisheng & Tong, Ling & Li, Sien & Ding, Risheng & Zhang, Xiaotao, 2018. "Parameterization of the AquaCrop model for full and deficit irrigated maize for seed production in arid Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 438-450.
    6. Zhang, Ting & Zuo, Qiang & Ma, Ning & Shi, Jianchu & Fan, Yuchuan & Wu, Xun & Wang, Lichun & Xue, Xuzhang & Ben-Gal, Alon, 2023. "Optimizing relative root-zone water depletion thresholds to maximize yield and water productivity of winter wheat using AquaCrop," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    7. Abdul Rehman & Luan Jingdong, 2017. "An econometric analysis of major Chinese food crops: An empirical study," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1323372-132, January.
    8. Zeng, Ruiyun & Lin, Xiaomao & Welch, Stephen M. & Yang, Shanshan & Huang, Na & Sassenrath, Gretchen F. & Yao, Fengmei, 2023. "Impact of water deficit and irrigation management on winter wheat yield in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    9. Mustafa, S.M.T. & Vanuytrecht, E. & Huysmans, M., 2017. "Combined deficit irrigation and soil fertility management on different soil textures to improve wheat yield in drought-prone Bangladesh," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 124-137.
    10. Ran, Hui & Kang, Shaozhong & Li, Fusheng & Tong, Ling & Ding, Risheng & Du, Taisheng & Li, Sien & Zhang, Xiaotao, 2017. "Performance of AquaCrop and SIMDualKc models in evapotranspiration partitioning on full and deficit irrigated maize for seed production under plastic film-mulch in an arid region of China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 20-32.
    11. Li, Jiang & Shang, Songhao & Jiang, Hongzhe & Song, Jian & Rahman, Khalil Ur & Adeloye, Adebayo J., 2021. "Simulation-based optimization for spatiotemporal allocation of irrigation water in arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    12. Tinashe Lindel Dirwai & Aidan Senzanje & Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, 2021. "Calibration and Evaluation of the FAO AquaCrop Model for Canola ( Brassica napus ) under Varied Moistube Irrigation Regimes," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, May.
    13. Kang, Shaozhong & Hao, Xinmei & Du, Taisheng & Tong, Ling & Su, Xiaoling & Lu, Hongna & Li, Xiaolin & Huo, Zailin & Li, Sien & Ding, Risheng, 2017. "Improving agricultural water productivity to ensure food security in China under changing environment: From research to practice," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 5-17.
    14. Rashid, Muhammad Adil & Jabloun, Mohamed & Andersen, Mathias Neumann & Zhang, Xiying & Olesen, Jørgen Eivind, 2019. "Climate change is expected to increase yield and water use efficiency of wheat in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 193-203.
    15. Iqbal, M. Anjum & Shen, Yanjun & Stricevic, Ruzica & Pei, Hongwei & Sun, Hongyoung & Amiri, Ebrahim & Penas, Angel & del Rio, Sara, 2014. "Evaluation of the FAO AquaCrop model for winter wheat on the North China Plain under deficit irrigation from field experiment to regional yield simulation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 61-72.
    16. López-Urrea, R. & Domínguez, A. & Pardo, J.J. & Montoya, F. & García-Vila, M. & Martínez-Romero, A., 2020. "Parameterization and comparison of the AquaCrop and MOPECO models for a high-yielding barley cultivar under different irrigation levels," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    17. Wu, Hui & Yue, Qiong & Guo, Ping & Xu, Xiaoyu & Huang, Xi, 2022. "Improving the AquaCrop model to achieve direct simulation of evapotranspiration under nitrogen stress and joint simulation-optimization of irrigation and fertilizer schedules," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    18. Sandhu, Rupinder & Irmak, Suat, 2019. "Performance of AquaCrop model in simulating maize growth, yield, and evapotranspiration under rainfed, limited and full irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Razzaghi, Fatemeh & Zhou, Zhenjiang & Andersen, Mathias N. & Plauborg, Finn, 2017. "Simulation of potato yield in temperate condition by the AquaCrop model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 113-123.
    20. Fang, Q.X. & Ma, L. & Green, T.R. & Yu, Q. & Wang, T.D. & Ahuja, L.R., 2010. "Water resources and water use efficiency in the North China Plain: Current status and agronomic management options," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(8), pages 1102-1116, August.

    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:266:y:2022:i:c:s0378377422001275. 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.