Integrating rainwater harvesting with supplemental irrigation into rain-fed spring wheat farming
Introduction
Water resources are limited in semiarid areas of China, especially in mountainous areas where the prevailing farming system is rain-fed. Annual precipitation ranges from 250 to 550 mm, and the scarcity of rainfall and droughts are the main constrains to rain-fed spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) production in this area (Cook et al., 2000). Therefore, it would be urgent and necessary for us to find a practical and effective pathway for further crop production.
Rainwater harvesting based on the collection and concentration of surface runoff for cultivation has been practiced in different parts of the world (Pacey and Cullis, 1986, Ramalan and Nwokeocha, 2000, Herman, 2000, Li et al., 2003, Mintesinot et al., 2004). For example, a plastic-covered ridge and furrow rainfall harvesting system combined with mulches is used to increase the water availability of crops for improving and stabilizing agricultural production in semiarid regions of China (Li et al., 2001, Li and Gong, 2002). Many experimental studies suggest that water shortage during the whole growth stage of crops can be reduced by means of rainwater harvesting technologies in rain-fed agricultural areas (Jo and Garry, 2003, Singandhape et al., 2003, Xu and Mermoud, 2003, Ali and Theib, 2004, Patrick et al., 2004). But, during some stages of crop growth, water deficits will still be unavoidable (Kang et al., 2002, Pan et al., 2003). Supplemental irrigation with water collected into small ponds could prove to be a viable solution (Xiao et al., 2005).
Water scarcity demands the maximum use of every drop of rainfall. Rainwater harvesting with storage components to enable supplemental irrigation is one strategy to further mitigate dry spell effects in crop production (Fox and Rockstrőn, 2000). The integration of rainwater harvesting and supplemental irrigation with drip-irrigation has played an important role in the improvement of crop yield in semiarid areas of China (Xiao and Wang, 2003). So, in this study, to maximize the utilization of low rainfall in semiarid regions, two field cultivations of rainwater harvesting with the sowing in the furrow between film-covered ridges, and with the sowing in the holes on film-covered ridges was conducted with rain-fed spring wheat to study the effect of rainwater harvesting and supplemental irrigation on crop yields and water use. The objectives of this study were (1) to compare crop yields and water use efficiency under different methods of field cultivation; (2) to determine the timings and ranges of soil water deficit for supplemental irrigation; (3) to examine the effects of supplemental irrigation on crop yields.
Section snippets
General situation of experiment base
A field experiment was conducted at the Haiyuan Experimental Station in a semiarid region of China (36°34′N, 105°39′E) located at an altitude of 1854 m above sea level. The annual average rainfall is about 400 mm, which mainly occurs from July to September. The daily average temperature in June, July, and August is 18.2, 19.8, and 18.3 °C, respectively. The annual average temperature is 7.2 °C. Alternating hills and gullies form the main geographic formation of this region, where rain-fed farming
Periods of supplemental irrigation
Based on meteorological data from 1958 to 2003 supplied by the Meteorological Station of Haiyuan County (Fig. 3), the relationship of rainfall and water consumption of rain-fed spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) during the whole growth stage (from March to July) was shown in Fig. 4. The results showed that the total water deficits during the whole growth stage mainly existed in S1, S2 and S3 periods. All values were achieved in the average of 4 years’ data, and this trend of each year was very
Discussion
In the 1990s, the water saving agriculture was developed all over the world. At the same time, global temperatures have risen steadily, and the spring drought as well as continuous drought across spring and summer is aggravating. In this case, the technologies of tillage and cultivation have achieved a great breakthrough from the flat to field cultivation of rainwater harvesting, which could improve water use efficiency of natural rainfall and limited supplemental irrigation (Wang et al., 2004).
Conclusions
The study concludes that supplemental irrigation during the whole growth stage of rain-fed spring wheat was divided into three different periods concerning the three-leaf stage (irrigated once), the elongation to flowering stage (irrigated twice), and the flowering to filling stage (irrigated once). To meet 2000 kg ha−1 yield, the practical water supply of rain-fed spring wheat was about 400 mm, or supplemental irrigation was 40 mm. Also, to keep in line with the yield of 2250 kg ha−1, the practical
Acknowledgements
This work was granted by the post-doctorate research project “The Effects of Global Climate Change on Crops Planting Pattern in the Semi-arid Region of China”, and Development Planning Commission of Gansu Province (No. [2000] 736), and a sub-project example of agricultural high efficiency water saving of China Science and Technology Promoting Agriculture Development Project.
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