Agricultural Water Management最新文献

{"title":"Effects of autumn irrigation timing and amounts on soil water and salt component migration in seasonally frozen soils","authors":"Xudong Han ,&nbsp;Yingzhi Qian ,&nbsp;Yan Zhu ,&nbsp;Ming Ye ,&nbsp;Tianxing Zhao ,&nbsp;Hongyu Song","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109639","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109639","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In seasonally frozen and salinized regions, the effectiveness of flood irrigation in leaching salts and conserving soil moisture is strongly influenced by irrigation timing, amount and the dynamics of soil water and salt movement during the freeze-thaw period. While existing studies predominantly focus on total salt content, the component-specific migration behavior of salts under varying irrigation timing and amount remains insufficiently explored. To address this issue, a two-year irrigation field experiment was conducted, involving six flood irrigation treatments that combined two irrigation timings and three irrigation amounts. The FREZCHEM model was employed to quantify both soluble and precipitated salt components. Results showed that final soil water and salt contents, as well as their variations, were significantly affected by irrigation timing, while were only slightly influenced by irrigation amounts ranging from 150 to 210 mm. On average, late irrigation treatments (LAITs) increased soil water content by 0.05 cm³ /cm³ and 0.2 cm³ /cm³ more than early irrigation treatments (EAITs) and the no-irrigated treatment, respectively. This was attributed to a reduction in evaporation duration and downward water flux during the leaching period, along with enhanced groundwater recharge driven by stronger upward convection during the freeze period. The onset of soil freezing in LAITs occurred 13 days earlier than in EAITs, although the overall freeze-thaw duration remained similar across treatments. Under the same irrigation timing, larger irrigation amounts delayed the end of the freeze-thaw period. During the leaching period (October to December), soil salt content within the 0–1 m depth decreased by 4.9–56 %. Conversely, during the freeze-thaw period (December to April), salt accumulated by 9.7–26 %, particularly in LAITs, while EAITs exhibited an approximate 16 %–37.8 % improvement in desalination. The main leached components during the leaching period were Ca, Cl, HCO₃, and Na, with reductions linearly correlated with their initial concentrations. In contrast, SO₄ and Na were the predominant accumulating components during the freeze-thaw period due to upward convection driven by thermal and water potential gradients, as well as the precipitation of solution ions. Among all treatments, the LAIT with an irrigation amount of 150 mm demonstrated the most effective performance, exhibiting superior increases in soil water content and higher desalination rates compared to other treatments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109639"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144511020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drought tolerance of melon (Cucumis melo L.) genotypes using evapotranspiration and yield components in a semi-arid environment","authors":"Musa Seymen ,&nbsp;Duran Yavuz ,&nbsp;Ertan Sait Kurtar ,&nbsp;Nurcan Yavuz ,&nbsp;Önder Türkmen ,&nbsp;Ünal Kal ,&nbsp;Gülbanu Kıymacı ,&nbsp;Banu Çiçek Arı","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109642","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109642","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Increasing drought all over the world, especially in semiarid regions, has made it difficult to access clean water resources for agriculture. In water-limited environments, farmers either use wastewater to irrigate their crops or apply severely restricted irrigation techniques with scarce clean water. In this study, 20 melon inbred line genotypes, 4 cultivars were evaluated for their seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) and yield components in a field test under full irrigation (I₁₀₀) and 50 % water stress (I₅₀) conditions for two years. Seasonal ET values calculated according to the soil-water budget method ranged from 373.3 to 594.3 mm in the 1st year and from 363.6 to 603.0 in the 2nd year. Seasonal ET underwent a significant decrease in the subjects receiving 50 % water stress, which led to serious losses of yield. Indeed, water stress, decreases in yield by 39 % and 42 %, on average, were recorded in 2023 and 2024, respectively. In addition, it negatively affected agro-morphological characteristics such as fruit number, fruit weight, fruit length, fruit width, and rind thickness. On the other hand, pH and soluble solid content in melon exposed to water stress significantly increased. Sürmeli F1 (G3) and Westeros F1 (G4) hybrid varieties showed a good performance in terms of yield components under both well-watered and water deficit conditions. Moreover, in the I₁₀₀ treatment, the water crop productivity (WPc) of G3 and G4 was found to be higher than that of the standard cultivars and inbred line genotypes. Under I₅₀ conditions, however, genotype G4 achieved the highest WPc, followed by G57, G62, G70, and G58. Results of the principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that genotypes G15, G40, G37, G62, and G79 and hybrid varieties G3 and G4, which occupied the same region on the PCA plot, were identified as water-stress tolerant genotypes based on yield components.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109642"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144501876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Appropriate nitrogen application rate with decreased basal/topdressing ratio improves yield, quality, water productivity, and N-use efficiency of forage maize in a rainfed region","authors":"Zhongli Li ,&nbsp;Wei Gao ,&nbsp;Congze Jiang ,&nbsp;Yongli Lu ,&nbsp;Muhammad Kamran ,&nbsp;Xianlong Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109629","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109629","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Crop cultivation in rainfed agricultural regions globally faces the challenges of water scarcity and irrational nitrogen (N) fertilizer application, causing fluctuating yields, reduced N-use efficiency, and increased environmental pollution. A two-year field experiment was conducted from 2021 to 2022 in a typical rainfed region of northwestern China to investigate the effects of four N application rates (0, 90, 180, 270 kg hm⁻²) and two basal/topdressing ratios (2:8 and 4:6) and their interactions on the growth, dry matter (DM) yield, forage quality, water productivity (WP), and N-use efficiency of forage maize (<em>Zea mays</em> L.). The LAI, DM yield, crude protein (CP) yield, food equivalent unit yield (FEU yield), WP_DM, WP_CP, WP_FEU and aboveground N uptake of forage maize significantly (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05) increased with the increase in N application rate from 0 to 180 kg hm⁻². The soil NO₃-N accumulation in 0–200 cm soil layer increased linearly, whereas the partial factor productivity of applied N (PFP_N) and N recovery efficiency (RE_N) decreased linearly with the increase in N rates. The regression analysis further revealed that the DM yield, FEU yield, WP_DM, WP_FEU, N uptake, PFP_N and RE_N at all N rates were generally higher at 2:8 basal/topdressing ratio compared to 4:6 ratio. The required nitrogen application rates to achieve maximum values for DM yield, FEU yield, WP_DM, WP_FEU and above-ground N uptake under the 2:8 basal/topdressing ratio were reduced by 3.3 %, 7.3 %, 7.3 %, 9.6 % and 13.8 %, respectively, compared to the 4:6 ratio. Therefore, N application rate of 180 kg hm⁻² and basal/topdressing ratio of 2:8 is recommended as a proper N fertilization management for achieving high yield, quality, water productivity, and N-use efficiency of forage maize in northwestern China and areas with similar climatic conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109629"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physics-augmented deep learning models for improving evapotranspiration estimation in global land regions","authors":"Binrui Liu ,&nbsp;Xinguang He ,&nbsp;Wenkai Lyu ,&nbsp;Lizhi Tao","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109634","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109634","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Existing evapotranspiration (<span><math><mi>ET</mi></math></span>) estimation models face inherent limitations when relying solely on physics-based or data-driven paradigms. To address this issue, we propose three data-physics hybrid modeling methods for improving instantaneous <span><math><mi>ET</mi></math></span> estimation in this study. A Physics-Data Learning (PDL) model is first formed by adding a complementary physical variable generated by Penman–Monteith (PM) equation to a deep learning (DL) model along with driving variables to regress latent heat flux. Building on the PDL, a Physics-Augmented Learning (PAL) model is then formulated by introducing a physics-augmented term into the loss function. Finally, a Physics-Augmented Residual Learning (PARL) model is developed by using the residual learning technique to deeply integrate the PM and pure DL baseline models. Using the FLUXNET dataset, three proposed models are compared with the baselines on ten vegetation types (VTs) across the globe. The results show that all proposed models improve the accuracy of two baselines and reduce the uncertainty of pure DL to different extents. Among them, the PARL achieves the highest accuracy and robustness, with NSE (RMSE) ranging from 0.71–0.82 (22.40–43.14 W/m²) across ten VTs. The PAL ranks second and effectively mitigates the PDL’s sensitivity to imperfect physical knowledge. Although three proposed models show better extrapolation ability than the pure DL under conditions of limited data, the PARL stands out for its superior generalization under four created extreme climate scenarios. These results confirm the potential of data-physics hybrid modeling in <span><math><mi>ET</mi></math></span> estimation, which is conducive to supporting efficient irrigation water management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109634"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Occurrence, evolution and causes of different drought levels affecting winter wheat in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China","authors":"Teri Gele ,&nbsp;Yongbin Bao ,&nbsp;Cha Ersi ,&nbsp;Bilige Sudu ,&nbsp;Sicheng Wei ,&nbsp;Jiquan Zhang ,&nbsp;Zhijun Tong ,&nbsp;Xingpeng Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109640","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109640","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drought, affects agricultural production and winter wheat, a crucial staple crop, is continuously exposed to drought stress in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, which has notable implications for global food security. Here, we used the 1981–2020 meteorological datasets to calculate the monthly standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index and combined this with the standard deviation ellipses and the geodetector model to investigate the spatio-temporal patterns of drought occurrence, its evolution, and the potential drivers of different drought levels across the growth stages of winter wheat. The results showed that (1) drought primarily occurred during the greening-jointing to booting-heading stages of winter wheat, particularly in regions, such as Hebei, where mild and moderate droughts were more frequent, whereas severe and extreme droughts were concentrated during the booting-heading stage; (2) the spatial evolution of drought revealed a gradual expansion from the southern to the central and northern regions (from Anhui to Henan, Shandong, and Hebei) as the growth stages progressed. Drought was more widespread in the later growth stages, with the affected area of moderate drought being four times larger than in the early stages. (3) Geodetector analysis revealed that precipitation and minimum temperature notably influenced drought occurrence. Interaction analysis highlighted that the combination of precipitation with soil type and minimum temperature significantly enhanced the explanatory power of drought occurrence. The explanatory power for moderate, severe, and extreme droughts increased by 0.08, 0.16, and 0.13, respectively, emphasizing the importance of these interactions. The interaction between precipitation and minimum temperature strongly influenced severe and extreme drought occurrences. These findings provide a scientific foundation and practical insight for drought risk assessment and agricultural management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109640"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144481547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Irrigation monitoring from satellite at hyper-high resolution: Paving the way for remote-sensing-based agricultural water management support services","authors":"Jacopo Dari ,&nbsp;Stefano Lo Presti ,&nbsp;Luca Brocca","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109627","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109627","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent advances in satellite retrievals of key hydrological variables have fostered the development of approaches for tracking the irrigation footprint on water resources. Nevertheless, constraints due to the native spatial and temporal resolutions of remotely sensed data still limit the building of supporting systems for agricultural water management relying on Earth Observation. This work aims at filling this gap by applying well-established irrigation mapping and quantification techniques with multiresolution satellite data as input to reproduce irrigation dynamics at the unprecedented spatial sampling of 10 m. Results are validated across different scales of interest for water allocation managers, i.e., from the consortium to the single farm level. The irrigation quantification experiment, carried out through the SM-based (Soil-Moisture-based) inversion approach, provides satisfactory results especially in light of the scarcity of ancillary information for refining the estimates. Percentage errors aggregated at the consortium and the farm scales equal to −24 % and to −14 %, respectively, are found. Such results are achieved without considering losses due to irrigation efficiency, as this information is not explicitly available. The irrigation mapping experiment, carried out by leveraging the TSIMAP (Temporal Stability derived Irrigation MAPping) method, is validated at the farm scale only. An overall accuracy of 93 % is reached, corresponding to two agricultural fields misreproduced as non-irrigated out of the total number equal to twenty-eight. The outcomes of this study show the potential of hyper-high resolution implementations of the considered irrigation mapping and quantification techniques for supporting agricultural water managers, highlighting improvements needed to further meet potential users’ requirements.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109627"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of ridge nitrogen and furrow irrigation strategies to evaluation winter wheat production and economic benefits under bed-planting in semi-humid regions","authors":"Yanhao Lian ,&nbsp;Chunlong Li ,&nbsp;Pengbin Han ,&nbsp;Shahzad Ali ,&nbsp;Yongzhe Ren ,&nbsp;Tongbao Lin ,&nbsp;Zhiqiang Wang ,&nbsp;Sen Li","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109636","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109636","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To further explore the water and nitrogen-saving potential technique under the ridge-nitrogen and furrow irrigation model of winter wheat. The study consists of four nitrogen treatments: F0: no nitrogen; F1: 120 kg N hm⁻² (100 % conventional urea); F2: 180 kg N hm⁻² (30 % conventional urea and 70 % stabilized urea), and F3: 240 kg N hm⁻² (components is same as F2); while three irrigation levels of (I1: 300; I2: 450 and I3: 600 m hm⁻²) during 2020–2021 and 2021–2022. The results showed that increasing the nitrogen application rate was beneficial to nitrogen uptake, plant growth, and yield formation under the bed planting technique, while the nitrogen application rate exceeded 180 kg ha⁻¹, the grain yield and nitrogen accumulation had no significant increase. The soil moisture at the maturity stage under the ridge cultivation gradually decreases with the increase of nitrogen application. The economic benefits and output-input ratio reached the highest level under the F2I2 treatment. The nitrogen uptake efficiency, nitrogen partial fertilizer productivity, and nitrogen agronomy efficiency under the F2I2 treatment increased by 21.7 %, 29.1 %, and 2.9 % respectively, and the IWUE, PWUE, and WUE increased by 61.0 %, 3.4 %, and 12.3 % compared with conventional practice. The yield, net income, and output-input ratio increased by 5.2 %, 8.3 %, and 20.1 % compared with conventional practice. Therefore, controlled-release urea at the 180 kg N ha⁻¹ and bed planting technique combined with 450 m hm⁻² irrigation could improve nitrogen and irrigation use efficiency; maintain high grain yield and economic benefit.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109636"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of salt water irrigation at the ripening stage on yield and quality of grown-in-substrate mini-watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) within an arched shed","authors":"Di Feng ,&nbsp;Yu Cui ,&nbsp;Guangmu Tang ,&nbsp;Gang Cao ,&nbsp;Jiao Chen ,&nbsp;Yanhong Ding ,&nbsp;Jinxin Wang ,&nbsp;Chunhui Ge ,&nbsp;Wanli Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109631","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109631","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Water scarcity stands as one of the pivotal factors impeding agricultural development. To investigate the impacts of salt water irrigation on crop yield and quality in greenhouse substrate cultivation in regions characterized by freshwater shortages yet abundant salt water resources, this study conducted a two - year experiment with mini-watermelon as the research object. During the ripening stage of mini-watermelon, seven salinity treatments, namely 1.0 (freshwater), 2.6, 4.2, 5.8, 7.4, 9.0, and 10.6 dS·m⁻¹, were established and labeled as CK, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6, respectively. The research explored how the yield, quality, and ion content in various organs of mini-watermelon responded to salt water irrigation. The results indicated that salt water irrigation at levels ranging from 1.0 to 10.6 dS·m⁻¹ during the ripening stage had no significant impact on growth indices such as vine length and dry matter weight, nor did it affect the yield. Although salt water irrigation did not significantly influence the soluble sugar and soluble solid content of mini-watermelon, it led to a reduction in Vitamin C content (14.7 %–73.2 %) and nitrate content (16.3 %–45.8 %). Compared with the CK treatment, under all salt water irrigation treatments, the Na⁺ content in different organs of mini-watermelon showed an increasing trend (34.4 %–621.1 %); the K⁺ ion content increased to varying degrees in fruits (6.5 %–61.0 %), stems (5.8 %–38.6 %), and leaves (30.3 %–98.1 %), but decreased in roots (7.5 %–39.9 %). The Ca²⁺ ion content exhibited an upward trend in leaves (108.5 %–242.5 %) and fruits (15.6 %–41.4 %), while decreasing in roots (7.5 %–36.1 %) and stems (8.8 %–23.5 %), suggesting that salt water irrigation affects the ion distribution in different organs of mini-watermelon. In summary, the findings suggest that salt water irrigation up to 10.6 dS·m⁻¹ during the ripening stage impacts the ion distribution in various plant organs, maintains yield and quality comparable to freshwater irrigation, and saves more than 20 % of freshwater.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109631"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144471039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modeling the impact of agricultural managed aquifer recharge (Ag-MAR) on soil water and nitrogen dynamics of the growing season","authors":"Wenyi Cui ,&nbsp;Tiantian Zhou ,&nbsp;Elad Levintal ,&nbsp;Cristina Prieto García ,&nbsp;Isaya Kisekka ,&nbsp;Helen E. Dahlke","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109623","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109623","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agricultural managed aquifer recharge (Ag-MAR) is a practice aimed at sustaining groundwater reserves by utilizing farmland to recharge excess surface water into aquifers. Because fields are fertilized for crop production there are questions about how Ag-MAR may affect the leaching of legacy nitrate from fertilizer applications to groundwater or nitrogen transformations such as mineralization or denitrification. In this study, DSSAT was used to model the impact of different Ag-MAR practices (e.g. continuous or intermittent flooding for 8–20 days) prior to the growing season to estimate their effect on the growing season water and nitrogen budgets. The study uses soil physico-chemical, hydrologic, and processing tomato yield data from an Ag-MAR experiment in the Central Valley, California. Results show that the timing (e.g. Jan–Apr) and intermittency of flooding (e.g. continuous vs. wet-dry cycles) directly impact the amount of nitrate leached, and the residual amount of nitrate available at the beginning (May) of the growing season. Scheduling Ag-MAR closer to the growing season benefits the root zone water content and crop yield and can reduce growing season irrigation demand by 10 %, although these effects are less pronounced in sandy soils. Together these results show that continuous flooding for longer (e.g. 8–20 days) periods of time, well in advance of the growing season (&gt; 2 months), provides the greatest recharge potential with no adverse effects on the growing season nitrogen budget. Early and continuous Ag-MAR promotes the mineralization of new nitrate which offsets nitrate leaching and allows for water and nitrogen fertilizer savings during the growing season.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109623"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144365970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of alternating canal and marginal groundwater irrigation on banana yield, water use efficiency, and soil salinity under furrow plantation","authors":"Nazar Gul ,&nbsp;Hafiz Abdul Salam ,&nbsp;Muhammad Ashraf ,&nbsp;Majid Taie Semiromi","doi":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109603","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109603","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Banana is one of the most important cash crops in Sindh, Pakistan; however, its production is increasingly compromised due to declining freshwater availability. Currently, banana is cultivated using conventional flat basin irrigation, which results in low water use efficiency (WUE). Groundwater in the region is predominantly marginal to saline in quality but could potentially supplement limited freshwater resources. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the conjunctive use of marginal-quality groundwater and canal water to address freshwater shortages without compromising crop yields. In this study, the Dwarf Cavendish banana variety (locally known as Basrai) was cultivated over a four-year period (October 2015–June 2019) on furrows (0.90 m furrow width, 1.20 m bed width, and 0.23 m bed height). Alternate irrigation using canal and marginal groundwater was applied at three levels of available soil moisture depletion (ASMD): 50 %, 40 %, and 30 %. Traditional farmer irrigation practices were also monitored for comparison. At ASMD levels of 50 %, 40 %, and 30 %, annual water applications were 1228 mm, 1403 mm, and 1592 mm, respectively. In contrast, farmers applied 2866 mm of water annually. Irrigation at 50 % ASMD resulted in 12–23 % higher yield and 23–41 % higher WUE compared to 30 % and 40 % ASMD treatments. Compared to the 50 % ASMD treatment, farmer practices produced 24 % lower yield and 67 % lower WUE. Importantly, soil salinity remained within acceptable threshold limits across all treatments. These results suggest that banana can be successfully cultivated on furrows using alternate irrigation with canal and marginal groundwater at 50 % ASMD. This strategy offers substantial water savings while improving yield and WUE, making it a viable and sustainable solution for banana production in water-scarce regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7634,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural Water Management","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 109603"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144366421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}