Long-term simulation of growth stage-based irrigation scheduling in maize under various water constraints in Colorado, USA

doi:10.15302/J-FASE-2017139

Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.

2017, Vol. 4

Issue (2) : 172-184 https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2017139

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Long-term simulation of growth stage-based irrigation scheduling in maize under various water constraints in Colorado, USA

Quanxiao FANG^1,²(

), Liwang MA³, Lajpat Rai AHUJA³, Thomas James TROUT⁴, Robert Wayne MALONE⁵, Huihui ZHANG⁴, Dongwei GUI⁶, Qiang YU²

¹. Agronomy College, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China
². State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
³. USDA-ARS, Rangeland Resources and Systems Research Unit, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
⁴. USDA-ARS, Agricultural Water Management and Systems Research Unit, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
⁵. USDA-ARS, National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, Ames, IA 50011, USA
⁶. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

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Abstract

Due to varying crop responses to water stress at different growth stages, scheduling irrigation is a challenge for farmers, especially when water availability varies on a monthly, seasonal and yearly basis. The objective of this study was to optimize irrigation between the vegetative (V) and reproductive (R) phases of maize under different available water levels in Colorado. Long-term (1992–2013) scenarios simulated with the calibrated Root Zone Water Quality Model were designed to meet 40%–100% of crop evapotranspiration (ET) requirements at V and R phases, subject to seasonal water availabilities (300, 400, 500 mm, and no water limit), with and without monthly limits (total of 112 scenarios). The most suitable irrigation between V and R phases of maize was identified as 60/100, 80/100, and 100/100 of crop ET requirement for the 300, 400, 500 mm water available, respectively, based on the simulations from 1992 to 2013. When a monthly water limit was imposed, the corresponding suitable irrigation targets between V and R stages were 60/100, 100/100, and 100/100 of crop ET requirement for the above three seasonal water availabilities, respectively. Irrigation targets for producing higher crop yield with reduced risk of poor yield were discussed for projected five-year water availabilities.

Keywords RZWQM ET-based irrigation schedule maize water constrains

Corresponding Author(s): Quanxiao FANG

Just Accepted Date: 28 February 2017 Online First Date: 23 March 2017 Issue Date: 07 June 2017

Cite this article:

Quanxiao FANG,Liwang MA,Lajpat Rai AHUJA, et al. Long-term simulation of growth stage-based irrigation scheduling in maize under various water constraints in Colorado, USA[J]. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. , 2017, 4(2): 172-184.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/10.15302/J-FASE-2017139
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/Y2017/V4/I2/172

Fig.1 Simulated grain yield (kg·hm^-²), water use efficiency (WUE, kg·hm^-²·mm^-¹) and irrigation amounts (mm) in response to these targeted irrigation levels (40% -100% of crop ET requirement) under the no water limit condition from 1992 to 2013 at Greeley CO. The box plots show 5, 25, 50, 75, 95 percentiles. The dots and lines in the box plots indicate the mean and medium values across these years, respectively. The crosses indicate the minimum and maximum values across these years.

Tab.1 Long-term (1992–2013) simulated average corn yield (GY, kg·hm^-²) and water use efficiency (WUE, kg·hm^-²·mm^-¹) across seasons for different irrigation targets (40%–100% of crop ET) between vegetative and reproductive stages under various water availability without or with monthly water limit (Numbers in bold are the most reasonable irrigation targets with the highest grain yield and WUE for each water limit conditions)

Fig.2 Simulated grain yield (kg·hm^-²), water use efficiency (WUE, kg·hm^-²·mm^-¹) and irrigation amounts (mm) in response to these targeted irrigation levels (40%-100% of crop ET requirement) under the 500 mm seasonal water availability without monthly water limitation (a) and with monthly water limitation (b) from 1992 to 2013 at Greeley CO. The box plots show 5, 25, 50, 75, 95 percentiles. The dots and lines in the box plots indicate the mean and medium values across these years, respectively. The crosses indicate the minimum and maximum values across these years.

Fig.3 Simulated grain yield (kg·hm^-²), water use efficiency (WUE, kg·hm^-²·mm^-¹) and irrigation amounts (mm) in response to these targeted irrigation levels (40% -100% of crop ET requirement) under the 400 mm seasonal water availability without monthly water limitation (a) and with monthly water limitation (b) from 1992 to 2013 at Greeley CO. The box plots show 5, 25, 50, 75, 95 percentiles. The dots and lines in the box plots indicate the mean and medium values across these years, respectively. The crosses indicate the minimum and maximum values across these years.

Fig.4 Simulated grain yield (kg·hm^-²), water use efficiency (WUE, kg·hm^-²·mm^-¹) and irrigation amounts (mm) in response to these targeted irrigation levels (40% -100% of crop ET requirement) under the 300 mm seasonal water availability without monthly water limitation (a) and with monthly water limitation (b) from 1992 to 2013 at Greeley CO. The box plots show 5, 25, 50, 75, 95 percentiles. The dots and lines in the box plots indicate the mean and medium values across these years, respectively. The crosses indicate the minimum and maximum values across these years.

Fig.5 Cumulative probabilities of simulated irrigation requirement (mm) ( a), grain yield (kg·hm^-²) (b), and water use efficiency (kg·hm^-²·mm^-¹) (c) from 1992 to 2013 for the selected reasonable irrigation management scenarios under the different water availabilities without (solid lines) or with (dash lines) monthly water limit.

Tab.2 Simulated total irrigation requirement (mm), average grain yield (kg·hm^-²) and average water use efficiency (WUE, kg·hm^-²·mm^-¹) for the five-year moving period from 1992 to 2013 as influenced by the various targeted irrigation levels (40%–100% of crop ET requirement) (the standard deviations were calculated from the different 5-year periods from 1992 to 2013)

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