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Abstract: Competing demands for water with increasing population calls for developing strategies for increasing the crop water use efficiency (WUE) of irrigated crops, especially in the semiarid regions of the world. In this context, it is important to quantify the various factors that control the WUE of irrigated crops in these regions. Advection is an important factor that can have significant effects on the energy exchange in irrigated fields of arid regions, and hence control the crop canopy WUE (CWUE). An eddy covariance system was applied to measure water and heat fluxes and then to quantify advection in an irrigated winter wheat filed at the Yucheng Integrated Experiment Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences in the North China Plain (NCP) (36°57′N, 116°36′E, 28m a.s.l.) in 2004. Priestley–Taylor parameter and canopy–air temperature differences were employed to identify the occurrence of advection. Effects of advection on canopy energy budgets and CWUE were examined by computing the equilibrium and advective evapotranspiration. It was found that enhanced advection occurs when the crop canopy–air temperature differences are negative or when the Priestley–Taylor parameter takes on values >1.5. Due to enhanced advection, the percentage of latent and sensible heat flux exchange contribution to the total water loss from the fields through evapotranspiration can exceed 50%, and CWUE decreased remarkably. Advection in the experiments probably resulted from drier soil regimes in the upwind areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The North China Plain (NCP) is one of the major winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) producing areas in China. Current wheat yields in the NCP stabilize around 5Mgha−1 while the demand for wheat in China is growing due to the increase in population and the change in diet. Since options for area expansion of winter wheat are limited, the production per unit of area need to be increased. The objective of this study is to quantify the production potential of winter wheat in the NCP taking into account the spatial and temporal variability caused by climate. We use a calibrated crop growth simulation model to quantify wheat yields for potential and water-limited production situations using 40 years of weather data from 32 meteorological stations in the NCP. Simulation results are linked to a Geographic Information System (GIS) facilitating their presentation and contributing to the identification of hotspots for interventions aimed at yield improvements. In the northern part of the NCP, average simulated potential yields of winter wheat go up to 9.7Mgha−1, while average water-limited yields only reach 3Mgha−1. In the southern part of the NCP, both average potential and water-limited yields are about 7.5Mgha−1. Rainfall is the limiting factor to winter wheat yields in the northern part of the NCP, while in the southern part, the joint effect of low radiation and high temperature are major limiting factors. Temporal variation in potential yields throughout the NCP is low in contrast with the temporal variation in water-limited yields, which is especially great in the northern part. The study calls for the collection of location-specific and disaggregated irrigated and rainfed wheat yield statistics in the NCP facilitating the identification of hotspots for improvement of current wheat yields. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the North China Plain (NCP), while irrigation using groundwater has maintained a high-level crop productivity of the wheat–maize double cropping systems, it has resulted in rapid depletion of groundwater table. For more efficient and sustainable utilization of the limited water resources, improved understanding of how crop productivity and water balance components respond to climate variations and irrigation is essential. This paper investigates such responses using a modelling approach. The farming systems model APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator) was first calibrated and validated using 3 years of experimental data. The validated model was then applied to simulate crop yield and field water balance of the wheat–maize rotation in the NCP. Simulated dryland crop yield ranged from 0 to 4.5tha−1 for wheat and 0 to 5.0tha−1 for maize. Increasing irrigation amount led to increased crop yield, but irrigation required to obtain maximum water productivity (WP) was much less than that required to obtain maximum crop yield. To meet crop water demand, a wide range of irrigation water supply would be needed due to the inter-annual climate variations. The range was simulated to be 140–420mm for wheat, and 0–170mm for maize. Such levels of irrigation applications could potentially lead to about 1.5myear−1 decline in groundwater table when other sources of groundwater recharge were not considered. To achieve maximum WP, one, two and three irrigations (i.e., 70, 150 and 200mmseason−1) were recommended for wheat in wet, medium and dry seasons, respectively. For maize, one irrigation and two irrigations (i.e., 60 and 110mmseason−1) were recommended in medium and dry seasons, while no irrigation was needed in wet season. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Limited precipitation restricts crop yield in the North China Plain, where high level of production depends largely on irrigation. Establishing the optimal irrigation scheduling according to the crop water requirement (CWR) and precipitation is the key factor to achieve rational water use. Precipitation data collected for about 40 years were employed to analyze the long-term trend, and weather data from 1984 to 2005 were used to estimate the CWR and irrigation water requirements (IWR). Field experiments were performed at the Luancheng Station from 1997 to 2005 to calculate the soil water consumption and water use efficiency (WUE). The results showed the CWR for winter wheat and summer maize were similar and about 430mm, while the IWR ranged from 247 to 370mm and 0 to 336mm at the 25% and 75% precipitation exceedance probabilities for winter wheat and summer maize, respectively. The irrigation applied varied in the different rainfall years and the optimal irrigation amount was about 186, 161 and 99mm for winter wheat and 134, 88 and 0mm for summer maize in the dry, normal and wet seasons, respectively. However, as precipitation reduces over time especially during the maize growing periods, development of water-saving management practices for sustainable agriculture into the future is imperative. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The eddy covariance technique and the cuvette method were used to investigate water use efficiency in an irrigated winter wheat (Triticum asetivum L.)/summer maize (Zea mays L.) rotation system in the North China Plain. The results show that ecosystem water use efficiency (WUEe) changed diurnally and seasonally. Daily maximal WUEe appeared in the morning. WUEe generally peaked in late April in wheat field and in late July/early August in maize field. From 2003 to 2006, seasonal mean WUEe was 6.7–7.4mg CO2 g−1 H2O for wheat and 8.4–12.1mg CO2 g−1 H2O for maize. WUEe was much lower than canopy water use efficiency (WUEc) under small leaf area index (LAI) but very close to WUEc under large LAI. With the increase in LAI, WUEe enlarged rapidly under low LAI but slowly when LAI was higher than one. WUEe was greater on the cloudy days than on the sunny days. Under the same solar radiation, WUEe was higher in the morning than in the afternoon. The ratio of internal to ambient CO2 partial pressure (C i/C a) decreased significantly with the increase in photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) when PAR was lower than the critical values (around 500 and 1000μmolm−2 s−1 for wheat and maize, respectively). Beyond critical PAR, C i/C a was approximately constant at 0.69 for wheat and 0.42 for maize. Therefore, when LAI and solar radiation was large enough, WUEe has negative correlation with vapor pressure deficit in both of irrigated wheat and maize fields. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Plant-based diagnosis is important for determining the status of crop nitrogen (N) nutrition. We aimed to localize a critical N dilution curve and validate the applicability for maize hybrids in the North China Plain (NCP), and to explore the feasibility of using leaf chlorophyll (Chl) to estimate N nutrition index (NNI). Here, the use of a gradient of N fertilizer treatments with maize hybrids was conducted for 2 years, and Chl content from the youngest collared leaf in addition to NNI values were determined for the first season. The parameters of the fitted critical N curve were essentially identical across hybrids and years. The localized curve (Nc = 33.395 W−0.396) and NNI could strongly distinguish plant N status. Chl and relative Chl (R-Chl) increased with increasing N rates, and both were significantly positively related to NNI. Genotype influence was not significant when Chl was normalized to R-Chl, and the response curves of NNI as a function of R-Chl were more stable between the two hybrids. The relationships between relative yield and NNI and R-Chl were expressed as quadratic functions, but the slopes/intercepts varied across hybrids and stages. Therefore, the localization and validation of the critical N dilution curve for summer maize in NCP was confirmed, there were no differences among hybrids and climates, and the R-Chl index was suggested as a candidate for estimating NNI under this conditions. However, further investigations are needed before these results are applied to practical production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 flux was measured continuously using the eddy covariance technique in a wheatmaize rotation system in the North China Plains from October 2002 to October 2006. The annual and seasonal variation of ecosystem respiration and the bio-environmental controls on them were investigated. The results show that ecosystem respiration (Rec) in the cropland increased exponentially with soil temperature at 5 cm depth. The temperature sensitivity coefficient (Q10) for ecosystem respiration varied from 3.5 to 5.4 for wheat and from 2.4 to 4.5 for maize. In the wheat growing season, monthly average R0 (ecosystem respiration at 0°C) increased linearly with soil temperature and logarithmically with leaf area index (LAI). Monthly average Q10 decreased logarithmically with R0. Residual Rec was significantly correlated with LAI. After considering LAI, the modified Q10 model could estimate Rec better than before. The simulation results show that annual ecosystem respiration in the wheat-maize rotation system in the North China Plains was 1327, 1348, 1040 and 1171 gC m-2 yr-1 for the 4 years of the study. As a 4-year average, seasonal mean ecosystem respiration in wheat (2.60 gC m-2 day-1) was much lower than in maize (6.09 gC m-2 day-1). However, integrated ecosystem respiration for the wheat growing season (566 gC m-2) was slightly higher than that for maize (520 gC m-2). These account for 46.4 and 42.6% of the annual values, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]