In many orchards, irrigation scheduling is designed based on data from meteorological networks and considering homogeneous soil properties. Such assumptions may result in inefficient irrigation, which is difficult to constrain without expensive or invasive techniques. Here we have evaluated the ability of the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) for detecting meter-scale irrigation uniformity and

Research on field water consumption is critical for optimizing crop growth and policy-making, in which the computer models play an increasingly important role. As a water-driven crop model, the AquaCrop model has been used in a large number of studies since its launch in 2009. However, how the model performs in predicting the ecohydrological process of farmland under film-mulched drip irrigation is

Irrigation with activated water (magnetized and ionized water) can promote crop growth, increase crop yield, and improve water-use efficiency (WUE), but the mechanism of the impact of activated water in agricultural irrigation and production needs to be further explored. We analyzed the responses of growth parameters of winter wheat in field experiments in the main grain-producing area of China to

In the semi-humid region of northeast China, the plastic-film mulching (PFM) is essential for sustaining yields, while the yield-increase potential and nitrogen (N) use mechanism under different PFM patterns in this area remain poorly understood. A field experiment using maize (Zea mays L.) was conducted for two consecutive years to study the effects of different PFM patterns on soil microclimate factors

Residue removal from maize (Zea mays) fields offers an opportunity to increase farmer profits, but potential tradeoffs for water dynamics and crop performance merit further evaluation. This study, established in 2014, compared the effects of two tillage practices (no-till and conventional) and two residue management practices (harvested vs. kept in place) on maize grain yields, water infiltration,

This article presents findings from a field research study conducted in the San Joaquin Valley of California in 2016–2018 to appraise the effects of soil salinity and sodicity on evapotranspiration and energy balance components of micro-irrigated pistachio orchards. Actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and tree physiologic parameters were measured during consecutive growing seasons in mature orchards grown

The main goal of this work was to evaluate the potential of the Shuttleworth–Wallace (SW) model for mapping actual crop evapotranspiration (ET) over complex surface located in the foothill of the Atlas Mountain (Morocco). This model needs many input variables to compute soil \(({r}_{\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{s}})\) and vegetation (\({r}_{\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{v}})\) resistances, which are often difficult

Increasing water scarcity and environmental contamination with excess chemical nitrogen fertilizer use necessitate the development of water-nitrogen conservation technology in rice production. Therefore, a 2-year field experiment (2017–2018) was conducted with three water regimes, namely (1) continuous flooding irrigation, CF; (2) safe alternate wetting and drying irrigation, AWDsafe; and (3) severe

The use of hydrogeophysical methods provides insights for supporting optimal irrigation design and management. In the present study, the electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) was applied for monitoring the soil water motion patterns resulting from the adoption of water deficit scenarios in a micro-irrigated orange orchard (Eastern Sicily, Italy). The relationship of ERI with independent ancillary data

The original article can be found online.

One of the most fertilizing effluents for irrigation are those from fish farms. In drip irrigation systems, emitter clogging is the biggest problem of the effluent application. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to assess the clogging rate of a drip irrigation system using the effluent of a rainbow trout farm. A control treatment with the input fish farm freshwater and two more using fish farm effluent

A meta-analysis was performed on 351 studies from 17 articles published between 1990 and 2016 to determine how a water use efficiency (WUE) treatment is affected by irrigation systems and management practices on clay and clay loam soils in a semi-arid environment relative to a rainfed control. Several explanatory variables (moderators) were examined to determine their impact on WUE such as crop type

Saline water can be used in drip irrigation systems, thus conserving freshwater. However, the emitters used in drip irrigation are easily prone to salinity-related chemical clogging, which has become a barrier to the exploitation and utilization of saline water in this context. We therefore analyzed the behavior and emitter distribution of chemical clogging using a drip irrigation experiment comparing

Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the hydraulics and discharge characteristics of sharp-crested weir culverts with downstream ramps for hydraulically smooth wall boundary and for free, partially submerged, and fully submerged-flow conditions. Four weir-culvert models were tested with different weir heights, ramp lengths, and culvert heights. The partially submerged-flow conditions

Crop nitrogen (N) status is known to affect crop water status and crop water use. To investigate further the N effects on soil water changes and on canopy temperature, three water levels × four N levels were imposed on two growing seasons of maize in west central Nebraska, USA. Soil water changes were measured using a neutron probe, whereas canopy temperature was measured using infrared thermometers

Red clover is a very important species in temperate regions of Chile and around the world. Southern Chile has been affected by climate variability, particularly relating to the quantity, distribution, and frequency of rainfall patterns. Over time, this has changed the red clover persistence and dry matter (DM) yield. The study was conducted at the Regional Research Center Carillanca of the Instituto

A 2-year field experiment was conducted with the objectives to evaluate the physiological and yield response of quinoa cv Titicaca to various deficit irrigation strategies applied with surface drip (SD) and subsurface drip systems (SSD) under the Mediterranean climatic conditions in 2016 and 2017. The treatments consisted of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI), partial root-zone drying (PRD50), conventional

Drip irrigation is now commonly used for maize cultivation in China and other regions of the globe. The goal of this study was to compare water and fertilizer use as well as economic benefits for surface and subsurface drip irrigation and for mulched and non-mulched maize production in northeast China. An experiment was conducted during 2015 and 2016 in Chifeng in Inner Mongolia, China that included

Water is a vital resource for agricultural crop production in the Texas Panhandle. This semi-arid region relies almost solely on the Ogallala Aquifer as the primary source of water. Agricultural production dominates water use in the area and is projected to account for 92% of total water use by 2020. Since agriculture is such an essential sector of the regional economy, prolonging irrigation capability

In North Florida, increasing nitrogen loads and water quality declines have become a major concern, in part as result of anthropogenic non-point source activities such as agriculture. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of irrigation strategies and nitrogen (N) fertility rates on maize biomass, yield and water productivity in sandy soils. The field experiment was conducted

Rational parameterization of the soil water stress reduction function in root water uptake model is crucial for accurate description of root water uptake and simulation of soil water dynamics in a soil–plant system. In this study, we propose three improvements to a popular transpiration-based approach to parameterize the water stress reduction function in a widely used macroscopic root water uptake

Crop water productivity (CWP) is a measure of crop yield per unit of water consumed and plays a crucial role in evaluating the role of alternate management practices for sustainable production. This study investigates the crop water and yield dynamics of rice (Oryza sativa L.) subjected to three (low, moderate, and high water stress) deficit irrigation scenarios. Factorial experiments were conducted

Groundwater aquifers support agricultural production in many parts of the world. Rapidly declining aquifer levels can have significant negative implications for the sustainability of irrigated agriculture. In this paper, we study the effects of declining well capacities on the downside risk of irrigated agricultural production, defined as the standard deviation of profits that are below the average

With the assumption that the water advance and the infiltration opportunity have an exponential relationship, a new equation was derived to estimate the time of water advance along a surface-irrigated field. Using the derived advance equation, a new method was developed for estimating the Kostiakov–Lewis infiltration parameters. The proposed advance equation and Elliot and Walker's advance equation

Carbonates participate in soil aggregation and, therefore, influence the essential agrophysical properties of soil. Irrigation, using both fresh water and treated wastewaters (FW and TWW), can interfere with the soil carbonate system and affect (micro)aggregation. We undertook a micromorphological study on a series of characteristic Mediterranean soils irrigated with FW and TWW, emphasising the effects

Scarcity of good quality water is a limiting factor for irrigated agriculture, especially in a semi-arid region, which induces the use of waters with high salt levels to irrigate crops. As a result, it becomes necessary to use salt tolerant genotypes and appropriate cultivation strategies that enable their production. With this focus, this study was carried out to evaluate the production components

Improving irrigation efficiency on farms is crucial in securing a sustainable future for irrigators as well as the environment, especially in water scarce regions such as Australia. More efficient irrigation designs are increasingly being investigated using irrigation simulation models but there is a dearth of readily available two-dimensional (2D) models for investigating surface water flow within

Precise estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is one of the most influential factors in proper irrigation scheduling and water resources management. Over the years, various methods and formula have been developed to estimate ETo based on several required variables and assumptions. Accuracy and performance of different ETo estimation equations applied for open field differ from those under

The irrigating winter wheat one or two times each season was practiced in Huanghuai Winter Wheat Region in order to reduce the over-exploitation of groundwater. In this study, plant height (PH) and its relationship with yield were analyzed in a field study conducted over three growing seasons with 102 wheat varieties irrigated zero to two times at different growth stages. Here, we found that irrigation

In the original article, the article title has been published incorrectly. The correct title is “Winter wheat growth and water use under different drip irrigation regimes in the North China Plain”

Conducting field experiments to determine an optimal strategy for managing water consumption in paddy fields is quite time-consuming and expensive. This study applied HYDRUS-2D model to simulate fluctuations in water level and nitrate transfer over the 2 years of 2013 and 2014 at Rice Research Institute of Iran (Rasht). To monitor water-level fluctuations, a piezometer was installed in the plot. Three

Emitter clogging risk might be enhanced by the specific fertigation practice when applying saline water. Two stages of on-site drip irrigation experiments applying saline water were conducted to investigate the effects of the phosphorus (P) fertigation and combined P and nitrogen (N) fertigation and the water salinity on emitter clogging when using a plain channel emitter and a labyrinth emitter. During

Determining water stress levels of vegetated surfaces is crucial for irrigation scheduling. This paper aims to evaluate a new method for obtaining crop water stress index (CWSI) based on the estimation of sensible heat flux using an aerodynamic temperature gradient approach. Data were collected on a deficit irrigated maize field at a research farm located in Greeley, Colorado, USA, in 2017 and 2018

As groundwater levels continue to decline in the Ogallala Aquifer, stakeholders, policymakers, and producers encourage the adoption of new irrigation technology in an effort to conserve groundwater, extend the economic life of the aquifer, and enhance profitability. One such technology currently receiving attention in the Central Ogallala region is the mobile drip irrigation (MDI) application system

Dwindling water resources and weather variability present two of the major limiting factors for irrigated cotton production in the Southern Great Plains (SGP) of the United States. Under these conditions, there is a dire need to understand the trends and fluctuations in cotton yields to help producers make better irrigation and crop management decisions. Crop models coupled with long-term weather data

Two major irrigation challenges of cotton producers in the Texas High Plains (THP) include the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer and the highly evaporative, semi-arid environment during late spring and early summer. A recent cotton experiment using center pivot irrigation at deficit irrigation capacities showed the reduction in seasonal irrigation by 20% with minor yield loss by reducing irrigations

A 3-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the applicability of drip irrigation, winter wheat growth and water use under different drip irrigation regimes in the North China Plain (NCP) during 2014–2017. Five irrigation regimes with the soil matric potential (SMP) thresholds at 20 cm depth immediately under the emitters were − 10, − 20, − 30, − 40 and − 50 kPa. The results showed that scheduling

Surface irrigation, particularly furrow irrigation, is the most common method of water application into agricultural lands. Despite all its advantages, furrow irrigation has some demerits, such as a potential large volume of runoff losses. In this research, an approach was proposed to reduce runoff losses and to improve water flow characteristics by creating micro-dams, barriers inside the irrigated

Numerical methods have been proved to be useful tools for understanding different phenomena. In this paper, triggered furrow irrigation has been analyzed by means of numerical modeling. To this end, a special code is developed for simulation of triggered furrow irrigation system by coupling three-dimensional Richards’ equation and one-dimensional fully hydrodynamic form of Saint-Venant equations. The

It is of great scientific significance to reveal the flow characteristics of dentiform emitters and to optimize the channel structure of emitters to improve the anti-clogging properties of emitters, which contribute to improving the working performance of irrigation systems. The study was carried out using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, combined with the physical test in the laboratory

Developing management practices that make more efficient use of irrigation is important for improving the sustainability of nursery crop production. Integrating refined irrigation scheduling with a substrate amendment like biochar can improve irrigation efficiency. The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of biochar and need-based irrigation scheduling on gas exchange, plant water

A study was conducted to develop optimal irrigation schedules and crop water production function for cassava in the three major growing areas of India, viz., Salem (Tamil Nadu), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), and West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh). The irrigation schedules and water requirements were simulated using CROPWAT, and the model result was verified with field values in Thiruvananthapuram, one of

New water-conserving irrigation technologies are vital in arid countries. We investigated the effects of (i) soil substrates made of Smart Capillary Barrier Wick (SCB-W), consisting of silt loam blocks surrounded by sand-sheathes and irrigated with a sand wick cylinder (WC) as compared to a control (homogenous soil irrigated by the same wick system, HW), (ii) WC diameters (2.54 cm vs. 1.27 cm), and

Water retention θ(h) and hydraulic conductivity K(h) are mandatory soil hydraulic properties (SHP) for consistent hydrological modeling and for an efficient irrigation management. Most commonly, SHP are determined by conventional methods (CM), based on hydrostatic equilibrium and the independent measurement of saturated hydraulic conductivity, which is used as a matching point for K(h) function. Alternatively

This paper proposes a new methodology for solving the scheduling problem of center pivot system irrigation timetable based on the Luus–Jaakola optimization method. The new methodology considers as influencing factors the water and energy consumed and the limit of the available flow to the areas that are being irrigated. The methodology allows the implementation of a non-linear model during an acceptable

The study was conducted to evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of water-saving technologies (WST) on Boro rice (Oryza sativa; var. BRRIdhan 29) farming in Bangladesh. A total of 480 farmers (80 focal and 400 control) were selected as sample from Mymensingh, Comilla, Bogra and Gaibandha districts. Focal farmers were selected purposively and a limited amount of financial support was provided

There were inadvertent errors in the authorship line and text. The authorship line should read as: Sumantra Chatterjee, Suat Irmak, Jose O. Payero, Ayse Kilic, Lameck O. Odhiambo, Daran Rudnick, Vivek Sharma, and David Billesbach.

Growing crops in cities is challenging due to many factors including space restrictions, busy lifestyles, cost and availability of water. Wicking beds (WBs) have been identified as a simple, potentially water- and labour-efficient irrigation method compared to hand irrigation. However, limited studies exist to validate claims of the effectiveness of WBs with respect to water use efficiency (WUE) and

In this study, the volume balance equation and Elliott and Walker’s two-point method were employed to estimate the Kostiakov–Lewis (KL) infiltration equation parameters. The volume balance equation has a maximum point, whose location (distance) is a function of two parameters, r (constant parameter in advance equation) and fo. (final infiltration rate). If the length of the field is less than the distance

Pressurized irrigation systems, center pivots, and linear moves are used worldwide on a large scale. Accurate predictions of wind drift and evaporation losses (WDEL) could help in improving the system’s uniformity and efficiency. The current study evaluates data analysis techniques for accurately estimating WDEL under moving sprinkler irrigation systems. A total of 72 experiments (2015–2017) were conducted

This study addresses water-saving irrigation strategies, including deficit irrigation (DI) at 70% and 50% crop evapotranspiration, ETc (DI70 and DI50, respectively), and partial root-zone drying (PRD) at 70% and 50% ETc (PRD 70 and PRD 50, respectively) to investigate the response of the tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) using a surface drip system in the field on a sandy loam soil during years 2017

A good hydraulic design of drip irrigation systems requires an accurate evaluation of the friction head loss that occurs in pipes as well as the local head loss induced by the presence of emitters. Previous approaches on theoretical design usually neglect the local emitter head loss or consider it equal to the friction loss produced by an equivalent length of the straight pipe, which may lead to substantial

The main aim of this study was to investigate the qualitative changes of the rainbow trout effluent as water supply in a drip irrigation system. Two drip irrigation systems with a hydro-cyclone filter, sand filter and screen filter for using freshwater (control treatment) and fish farm effluent were tested in Kurdistan province (northwest of Iran) in 2017. In addition, the effect of lateral drainage

In arid and semiarid environments, with shortage of water resources, maize production is competing for available water. This study analyzed the effect of different irrigation systems on maize yield, crop evapotranspiration and its components, i.e., canopy transpiration (T) and soil evaporation (E). A 2-year field experiment was conducted at the ITAP Research facilities located in Albacete (southeast

Water scarcity is seriously affecting agricultural production, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Therefore, there is increasing interest in improving water productivity in agriculture. This research aims to study the effects of deficit irrigation on the productive response of sweet pepper plants. Nine deficit irrigation strategies were assayed during two seasons (2017 and 2018) in a randomised

A SWAT model equipped with an alternative auto-irrigation algorithm was used to evaluate the effects of planting date on hybrid corn yield and seasonal water use in the Texas High Plains. Research field data from the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory at Bushland, TX and the Texas A&M AgriLife North Plains Research Field near Etter, TX were used for model calibration. A long-term

Surface renewal (SR) is a biometeorological technique that uses high-frequency air temperature measurements above a plant canopy to estimate sensible heat flux. The sensible heat flux is then used to estimate latent heat flux as the residual of a surface energy balance equation. SR previously relied on calibration against other methods (e.g., eddy covariance) to obtain accurate measurements of sensible

Clay particles under certain physico-chemical and hydrodynamic conditions can form agglomerates after passing through a filtering system, which favours clogging of the emitters. The main factors interfering with the aggregation potential of clay particles are the type of clay mineral, pH, and ionic strength of the irrigation water. This study analysed the influence of ionic strength and type of clay

Engineering technologies for site-specific irrigation management (SSIM) have already been developed for applications in precision irrigation. However, further studies are needed to identify scenarios where SSIM leads to better agronomic outcomes than conventional uniform irrigation management (CUIM). The objective was to conduct a long-term simulation study to compare SSIM and CUIM given spatial soil

Reasonable regulation of irrigation and drainage is an important way to decrease water resource waste and water pollution, and to ensure the sustainable utilization of water resources. In this study, appropriate irrigation and drainage methods are proposed by optimizing agricultural water and soil resources based on the current status of water resource utilization in irrigation district in Northwest