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Evaluating the Effect of Groundwater Table on Summer Maize Growth Using the AquaCrop Model

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Abstract

Shallow groundwater has a great influence on crop growth. However, few studies have investigated the impact of different groundwater depth on crop growth. This paper mainly discusses the impact of the groundwater depth on summer maize growth and the groundwater contributions to summer maize evapotranspiration and yield via the AquaCrop crop growth model. Numerical simulation results showed that summer maize growth and soil water in the Shijin irrigation district were highly related to the groundwater depth. With the depletion of the groundwater, the crop coefficient, crop actual transpiration, crop yield and crop water-use efficiency tended to increase and then decrease. Considering the groundwater contribution, maize yield and water-use efficiency, the suitable groundwater table depth for summer maize growth in the Shijin irrigation district was 1.5 m, and the groundwater contribution was 58.8 % in this case. Thus, discussing the impact of groundwater on crop growth is highly pertinent, as it is important for arranging irrigation schedules.

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Funding

This study is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51879181 and 51579169) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0401407).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resource and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, People’s Republic of China

    Yong Zhao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, People’s Republic of China

    Fawen Li & Yan Wang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydrologic Engineering in Northwest in the Arid Area, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Rengui Jiang

Authors
  1. Yong Zhao
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  2. Fawen Li
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  3. Yan Wang
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  4. Rengui Jiang
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Correspondence to Fawen Li.

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Zhao, Y., Li, F., Wang, Y. et al. Evaluating the Effect of Groundwater Table on Summer Maize Growth Using the AquaCrop Model. Environ Model Assess 25, 343–353 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-019-09680-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-019-09680-y

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