A reservoir operational rule for irrigation in Japan

Operation of a reservoir for irrigation is more complicated and difficult than that for domestic water supply in Japan, owing to the fact that a requirement for irrigation takes various value depending upon effective rainfall on farmland, soil condition, and so on. Therefore, the reservoirs should be operated to correspond with demand, inflow, and unknown droughts occurring in the future. However, the reservoirs have been operated under operators' experiences without formal operational rules, because any effective theories or methods have been neither developed nor used in Japan at present.On operation of the reservoirs, there are two targets — promotion of effective release and restriction of release in preparation for droughts — conflicting with each other. It is useful to set up the operation with Required Storage for Drought Curve (RSDC) Method to achieve reasonable operation harmonizing those two targets. RSDC is composed with Target Line (TL) and Restrictive Release Lines (RRLs). TL is a target storage level to guarantee that storage will never empty until the end of the irrigation period under a certain probability. If actual storage remains above TL, effective release will be promoted. RRLs are storage levels pointing out the basis of restricting release. If actual storage falls below TL, release will be restrained in accordance with RRLs in order to get over uncertain droughts occurring in the future.In this paper, the theory of RSDC is described and the effectiveness of Rule Curve (RC) based on RSDC Method is illustrated by simulation on a single reservoir for irrigation.     

防旱减灾经济效益计算方法初探

利用大量的统计资料，研究了防旱减灾经济效益的计算方法，其中重点提出了临时抗旱措施的经济效益计算方法，可供今后计算抗旱效益时应用和参考。     

Case study on an integrated operation planning of multiple reservoirs for irrigation in Japan

In spite of several attempts at integrated operation planning, multiple reservoirs in Japan have been operated by trial and error without any formal rules. Subjects of integrated operation are not only showing optimal usage of daily storage levels as an operational policy but also providing a countermeasure for droughts.Objectives of this study are to make a formal operation rule of multiple reservoirs for irrigation using the theory of Required Storage for Drought Curve (RSDC) Method and to propose operational policy for multiple reservoirs as large water supply systems. The Iwaki river basin, on which there are four reservoirs for irrigation parallel with each other, is considered to be a model river basin with a large water system for this case study.From results of simulations using historical data, comparing an individual operation rule with an integrated operation rule on several indices, effectiveness of the latter rule is recognized. Under integrated operation, water losses are minimized and excessive water conservation can be avoided over the whole area to benefit while target river discharge is maintained at key control points because water usage from all reservoirs is well balanced in relation to water availability.     

阜新县节水农业分区研究

针对阜新县水资源紧缺的现状，在综合分析全县气候、土壤、水资源现状、农业种植制度和经济发展水平等因素的基础上，对阜新县节水型农业分区进行了研究，为确保分区指标的科学性、系统性，采用模糊数学聚类分析方法，探讨节水农业的地域分布规律，进行节水农业分区，以阜新县为例对因地制宜地发展东北半干旱地区的节水农业分区进行有益的探索。     

以水分适宜指数作为作物适水种植指标的初探

通过对抗旱指数(DRI)的分析和改进,首次提出了水分适宜指数(WAI),并以此为指标,在不同的水分条件下对18个不同的玉米品种进行抗旱性研究。结果表明:WAI可以更好的反映不同水分条件下的产量变化,并且倾向于选择高产型品种。可以作为作物适水种植的筛选方法。     

朝阳地区干旱特征分析及抗旱对策

朝阳地区位于辽宁省西部，历史上素有“十年九旱”之称，降水量少而集中，所以干旱是制约朝阳地区经济发展的主要自然因素。本文根据辽宁省朝阳地区1961~2000年历年月降水量的实测资料，用降水距平百分率、z指数方法分析朝阳干旱特征，证明：根据降水资料来判断朝阳地区干旱特征是比较准确的。并提出若干抗旱措施—大力推广节水灌溉技术、实施集水节灌农业、大力加强干旱灾害的监测、合理利用水资源。此外，本研究为朝阳地区干旱研究及其治理提供依据。     

Is Discrimination of 13C in Potato Leaflets and Tubers an Appropriate Trait to Describe Genotype Responses to Restrictive and Well‐Watered Conditions?

Selection for drought tolerance entails prioritizing plant traits that integrate critical physiological processes occurring during crop growth. Discrimination against ¹³C (?) in leaflets (?_leaflet) and tubers (?_tuber) was compared under two water regimes in two potato‐improved varieties selected to maintain yield under drought conditions (Unica and Sarnav) and one drought susceptible European cultivar (Désirée). In the control treatment, soil water content was kept at field capacity over the whole growth cycle, while in the drought treatment water supply was restricted after tuber initiation (50 % of field capacity). Gas exchange and N content per unit leaf area (N_area) as well as ? were assessed at different stages. Sarnav showed the highest tuber yield in both water conditions, suggesting that yield in the water restriction treatment was largely driven by yield potential in this genotype. Higher stomatal conductance (g_s) and N_area and lower ?_leaflet in well‐watered Sarnav suggested higher photosynthetic capacity. Under water restriction, Sarnav maintained higher g_s indicating that carbon diffusion was a key factor for biomass accumulation under water restriction. Our results suggest the use of ? determined after tuber initiation as an indirect selection indicator for tuber yield under both well‐watered and restricted soil water availability conditions.     

Genetic Variation for Maize Epicuticular Wax Response to Drought Stress at Flowering

Drought stress is thought to promote epicuticular wax accumulation on maize leaves, which reduces plant water loss. We evaluated 62 maize inbred lines and their hybrid testcross progeny for epicuticular wax accumulation on flag leaves at flowering under full and limited irrigation regimes. Extracted wax was measured as a percentage of wax weight to leaf weight (WLW) and leaf area (WLA). Eleven genotypes had above average WLW as both inbred lines and hybrid testcrosses. Thirteen genotypes had above average WLA as either inbred lines or hybrid testcrosses. The drought treatment did not significantly alter WLW or WLA. Heritability of WLW was 0.17 (inbred lines) and 0.58 (hybrid testcrosses). Heritability of WLA was 0.41 (inbred lines) and 0.59 (hybrid testcrosses), suggesting it is a better trait than WLW for epicuticular wax screening. Correlations (r) between inbred lines and their testcross progeny were 0.44 and 0.18, for WLW and WLA, respectively. Heritability of grain weight per ear and plot yield was highest in hybrid testcrosses, with no correlation between inbred and hybrid germplasm. It is not warranted to evaluate epicuticular wax accumulation as the sole drought tolerance mechanism. However, it may be a good secondary trait to observe in relation to grain yield production in hybrids tested under water‐limiting conditions.     

DROUGHT STRESS: Soil Water Availability Alters the Inter‐ and Intra‐Cultivar Competition of Three Spring Wheat Cultivars Bred in Different Eras

Competition for water generates a classic aspect of the tragedy of the commons, the ‘race for fish’, where crops must allocate more resource to acquisition of the limiting resource than is optimal for crop yield allocation. A pot experiment using a simple additive (target–neighbour) design was conducted to examine the above‐ground and below‐ground growth of three spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars when grown alone and in mixtures at three levels of water availability. The effects of competition and water availability were compared by observing patterns of growth, biomass allocation and below‐ground outcomes. Competitive interactions were investigated among cultivars ‘HST’, ‘GY602’ and ‘LC8275’, target plant of each cultivar grown without neighbouring plants are referred to herein as control plant and one target plant of each cultivar sown surrounded either by same or another cultivar as intra‐ or inter‐cultivar competition. Competitive ability was assessed as the response ratio (lnRR) between the target plant surrounded by six other plants and the target plant in isolation. Our results showed that the cultivar ‘HST’, released over a century ago, produced a higher biomass and grain yield than the more recently released cultivars ‘LC8275’ and ‘GY602’ when grown as isolated plants with sufficient water supply. However, competition for resources from neighbours led to target plant biomass and grain yield being significantly reduced relative to controls in all three cultivars, particularly in ‘HST’. When subjected to intra‐cultivar competition, the two recently released cultivars ‘LC8275’ and ‘GY602’ had higher grain yields and water use efficiency for grain than ‘HST’ in all three water regimes. The landrace ‘HST’ had better and significantly linear relationships between biomass and biomass allocation, root length and specific root length, whereas the recent and modern cultivars had much more water‐related species‐specific changes in root morphology and allocation patterns. These results suggest that crop traits that influence competitive ability, such as biomass allocation to roots and root plasticity in response to drought have changed in modern wheat cultivars because of breeding and selection.