Effects of precipitation patterns and temperature trends on soil water available for vineyards in a Mediterranean climate area

The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of temperature increases and irregular rainfall distribution, associated with climate change, on water availability for rainfed vineyards cultivated in a Mediterranean climate area. The study includes the analysis of the interrelations between precipitation distribution, temperature, evapotranspiration and runoff rates, and the resulting water storage in vineyards soils of the Penedès region (NE Spain). A hierarchical cluster analysis was applied to classify the years according to water availability. The influence of water stored into the soil on yield for some one of the main vine varieties cultivated in the area is analysed. A vineyard, representative of the land management practices in this area, was selected for soil moisture monitoring and runoff evaluations, as well as for grape yield, which was compared with yields recorded in other plots.According to rainfall distribution and water availability, the 12 analysed years represent five different situations: wet years with positive and negative water balance; dry years; years with average annual rainfall but irregularly distributed throughout the year leading to a negative water balance; and extreme situations. Significant water deficits were observed in years in which total rainfall amount was above the annual average in the area, being similar to those observed in dry years: in 8 of the 12 analysed years deficits higher than 100 mm (up to 309 mm) during the growing period (budbreak-harvest) were recorded. At annual scale, 42% of the analysed years recorded deficits ranging between 27.7 and 191.4 mm. In the driest years, and those with more irregular rainfall distribution, soil moisture contents below the wilting point were reached. The high intensity rainfalls, producing important runoff losses (in many cases out of the periods in which crop water needs are higher), together with the increasing temperature trends, which give rise to significant evapotranspiration increases (values up to 32% higher than the average were recorded during the study period), are the main responsible factors for the water deficits recorded during grape development. Winegrape yield was influenced by the water stored into the soil, bloom-veraison or during budbreak-bloom depending on the variety.     

Predicting effects of drainage water management in Iowa's subsurface drained landscapes

Long-term hydrologic simulations are presented predicting the effects of drainage water management on subsurface drainage, surface runoff and crop production in Iowa's subsurface drained landscapes. The deterministic hydrologic model, DRAINMOD was used to simulate Webster (fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic) soil in a Continuous Corn rotation (WEBS_CC) with different drain depths from 0.75 to 1.20 m and drain spacing from 10 to 50 m in a combination of free and controlled drainage over a weather record of 60 (1945-2004) years. Shallow drainage is defined as drains installed at a drain depth of 0.75 m, and controlled drainage with a drain depth of 1.20 m restricts flow at the drain outlet to maintain a water table at 0.60 m below surface level during the winter (November-March) and summer (June-August) months. These drainage design and management modifications were evaluated against conventional drainage system installed at a drain depth of 1.20 m with free drainage at the drain outlet. The simulation results indicate the potential of a tradeoff between subsurface drainage and surface runoff as a pathway to remove excess water from the system. While a reduction of subsurface drainage may occur through the use of shallow and controlled drainage, these practices may increase surface runoff in Iowa's subsurface drained landscapes. The simulations also indicate that shallow and controlled drainage might increase the excess water stress on crop production, and thereby result in slightly lower relative yields. Field experiments are needed to examine the pathways of water movement, total water balance, and crop production under shallow and controlled drainage in Iowa's subsurface drained landscapes.     

Drainage control in water management of polders in the Netherlands

One of the impacts drainage has on the downstream part of a water system is a higher risk of peak flows caused by heavy precipitation. In the polders of the Netherlands this is a well-known problem. The heavy precipitation flows easily from paved areas and with some delay from unpaved areas into many small canals and through these canals towards the downstream pump station. Here, high water levels can result in an unacceptable high groundwater table. This problem has grown over the past years as more area has been paved and storm events have become more extreme. Until recently in the Netherlands, the solution for this problem was to increase the pump capacity, but nowadays the Dutch Government's opinion and that of the local Water Boards about solving this problem is changing. Rather than shifting the problem to more downstream lying parts of the water system, the philosophy has become “first retain, then store, only then discharge” (Nationaal Bestuursakkoord Water, 2003. Dutch National Policy on Water Management for the 21st Century). A way to retain water in upstream parts of the waters system is to use real-time control structures in the upstream canals. In this paper a control method is presented that can effectively retain water in the upstream parts, until the downstream part can accommodate this amount of water. The method is based on upstream Proportional Integral-control with adaptation of the set point. The control is referred to as Cascade PI-Control. Basically, the goal of the control method is to fill the available storage equally in the whole area. Tests have been performed with a calibrated model of an existing polder in the Netherlands. Results show that application of the control method is sufficient to avoid such drainage problems.     

An eco-balance approach to the evaluation of historical changes in nitrogen loads at a regional scale

Historical changes in nitrogen flows of a municipality from 1912 to 2002 were analyzed to evaluate the relation between production and environmental pollution. The system comprised human, livestock and farmland subsystems. The indicators used in this study were production, surplus nitrogen (N) on farmland and total systems, and flow indices. Flow indices consist of cycling index (CI), export index (EI), and loss index (LI). CI was defined as the proportion of nitrogen cycled in the system to the total system throughflow, EI as nitrogen exported from the system, and LI as nitrogen lost from the system (sum of field surplus nitrogen, nitrogen in non-utilized excreta, and N₂O and NH₃ emissions).     

农田排水策略对氮素流失影响试验研究

通过测筒试验模拟了排水间隔时间、强度和地下水位对农田地下排水中氮素流失的影响规律。结果表明,相同模拟条件下,排水间隔时间的延长可减少排水量和降低总氮流失率,以间隔3～5d减少最为明显;间隔3、5和7d排水总氮流失量分别较间隔1d减少了45.5%、81.1%和100%;排水强度的降低可以减少氮素的流失,出流中氨氮质量浓度递减并趋于稳定,硝态氮质量浓度先上升后减少,相对于2mm/d的排水强度,4、6和8mm/d排水强度下总氮流失量分别增加了126.8%、264.8%和401%。地下水位的升高可明显减少总排水量和总氮流失量,40cm和60cm地下控制水位比80cm水位排水总氮量分别减少63.2%和40.9%。     

Responses of crop yield and water use efficiency to climate change in the North China Plain

Based on future climate change projections offered by IPCC, the responses of yields and water use efficiencies of wheat and maize to climate change scenarios are explored over the North China Plain. The climate change projections of 21st century under A2A, B2A and A1B are from HadCM3 global climate model.A climate generator (CLIGEN) is applied to generate daily weather data of selected stations and then the data is used to drive CERES-Wheat and Maize models. The impacts of increased temperature and CO₂ on wheat and maize yields are inconsistent. Under the same scenario, wheat yield ascended due to climatic warming, but the maize yield descended. As a more probable scenario, climate change under B2A is moderate relative to A2A and A1B. Under B2A in 2090s, average wheat yield and maize yield will respectively increase 9.8% and 3.2% without CO₂ fertilization in this region. High temperature not only affects crop yields, but also has positive effect on water use efficiencies, mainly ascribing to the evapotranspiration intensification. There is a positive effect of CO₂ enrichment on yield and water use efficiency. If atmospheric CO₂ concentration reaches nearly 600 ppm, wheat and maize yields will increase 38% and 12% and water use efficiencies will improve 40% and 25% respectively, in comparison to those without CO₂ fertilization. However, the uncertainty of crop yield is considerable under future climate change scenarios and whether the CO₂ fertilization may be realized is still needed further research.     

Uncertain water supply in an irrigated Mediterranean area: An analysis of the possible economic impact of climate change on the farm sector

Analysis of the possible economic impact of climate change at the local level is becoming increasingly relevant to agricultural policy, in terms of the definition of new measures to sustain adaptation of the farm sector. This study focuses on a Mediterranean agricultural zone to evaluate the economic impact of rainfall regime changes that modify the accumulation of irrigation water in a dam. The objective is to identify farm typologies that suffer more from rainfall changes, in order to target policy measures that increase farm sector capability to adapt to climate change. First, an analysis of historical series is conducted for precipitation. The decreasing trend in annual precipitation, as well as an increase in monthly rainfall variability, is shown to have a statistically significant influence on the regime of water accumulation in the dam. Density functions representing this regime are estimated for several periods, including the 1960s-1970s, the current time and a time interval that extends to 2015. A comparison of these functions reveals an increase in variability of water accumulation in the dam through time. Parameters of these functions are used in three models of Discrete Stochastic Programming to represent different expectations of irrigation water availability and to simulate the possible reaction of the farm sector in the study area to the different scenarios. The simulation results show that both income and employment are noticeably reduced in some farm typologies when scenarios with higher variability levels for water accumulation in the dam are considered. In addition, changes in the use of soil are seen, the use of inputs declines and the quantity of extracted groundwater increases.     

Simulated effect of drainage water management operational strategy on hydrology and crop yield for Drummer soil in the Midwestern United States

The hypothetical effects of drainage water management operational strategy on hydrology and crop yield at the Purdue University Water Quality Field Station (WQFS) were simulated using DRAINMOD, a field-scale hydrologic model. The WQFS has forty-eight cropping system treatment plots with 10 m drain spacing. Drain flow observations from a subset of the treatment plots with continuous corn (Zea mays L.) were used to calibrate the model, which was then used to develop an operational strategy for drainage water management. The chosen dates of raising and lowering the outlet during the crop period were 10 and 85 days after planting, respectively, with a control height of 50 cm above the drain (40 cm from the surface). The potential effects of this operational strategy on hydrology and corn yield were simulated over a period of 15 years from 1991 to 2005. On average, the predicted annual drain flows were reduced by 60% (statistically significant at 95% level). This is the most significant benefit of drainage water management since it may reduce the nitrate load to the receiving streams. About 68% of the reduced drain flow contributed to an increase in seepage. Drainage water management increased the average surface runoff by about 85% and slightly decreased the relative yield of corn crop by 0.5% (both are not statistically significant at 95% level). On average, the relative yield due to wet stress (RYw) decreased by 1.3% while relative yield due to dry stress (RYd) increased by 1%. Overall, the relative crop yield increased in 5 years (within a range of 0.8-6.9%), decreased in 8 years (within a range of 0.2-5.5%), and was not affected in the remaining 2 years. With simulated drainage water management, the water table rose above the conventional drainage level during both the winter and the crop periods in all years (except 2002 crop season). The annual maximum winter period rise ranged between 47 cm (1995) and 87 cm (1992), and the annual maximum crop period rise ranged between no effect (2002) and 47 cm (1993).     

Peasant emigration and land-use change at the watershed level: A GIS-based approach in Central Mexico

Demographic changes introduced by migration strongly affect economic activities and may thus trigger land-use changes. Migration has been usually overlooked in land use change modelling, even though it is recognized as a dominant demographic factor that influences land use. This paper analyzes to what extent migration patterns influence land-cover and land-use change at the watershed level. A RS-GIS and statistical approach was used to quantify and analyze both land-cover change and change in population per spatial unit. It was hypothesized that migration should exert a strong effect on land-cover change. The exercise was carried out in the Basin of Lake Cuitzeo, Michoacan, in Central Mexico, an area of high emigration to the USA, albeit showing a net increase in its total population. The expansion of scrubland areas at the expense of rain-fed agricultural land is associated with the abandonment of agricultural land with poor soils. As a consequence, vegetal succession has been promoted and subtropical scrubland increased.     

Recent changes in the climatic yield potential of various crops in Europe

Recent changes in the simulated potential crop yield and biomass production caused by changes in the temperature and global radiation patterns are examined, using the Crop Growth Monitoring System. The investigated crops are winter wheat, spring barley, maize, winter rapeseed, potato, sugar beet, pulses and sunflower. The period considered is 1976-2005. The research was executed at NUTS2 level. Maize and sugar beet were the crops least affected by changing temperature and global radiation patterns. For the other crops the simulated potential yield remained stable in the majority of regions, while decreasing trends in simulated potential yields prevailed in the remaining regions. The changes appear in a geographical pattern. In Italy and southern central Europe, temperature and radiation change effects are more severe than elsewhere, in these areas potential crop yields of more than three crops significantly decreased. In the UK and some regions in northern Europe the yield potential of various crops increased.In a next step the national yield statistics were analyzed. For a large majority of the countries the yield increases of wheat, barley and to a lesser extent rapeseed are leveling off. Several explanations could be given, however, as the simulated yield potential for these crops decreased in various regions, the changing temperature and radiation patterns may also contribute to the diminishing yield increases or to the stagnation. In more than 50% of the investigated countries the maize, potato and sugar beet yields continue to increase. This can be attributed to improving production techniques, new crop varieties, sometimes in combination with an improving climatic potential. In some regions in northern Europe, yields continue to increase.     

Modeling the impact of alternative drainage practices in the northern Corn-belt with DRAINMOD-NII

The hydrologic and water quality impacts of subsurface drainage design and management practices are being investigated through field and simulation studies throughout the northern Corn-belt. Six years of data from an ongoing field study in south central Minnesota (Sands et al., 2008) were used to support a modeling effort with DRAINMOD-NII to investigate: (1) the performance of the model in a region where soils are subject to seasonal freeze-thaw and (2) the long-term hydrologic and water quality characteristics of conventional and alternative subsurface drainage practices. Post-calibration model prediction and efficiency were deemed satisfactory using standard model performance criteria. Prediction errors were primarily associated with early spring snowmelt hydrology and were attributed to the methods used for simulating snow accumulation and melting processes, in addition to potential sublimation effects on ET estimates. Long-term simulations with DRAINMOD-NII indicated that drainage design and/or management practices proposed as alternatives to conventional design may offer opportunities to reduce nitrate (NO₃)-nitrogen losses without significantly decreasing (and in some cases, increasing) crop yields for a Webster silty clay loam soil at Waseca, Minnesota. The simulation study indicated that both shallow drainage and controlled drainage may reduce annual drainage discharge and NO₃-nitrogen losses by 20-30%, while impacting crop yields from −3% (yield decrease) to 2%, depending on lateral drain spacing. The practice of increasing drainage intensity (decreasing drain spacing) beyond recommended values appears to not significantly affect crop yield but may substantially increase drainage discharge and nitrate-nitrogen losses to surface waters.     

番茄果实不同发育阶段水分亏缺对其风味品质的影响

对番茄果实膨大期和成熟期各设充分供水、中度和重度亏水3个水平,进行盆栽试验,分析了膨大期和成熟期亏水水平及其交互作用对番茄可溶性固形物、可溶性糖、可滴定酸含量及糖酸比的影响.结果表明:果实膨大期、成熟期亏水水平及其交互作用对番茄可溶性固形物、可溶性糖、可滴定酸含量及糖酸比有显著影响(膨大期亏水对可溶性糖含量影响除外);成熟期中度亏水时,膨大期中度亏水较充分供水使可滴定酸和可溶性固形物含量显著提高,增幅分别为57.8%和29.4%,糖酸比显著降低,降幅为46.6%;膨大期重度亏水时,成熟期重度亏水较充分供水使可溶性糖、可溶性固形物和糖酸比依次减小49.3%,33.9%和75.0%,而使可滴定酸含量增加129.7%;果实发育阶段持续重度亏水较充分供水使可溶性糖、可溶性固形物含量和糖酸比分别减小16.5%,16.0%和36.5%.表明番茄果实膨大期和成熟期的水分供应均会对其风味品质产生显著影响,而且,各时期单独亏水的效应与其他时期的水分供应有密切关系;两时期适度亏水可显著改善番茄果实风味品质,膨大期到成熟期持续重度亏水反而不利于其风味品质的提高,只是获得了较高的酸度.     

The effect of standing water above drains on the water table height midway between drains

Wesseling (1964) stated that standing water above drains as a result of submerged outlets creates a radial flow in the vicinity of the drains which promotes flow conditions so that a smaller rise of the water table height midway between drains results. Wesseling (1979) concluded the same for standing water above drains as the result of too high entrance resistance. Standing water above drains may also be due to overpressure in the drains as a result of too small pipe diameter or to irregular drain slopes. With the exception of submerged outlets the resulting water table rise midway between drains is however in the same order of the water table rise above the drain as can be derived from theoretical analysis. This conclusion was confirmed by measurements at an experimental field where the standing water above drains, as a result of overpressure, and the water table midway between drains were monitored in a field located at the northwest of the Nile Delta. In spite of the low discharge rates, overpressure was observed in the drains. It was mainly attributed to irregular drain slopes. The analysis of field data showed that the water table midway between drains rises at least the same as the water table height above the drains. Since overpressure in drains causes a decrease of the dewatering zone, a careful and accurate installation is of utmost importance for the proper functioning of a drainage system.     

气候变化和人类活动对灌区地下水埋深的影响

【目的】探析气候变化和人类活动对灌区地下水埋深的影响。【方法】利用年代波动性分析、突变检验、灰色关联分析、敏感性分析、双累积曲线法和相对贡献率分析了人民胜利渠灌区1952—2013年地下水埋深及其影响因素的变化和突变特征,并识别了地下水埋深与各影响因素间的响应特征。【结果】人民胜利渠灌区地下水埋深呈明显增加趋势（0.8 m/10 a）。地下水埋深在1952—1959年的变异系数最大,为27.33%,呈中等变异性;降水量、蒸发量、平均气温和灌溉水量在1960s的变异系数最大,其中蒸发量和平均气温呈弱变异性。地下水埋深、降水量、蒸发量、平均气温和灌溉水量的突变年份分别发生在1984年、1970s、1972年前后、1973年前后以及1993—1996年。各影响因素对地下水埋深的影响程度大小为平均气温>降水量>灌溉水量>蒸发量,敏感程度为平均气温>蒸发量>降水量>灌溉水量。各影响因素对地下水埋深的贡献大小呈平均气温>蒸发量>灌溉水量>降水量,其中平均气温的贡献率最大为38.16%,降水量的贡献率最小为17.40%;2002—2013年灌溉水...     

RZWQM: Simulating the effects of management on water quality and crop production

The interactive use of experimentation and modeling is an efficient way to devise and test new agricultural management systems. The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) is a comprehensive simulation model designed to predict the hydrologic response, including potential for groundwater contamination, of alternative crop-management systems. The model is one-dimensional (vertical into the soil profile) and integrates physical, biological and chemical processes. It simulates crop development and the movement of water, nutrients and pesticides over and through the root zone for a representative unit area of an agricultural field over multiple years. RZWQM allows for a variety of management practices: tillage; irrigation, fertilizer, manure and pesticide applications; tile drainage and crop rotations. Several significant validation efforts have shown the usefulness of RZWQM for evaluating and developing management scenarios.     

Regional crop modelling in Europe: The impact of climatic conditions and farm characteristics on maize yields

Impacts of climate variability and climate change on regional crop yields are commonly assessed using process-based crop models. These models, however, simulate potential and water limited yields, which do not always relate to observed yields. The latter are largely influenced by crop management, which varies by farm and region. Data on specific management strategies may be obtained at the field level, but at the regional level information about the diversity in management strategies is rarely available and difficult to be considered adequately in process-based crop models. Alternatively, understanding the factors influencing management may provide helpful information to improve simulations at the regional level.In this study, we aim to identify factors at the regional level that explain differences between observed and simulated yields. Observed yield data were provided by the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and Eurostat. The Crop Growth Monitoring System (CGMS), based on the WOFOST model, was used to simulate potential and water limited maize yields in the EU15 (i.e., the old member states of the European Union). Differences between observed and simulated maize yields were analysed using regression models including: (i) climatic factors (temperature and precipitation), (ii) farm size, (iii) farm intensity, (iv) land use, (v) income and (vi) subsidies. We assumed that the highest yields observed in a region were close to the yield potential as determined by climate and considered the average regional yields as also influenced by management. Model performance was analysed with respect to spatial and temporal yield variability.Results indicate that for potential yield, the model performed unsatisfactory in southern regions, where high temperatures increased observed yields which was in contrast to model simulations. When considering management effects, we find that especially irrigation and the maize area explain much of the differences between observed and simulated yields across regions. Simulations of temporal yield variability also diverted from observed data of which about 80% could be explained by the climatic factors (35%) and farm characteristics (50%) considered in the analysis. However, effects of specific factors differed depending on the regions. Accordingly, we propose different groups of regions with factors related to management which should be considered to improve regional yield simulations with CGMS.     

水田控制排水技术的环境效益初探

稻田排水是南方地区氮磷损失和面源污染的主要途径。农田氮磷通过降雨击溅侵蚀、排水沟坡面和沟底冲刷进入地表径流。控制排水可减少地面排水量和排水中氮磷浓度,尤其是降低径流中氮磷浓度,从而减少稻田氮磷损失。土壤颗粒沉淀、硝化、反硝化反应以及作物吸收是排水中氮磷浓度降低的主要原因。通过控制涝水在稻田和排水沟中的滞留时间,增加排水沟口溢流堰高度,降低径流水力坡度和抉沙能力是控制排水的主要手段。最后提出了稻田控制排水需要进一步研究的问题。     

Outflow reduction and salt and nitrogen dynamics at controlled drainage in the YinNan Irrigation District, China

The YinNan Irrigation District in NingXia, China diverts each year about 1.6 × 10⁹ m³ water from the Yellow River for irrigation use. More than half of that water is discharged back to the downstream channel or some low-lying depressions as a result of agricultural drainage. Several studies have indicated that the District is excessively drained, partially caused by the over-dimensioning of the existing drainage system, and proposed to improve the situation by controlled drainage practice. We subsequently carried out a field experiment of controlled drainage in the rice growing area of the District in 2004–2005. Field observations showed that reduction of the drainage depth of field ditches from 1 to 0.4 m resulted in a drainage flow reduction of 50–60%. Drainage water salinity increased only slightly but was still below the salt tolerance level of rice. Measurements of nitrogen concentrations showed no clear trend of changes as the result of irregular fertilization practice in the experimental site.     

Intra-annual variability in the contribution of tile drains to basin discharge and phosphorus export in a first-order agricultural catchment

This study examines spatiotemporal variability (event-based, seasonal) in the contribution of drainage tiles within a basin to basin hydrologic discharge and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and total phosphorus (TP) export over a period of 1 year. Tile discharge was highly variable at both moderate (wet versus dry periods) and smaller (within-event) temporal scales, accounting for 0-90% of basin discharge at any given time. An estimated 42% of basin annual discharge originated from drainage tiles, the majority of which occurred during the winter and spring months. Concentrations of SRP and TP in drainage tile effluent were also highly variable in space and time (1-2850 μg SRP L⁻¹, 5-8275 μg TP L⁻¹). Higher concentrations of SRP and TP were linked to fields receiving manure compared to fields receiving inorganic fertilizers. SRP export from tiles accounted for 118% of basin SRP export on average, although their contribution to basin SRP export ranged from 4 to 344% on 32 discrete dates during which all tiles in the basin were sampled for hydrochemistry. On the same 32 dates, tiles accounted for an average of 43% of basin TP export, although this ranged from 0 to 200%. Management options such as tile plugs and optimizing the timing and application rates of fertilizer should be explored to minimize nutrient export from tiles.     

Sensitivity of groundwater recharge under irrigated agriculture to changes in climate, CO2 concentrations and canopy structure

Estimating groundwater recharge in response to increased atmospheric CO₂ concentration and climate change is critical for future management of agricultural water resources in arid or semi-arid regions. Based on climate projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this study quantified groundwater recharge under irrigated agriculture in response to variations of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations (550 and 970 ppm) and average daily temperature (+1.1 and +6.4 °C compared to current conditions). HYDRUS 1D, a model used to simulate water movement in unsaturated, partially saturated, or fully saturated porous media, was used to simulate the impact of climate change on vadose zone hydrologic processes and groundwater recharge for three typical crop sites (alfalfa, almonds and tomatoes) in the San Joaquin watershed in California. Plant growth with the consideration of elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentration was simulated using the heat unit theory. A modified version of the Penman-Monteith equation was used to account for the effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentration. Irrigation amount and timing was based on crop potential evapotranspiration. The results of this study suggest that increases in atmospheric CO₂ and average daily temperature may have significant effects on groundwater recharge. Increasing temperature caused a temporal shift in plant growth patterns and redistributed evapotranspiration and irrigation water use earlier in the growing season resulting in a decrease in groundwater recharge under alfalfa and almonds and an increase under tomatoes. Elevating atmospheric CO₂ concentrations generally decreased groundwater recharge for all crops due to decreased evapotranspiration resulting in decreased irrigation water use. Increasing average daily temperature by 1.1 and 6.4 °C and atmospheric CO₂ concentration to 550 and 970 ppm led to a decrease in cumulative groundwater recharge for most scenarios. Overall, the results indicate that groundwater recharge may be very sensitive to potential future climate changes.