Effect of shallow groundwater table on crop water requirements and crop yields |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, Khyaban-e-Johar Road H-8/1, Islamabad, Pakistan;2. Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, Khyaban-e-Johar Road H-8/1, Islamabad, Pakistan;3. Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, 6.4 km Raiwind Road, Lahore, Pakistan;1. P.O. Box 2629, Bloomington, IN 47402, USA;2. United Nations University—Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU—INWEH), 175 Longwood Road South, Hamilton, L8P 0A1, Ontario, Canada;3. International Water Management Institute, P.O. Box 2075, Colombo, Sri Lanka;1. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA;2. Civil Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Fayoum University, Egypt;3. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Maricopa, AZ, USA;4. The National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Ames, IA, USA;1. Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan;2. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), P.O. Box 950764, Amman, 11195, Jordan;3. ICARDA, Park Road, NARC, Islamabad, Pakistan;4. Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, H-8/1, Islamabad, Pakistan;1. Agroscope, Research Division Agroecology and Environment, Zürich, Switzerland;2. Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland;1. UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland;2. Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland |
| |
| Abstract: | Due to the increasing demand for food and fiber by its ever-increasing population, the pressure on fresh water resources of Pakistan is increasing. Optimum utilization of surface and groundwater resources has become extremely important to fill the gap between water demand and supply. At Lahore, Pakistan 18 lysimeters, each 3.05 m × 3.05 m × 6.1 m deep were constructed to investigate the effect of shallow water tables on crop water requirements. The lysimeters were connected to bottles with Marriotte siphons to maintain the water tables at the desired levels and tensiometers were installed to measure soil water potential. The crops studied included wheat, sugarcane, maize, sorghum, berseem and sunflower. The results of these studies showed that the contribution of groundwater in meeting the crop water requirements varied with the water-table depth. With the water table at 0.5 m depth, wheat met its entire water requirement from the groundwater and sunflower absorbed more than 80% of its required water from groundwater. Maize and sorghum were found to be waterlogging sensitive crops whose yields were reduced with higher water table. However, maximum sugarcane yield was obtained with the water table at or below 2.0 m depth. Generally, the water-table depth of 1.5–2.0 m was found to be optimum for all the crops studied. In areas where the water table is shallow, the present system of irrigation supplies and water allowance needs adjustments to avoid over irrigation and in-efficient use of water. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
