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Water balance and migration for maize in an oasis farmland of northwest China

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  • Geography
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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Water balance and migration characteristics are vital to the establishment of an efficient irrigation management system. Based on the observed data including microclimate and growing parameters of maize from 2009 to 2012, actual evapotranspiration during the growth period was estimated by a combination of the FAO-56 crop coefficient approach and the Penman–Monteith model; the changes in soil water storage were estimated through the monitored water content at different depths from 0 to 3 m; the water content monitoring zone was divided into three sub-zones according to the water-balance characteristics of different soil layers and water monitoring data. On these bases, in combination of water-balance model, three aspects were analyzed: water-balance characteristics at different growth stages; water-balance characteristics in the three different sub-zones; and water-migration characteristics of ten sunny days following irrigation. These analyses revealed severe deep leakage under present irrigation management, which could be remedied by limiting one-time irrigation practices and increasing irrigation frequency. Additionally, some practical suggestions are provided for different growing stages.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate the great help from Xibin Ji, Shoubo Li and Bowen Jin. This work was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (41125002) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41271036).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, China Ecosystem Research Network, Linze, 734200, China

    Liwen Zhao & Wenzhi Zhao

  2. Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Liwen Zhao & Wenzhi Zhao

Authors
  1. Liwen Zhao
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  2. Wenzhi Zhao
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Correspondence to Wenzhi Zhao.

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Zhao, L., Zhao, W. Water balance and migration for maize in an oasis farmland of northwest China. Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 4829–4837 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0482-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0482-4

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