TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparative evaluation of crop water use efficiency, economic analysis and net household profit simulation in arid Northwest China
AU - Fan, Yubing
AU - Wang, Chenggang
AU - Nan, Zhibiao
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Decreasing water availability for agricultural production has prompted researchers to focus on comparing and evaluating water use efficiency (WUE) of different crops in various water management strategies. A field survey was conducted to investigate the amount of irrigation water, inputs and yields of eight crops (spring wheat, maize, onion, cotton, hot pepper, sunflower, melons and fennel) grown under furrow irrigation systems in an arid region, Minqin county, Northwestern China (NWC). Previous publications reporting crop WUE were identified and major statistics of evapotranspiration (ET), yield (Y) and WUE were calculated for each crop. By comparing with literature reporting, the mean WUE of onion (8.71kgm-3), cotton (0.56kgm-3), sunflower seed (0.78kgm-3) and fennel (0.51kgm-3) grown in NWC were at the same high levels; while WUE of wheat (0.87kgm-3) and maize (1.17kgm-3) were slightly lower and WUE of hot pepper (2.68kgm-3) and melons (3.27kgm-3) were extremely low. Great potential of saving water could be achieved to realize increased or ideal WUE values for crops in NWC. The total net profit per household of cotton (1606.62$hh-1) was significantly larger and of onion (-3132.30$hh-1) significantly lower than that of other crops. Cotton, sunflower seed, melons and hot pepper had significantly higher crop production values per unit water than other crops, 0.39$m-3, 0.36$m-3, 0.32$m-3 and 0.31$m-3, respectively. The net household profits were significantly higher when excluding onion production for its extremely low price in 2011. With simulation based on different combinations of onion production and increase of migrant workers, the average net household profit could be optimized to provide benefits to local farmers and policy makers regarding income increase and rural policy design.
AB - Decreasing water availability for agricultural production has prompted researchers to focus on comparing and evaluating water use efficiency (WUE) of different crops in various water management strategies. A field survey was conducted to investigate the amount of irrigation water, inputs and yields of eight crops (spring wheat, maize, onion, cotton, hot pepper, sunflower, melons and fennel) grown under furrow irrigation systems in an arid region, Minqin county, Northwestern China (NWC). Previous publications reporting crop WUE were identified and major statistics of evapotranspiration (ET), yield (Y) and WUE were calculated for each crop. By comparing with literature reporting, the mean WUE of onion (8.71kgm-3), cotton (0.56kgm-3), sunflower seed (0.78kgm-3) and fennel (0.51kgm-3) grown in NWC were at the same high levels; while WUE of wheat (0.87kgm-3) and maize (1.17kgm-3) were slightly lower and WUE of hot pepper (2.68kgm-3) and melons (3.27kgm-3) were extremely low. Great potential of saving water could be achieved to realize increased or ideal WUE values for crops in NWC. The total net profit per household of cotton (1606.62$hh-1) was significantly larger and of onion (-3132.30$hh-1) significantly lower than that of other crops. Cotton, sunflower seed, melons and hot pepper had significantly higher crop production values per unit water than other crops, 0.39$m-3, 0.36$m-3, 0.32$m-3 and 0.31$m-3, respectively. The net household profits were significantly higher when excluding onion production for its extremely low price in 2011. With simulation based on different combinations of onion production and increase of migrant workers, the average net household profit could be optimized to provide benefits to local farmers and policy makers regarding income increase and rural policy design.
KW - Comparative evaluation
KW - Economic analysis
KW - Furrow irrigation
KW - Household profit simulation
KW - WUE-ET relationship
KW - Water use efficiency
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908555602&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agwat.2014.09.001
DO - 10.1016/j.agwat.2014.09.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84908555602
SN - 0378-3774
VL - 146
SP - 335
EP - 345
JO - Agricultural Water Management
JF - Agricultural Water Management
ER -