Irrigation quotas for high water use efficiency and economic water productivity of typical crops in Shiyang River Basin北大核心CSCD

Water consumption in agricultural activities is the main water use in inland oases in Northwest China. Research on water conservation in agriculture is of great significance to alleviate the conflict between the use of agricultural and ecological water and is of great importance to local farmers’ livelihoods. This study, based on traditional irrigation practices (flood irrigation and fixed irrigation frequency) of Minqin County in Shiyang River Basion, was designed to reveal the impacts of five irrigation quotas (1 800, 1 440, 1 080, 720, and 360 m3/hm2) on crop yield, biomass, irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), and economic water productivity (EWP) to determine the optimal irrigation for five crops and guide local irrigation practices. The results showed that: (1) Under the five irrigation quotas, IWUE of corn, with the highest of 12.27 kg/m3, was higher than the other four crops; (2) The average EWP of cotton with a 2-year-average of 8.0 yuan/m3 was higher than the other four crops. Thus, the economic output of cotton is the best under the same irrigation quota; (3) Considering the yield, IWUE, EWP, and biomass, corn was better than the other four typical crops; and (4) 1 080 m3/hm2 was the optimal irrigation quota for sunflower in local planting practices. In addition, 720 m3/hm2 was suitable for corn, pepper, wheat, and cotton as their irrigation quota. This study shows that reducing the amount of irrigation quota in the Shiyang River Basin can effectively improve local IWUE and EWP. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.