Xiao et al. (2025) Optimization of coordinated autumn and spring irrigation under water resource constraints in cold and arid region

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural Water Management
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-03
• Authors: Chunan Xiao, Jingwei Wu, Yan Lu, Jun Mao, Renjie Zhang, Hanyi Zhang
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2025.110047

Research Groups

State Key Laboratory of Water Resources Engineering and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China

Short Summary

This study developed an optimized water allocation scheme for autumn and spring irrigation in the Hetao Irrigation District under water resource constraints, integrating remote sensing data and the SHAW model to enhance water use efficiency and mitigate soil salinization. It recommends differentiated irrigation quotas and areas for various soil salinity levels and crop types, leading to a balanced water distribution for sustainable agricultural development.

Objective

• To characterize the spatiotemporal evolution of crop planting structure, irrigated area, and soil salinization dynamics using remote sensing and long-term monitoring data.
• To simulate coupled water-salt processes in frozen-thawed soils using the SHAW model.
• To identify suitable spring irrigation quotas for different soil salinity levels.
• To propose an optimized water allocation scheme for autumn and spring irrigation in the Hetao Irrigation District.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Hetao Irrigation District (HID), Inner Mongolia, China (106°10′–109°30′E, 40°12′–41°20′N), with a total area of approximately 1.2556 million hectares and an irrigated area of 769333 hectares.
• Temporal Scale: Analysis of remote sensing data from 2016 to 2023; meteorological data from March to May 2021; field surveys from July to November 2023.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) model, decision tree hierarchical classification model (for crop structure), Multi-Band Water Index (MBWI) (for irrigation area extraction).
• Data sources:
  • Remote sensing: China Multi-Period Land Use Land Cover Remote Sensing Monitoring Dataset (CNLUCC), Google Earth (GE) high-resolution imagery, Landsat-8 satellite imagery (via Google Earth Engine), MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) product.
  • Field observations: Ground-truth data from 74 crop survey samples and 517 manually interpreted samples, detailed information on irrigation boundaries and practices, soil samples (0–5 cm, 5–20 cm, 20–40 cm, 40–70 cm, and 70–100 cm depth intervals), soil moisture and salinity data from 18 experimental plots at Yonglian Experimental Station.
  • Meteorological data: Daily maximum and minimum temperature (°C), average wind speed (m/s), precipitation (mm), and solar radiation (W/m²) from March to May 2021.
  • Official statistics: Comparison with official statistical areas for autumn and spring irrigation.

Main Results

• From 2016 to 2023, sunflower consistently occupied the largest planting area (increasing by 23.7% to 454967 ha), followed by maize (increasing by 76.2% to 163427-288300 ha), while wheat cultivation decreased.
• Before 2023, spring irrigation (SI) area decreased while autumn irrigation (AI) area increased; in 2023, these trends reversed due to a mandated reduction in Yellow River water allocation for AI (from 1.6 billion m³ to 1 billion m³).
• Non-severe salinized soil accounted for 79.4% (572533 ha) of the total farmland, with severe salinization (18.6%, 133733 ha) concentrated in specific northeastern and northern/southern regions.
• Optimized irrigation quotas:
  • Lightly saline-alkali land: SI 780–1230 m³/ha, AI 1650 m³/ha.
  • Moderately saline-alkali land: SI 1080–1305 m³/ha, AI 1800 m³/ha.
  • A unified SI quota of 1125 m³/ha was adopted for mild and moderate saline-alkali soils.
• The optimized water allocation scheme recommends 336107 ha for AI with a total water diversion of 1.183 billion m³, and 383380 ha for SI with 0.908 billion m³.
• Spatially, AI areas are mainly in the southern regions of WLBH, JFZ, and YJ, western YC, and eastern WLT, while SI areas are primarily in the northern JFZ and YJ, and the junction between YC and WLT.

Contributions

This study provides a comprehensive optimization framework for coordinated autumn and spring irrigation under water resource constraints in cold and arid regions. It offers spatially differentiated irrigation strategies tailored to crop types and soil salinity levels, contributing to improved water-use efficiency, reduced soil salinization, and sustainable agricultural development in large-scale irrigation systems like the Hetao Irrigation District.

Funding

• Key research and development program of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China (2023JBGS0003)
• National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 52379047 and 52209067)

Citation

@article{Xiao2025Optimization,
  author = {Xiao, Chunan and Wu, Jingwei and Lu, Yan and Mao, Jun and Zhang, Renjie and Zhang, Hanyi},
  title = {Optimization of coordinated autumn and spring irrigation under water resource constraints in cold and arid region},
  journal = {Agricultural Water Management},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agwat.2025.110047},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2025.110047}
}