Liu et al. (2025) Crop‐Stage‐Specific Analysis of Water Use Characteristics of Summer Maize ( Zea mays L.) Under Different Deficit Irrigation Regimes

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-28
• Authors: Changxin Liu, Lianyu Yu, delan zhu, Fubin Sun, Xiangxiang Ji, Nazarov Khudayberdi, Azizov Kobuljan, Rashidova Dilbar Karimovna, La Zhuo
• DOI: 10.1111/jac.70152

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the abstract, but the study was conducted in Northwest China.

Short Summary

This study investigated root-zone water budget components in a summer maize field under different irrigation regimes using the STEMMUS-ET model to address ET uncertainties. It found that a specific deficit irrigation strategy (T1), involving reduced irrigation amount at the same frequency, significantly improved water use efficiency by 9.71% compared to conventional irrigation.

Objective

• To investigate how root-zone water budget components varied throughout the growing season in a summer maize field under three different irrigation regimes, considering evapotranspiration (ET) uncertainties, using the STEMMUS-ET soil water model with both indirect and direct ET methods.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Field scale (summer maize field)
• Temporal Scale: Two successive growing seasons

Methodology and Data

• Models used: STEMMUS-ET (soil water model)
• Data sources: Field experiments (two successive years of crop-stage-specific deficit irrigation experiments)

Main Results

• The STEMMUS-ET model accurately simulated soil water contents, ET, soil evaporation, and root-zone water budgets across all irrigation treatments.
• The influence of different ET methods on soil moisture content primarily affected shallow soil layers (0–0.3 m).
• The direct ET method significantly improved soil evaporation simulation, especially after irrigation, due to the inclusion of aerodynamic and surface resistance terms.
• Irrigation amount had a significant effect on transpiration but not on soil evaporation.
• Irrigation frequency, rather than the amount, largely affected soil evaporation.
• Deficit irrigation (DI) treatments depleted more soil water storage with less irrigation water throughout the growing season compared to the control (CK).
• The T1 treatment, which involved a reduced irrigation water amount at the same irrigation frequency, significantly improved water use efficiency (WUE) by 9.71% compared to the CK treatment.

Contributions

• Provides insights into crop-stage-specific water use characteristics and root-zone water budgets under deficit irrigation, considering ET uncertainties.
• Demonstrates the effectiveness of the STEMMUS-ET model for simulating soil water dynamics and ET components under various irrigation regimes.
• Highlights the improved accuracy of the direct ET method for simulating soil evaporation by incorporating resistance terms.
• Identifies the critical role of irrigation frequency over irrigation amount in influencing soil evaporation.
• Offers practical guidance for optimizing water management strategies in dryland agriculture by quantifying the WUE improvement of a specific deficit irrigation approach.

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Liu2025CropStageSpecific,
  author = {Liu, Changxin and Yu, Lianyu and zhu, delan and Sun, Fubin and Ji, Xiangxiang and Khudayberdi, Nazarov and Kobuljan, Azizov and Karimovna, Rashidova Dilbar and Zhuo, La},
  title = {Crop‐Stage‐Specific Analysis of Water Use Characteristics of Summer Maize ( <scp> <i>Zea mays</i> </scp> L.) Under Different Deficit Irrigation Regimes},
  journal = {Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1111/jac.70152},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/jac.70152}
}