Wei et al. (2026) Optimizing conjunctive use of on-farm water storage and groundwater to enhance sunflower productivity and rhizosphere health in saline-alkaline agroecosystems

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural Water Management
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-09
• Authors: Meng Wei, Mengjie Qiao, X J Li, Jiabao Zhang, Xiangping Wang, Can Wang, J Liu
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110605

Research Groups

• State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Hetao Irrigation District

Short Summary

This study investigates the conjunctive use of on-farm water storage (OFWS) and groundwater (GW) to enhance sunflower productivity and rhizosphere health in saline-alkaline agroecosystems. The results show that a 75:25 OFWS-to-GW ratio maximizes sunflower productivity and rhizosphere health, providing evidence-based guidance for sustainable irrigation and agricultural resilience in saline-alkaline arid regions.

Objective

• Investigate the synergetic impacts of conjunctive water use (CWU) on the soil-microbe-plant system in saline-alkaline agroecosystems.
• Evaluate the effects of different OFWS-GW ratios on sunflower phenology, seed yield, and quality.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Field experiment conducted in Hetao Irrigation District, China (41◦05’N, 108◦23’E).
• Temporal Scale: Planting season from May to October 2024.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: None mentioned.
• Data sources: Field measurements of water quality, soil properties, microbial communities, and sunflower traits.

Main Results

• OFWS and GW exhibited distinct physicochemical signatures, with OFWS featuring higher temperature, pH, DO, and K+, whereas GW maintained consistently low temperature and elevated Ca2+.
• The 75:25 OFWS-to-GW ratio (I2) emerged as the optimal strategy, significantly outperforming single-source and non-irrigated treatments in terms of sunflower productivity and rhizosphere health.
• I2 increased 100-seed weight, size, and plumpness by 2.1–11.6%, as well as elevating rhizosphere total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) by 4.6–18.6%.
• The SAR reached a peak value of 55.97 in I1, whereas the rhizosphere soil under I2 had a SAR value of only 18.04.

Contributions

• This study provides evidence-based guidance for sustainable irrigation and agricultural resilience in saline-alkaline arid regions.
• The findings highlight the importance of conjunctive water use (CWU) in optimizing sunflower productivity and rhizosphere health.

Funding

• Not specified in the paper.

Citation

@article{Wei2026Optimizing,
  author = {Wei, Meng and Qiao, Mengjie and Li, X J and Zhang, Jiabao and Wang, Xiangping and Wang, Can and Liu, J},
  title = {Optimizing conjunctive use of on-farm water storage and groundwater to enhance sunflower productivity and rhizosphere health in saline-alkaline agroecosystems},
  journal = {Agricultural Water Management},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110605},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110605}
}