Mu et al. (2026) Modeling and assessing regional agro-hydrological processes and water-nitrogen use in arid and shallow groundwater areas

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural Water Management
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-13
• Authors: Danning Mu, Xu Xu, Ruiyang Lei, Yuan Liu, Chen Sun, Dongyang Ren, Tiago B. Ramos, Guanhua Huang
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110630

Research Groups

• State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources, PR China
• Center for Agricultural Water Research, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, PR China
• Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China
• Instituto Nacional de Investigaç˜ao Agr´aria e Veterin´aria, Avenida da República, Quinta do Marquˆes, Oeiras 2780-157, Portugal

Short Summary

This study enhanced the SurfMOD model to simulate regional-scale water-salt-nitrogen-plant interactions in arid irrigated areas with shallow groundwater. The improved model was tested and evaluated using two-year observation data from the Jiyuan Irrigation System.

Objective

• To enhance the SurfMOD model by adding soil nitrogen dynamics and surface water solute transport modules to simulate regional-scale water-salt-nitrogen-plant interactions.
• To quantify water, salt, and nitrogen cycling processes based on simulation results and evaluate crop productivity and water-nitrogen use efficiency under drought and shallow groundwater conditions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional scale (8490 ha)
• Temporal Scale: Two-year period (2021–2022)

Methodology and Data

• Models used: SurfMOD, a mechanistic and distributed hydrological model
• Data sources:
  • Multi-source observation datasets collected during 2021–2022
  • Digital elevation model (DEM)
  • Soil map
  • Daily meteorological data
  • Canal water supply data

Main Results

• The improved SurfMOD model accurately simulated layered soil water, salt, and nitrogen dynamics, groundwater fluctuations, as well as crop growth.
• The temporal variations in drainage flow and solute loads were reasonably reproduced.
• The study revealed water, salt, and nitrogen cycling in salinity-affected areas.
• Neglecting salinity in modeling caused systematic biases of 6%, 23%, and 2% in crop yield, field beneficial water use fraction (BWUFfield), and field nitrogen use efficiency (NUEfield), respectively.

Contributions

• The study provides a reliable tool for simulating coupled agro-hydrological processes involving water-salt-nitrogen-plant interactions.
• It offers a valuable case study for regional water-nitrogen management in arid irrigated areas with shallow groundwater.

Funding

• This research was funded by the State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources, PR China.

Citation

@article{Mu2026Modeling,
  author = {Mu, Danning and Xu, Xu and Lei, Ruiyang and Liu, Y and Sun, Chen and Ren, Dongyang and Ramos, Tiago B. and Huang, Guanhua},
  title = {Modeling and assessing regional agro-hydrological processes and water-nitrogen use in arid and shallow groundwater areas},
  journal = {Agricultural Water Management},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110630},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110630}
}