Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology ›› 2015, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (04): 406-416.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-6362.2015.04.004

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Variation Characteristics of Water Footprint of Main Crops’ Production Under Climate Change in Wuchuan County

ZHAO Hui, PAN Zhi-hua, HAN Guo-lin, DONG Zhi-qiang, ZHANG Jing-ting, HE Di, WANG Li-wei, ZHANG Jun   

  1. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2014-12-17 Online:2015-08-20 Published:2015-10-19

Abstract: The water footprint of production (WFP) refers to the water resource consumed per unit of products. For crops, WFP is represented by the volume of water needed to produce per unit mass of products. The impact of climate change on the water footprint of production is an important scientific issue about which agricultural producers concern. Based on the climate data and data of crop growth period, the paper took the main crops potato and spring wheat in Wuchuan, Inner Mongolia as examples. With modified crop coefficients and CROPWAT model, the water footprint of crop production was calculated, and the climate change impacts on water footprint of production were analyzed. The results showed that: (1)the climate in Wuchuan County presented the tendency of being warmer and drier during 1983-2010, and the water footprint of potato and spring wheat production showed a significantly downward trend in the past 28 years(P<0.05); (2)Water footprint of crop production was significantly affected by climate change, and the average relative humidity, average temperature and average diurnal range over the growth period were closely related to the water footprint of potato production. For spring wheat, the average wind speed and average diurnal range over the growth period were the main impact factors; (3)The average water footprint of potato production during 1983-2010 was 1.37m3·kg-1, and for spring wheat,it was 2.51m3·kg-1. From the view of the production of per unit mass of dry matter, spring wheat consumed more water than potato. Therefore, appropriate increase in potato acreage is an effective approach to improve water use efficiency, and it can further promote regional agricultural development.

Key words: Water footprint of production, Climate change, Potato, Spring wheat, Crop coefficient, Wuchuan County