Estimation of Wheat Water Productivity and Water Use Efficiency (Shiraz Cultivar) under Different Amounts of Deficit Irrigation and Nitrogen Deficiencies

Due to the limited water resources and growing population, food security and environmental protection have become a global problem. Increasing water productivity of agricultural products is one of the main solutions to cope with the difficulties. By optimizing applied water and nitrogen fertilizer, the pollution of groundwater could be deceased and the water productivity could be increased. The aim of this research was to determine the relationships between water productivity (IRWP) and water use efficiency (WUE) and different amounts of applied water (irrigation + rain fed) and nitrogen (applied and residual). This study was conducted on wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Shiraz) in Shiraz University School of Agriculture, based on a split-plot design with three replications, in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 periods. Irrigation treatments varied from zero to 120% of full irrigation depth, and nitrogen fertilizer treatments varied from zero to 138 kg ha-1 under basin irrigation system. The experimental data of the first and second years were used for the calibration and validation of the proposed relationships, respectively. The calibrated equations using the dimensionless ratios of irrigation depth plus rainfall, actual evapotranspiration and nitrogen fertilizer plus soil residual nitrogen to their amounts in full irrigation and maximum fertilizer amounts were appropriate for the estimation of water productivity and water use efficiency. The values of the determination coefficient (R2) for water productivity and water use efficiency (0.88 and 0.93, respectively), and the values of their normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) (0.2 and 0.13, respectively) showed a good accuracy for the estimation of IRWP and WUE.