Arid Zone Research ›› 2025, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (7): 1333-1347.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2025.07.16

• Agricultural Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Soil moisture under different irrigation patterns in sandy loam farmland in the middle reaches of the Heihe River dynamic simulation

LI Haochen1(), HU Guanglu1,2(), WANG Tao3, CHEN Ning3, LI Jianan4, FAN Yalun1   

  1. 1. School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China
    2. Ministry of Education Engineering Research Center of Water Resource Comprehensive Utilization in Cold and Arid Regions, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China
    3. Daman Water Conservancy and Electricity Management Office, Ganzhou District, Zhangye 734000, Gansu, China
    4. Gansu Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Lanzhou 730020, Gansu, China
  • Received:2024-12-23 Revised:2025-04-29 Online:2025-07-15 Published:2025-07-07
  • Contact: HU Guanglu E-mail:lhc081501@foxmail.com;hgl0814@163.com

Abstract:

In arid areas, farmlands are few, water-holding capacity is poor, seepage is considerable, and crop yield is low. Understanding soil moisture movement in sandy loam farmland is crucial for conserving water resources and enhancing crop yields. This study focused on the sandy loam maize farmland in the middle reaches of the Heihe River, and three experimental plots—flat film irrigation, ridge mulching irrigation, and drip irrigation under film irrigation—were set up. The HYDRUS-2D model was used to simulate the soil moisture migration process of the maize farmland under different irrigation modes. The results revealed that: (1) The simulated values of the HYDRUS-2D model agreed strongly with the measured data, with R2 reaching more than 0.864 and RMSE remaining below 0.006 cm3·cm-3, which verified the feasibility and reliability of the model in the dynamic simulation of soil moisture in sandy loam farmland. (2) Compared with the flat land mulching irrigation mode, the ridge mulching irrigation mode could increase the soil volume water content of the crops’ root zone by about 20% and reduce the seepage loss by 13.3% when the irrigation water volume was reduced by 2099 m3·hm-2. Compared with the flat land mulching irrigation mode, the drip irrigation mode under film irrigation could reduce the irrigation water consumption by 50% and the leakage by 50.7%. (3) The drip irrigation mode under film displayed “frequent irrigation and small amount” so that the water could be more directly and efficiently replenished in the crops’ root zone, which significantly improved the soil volume water content in the root zone of maize and further reduced the seepage. The sandy loam farmland in the middle reaches of the Heihe River should be irrigated by drip irrigation under film to save water and increase yield. (4) The HYDRUS-2D model’s parameter system can also provide a reference for the dynamic simulation of irrigation water in the same type of sandy loam farmland in northern China.

Key words: sandy loam, soil volumetric water content, HYDRUS-2D model, irrigation optimization, corn farmland, the middle reaches of the Heihe River