Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is one of the major crops grown in Northern China in recent years, however, the current serious water shortage conditions present a challenge to the growth of this crop, especially if efficient use of water is considered in forage production for sustainability. This study aimed to evaluate alfalfa productivity and water use efficiency (WUE) under different sprinkler irrigation levels. This experiment was conducted at Shiyanghe Experimental Station for Water-Saving in Agriculture and Ecology of China Agricultural University in Wuwei, Gansu, China, over a period of two years. There were three irrigation treatments: A1: 100% measured evapotranspiration (ETc) of alfalfa; A2: irrigation amount was 66% of A1; A3: irrigation amount was 33% of A1; and a control of A4: no irrigation during the growing season. A randomized block design with three replications were applied. The results showed that the ETc and forage yield of alfalfa decreased, while WUE and crude protein (CP) increased with the decreasing irrigation amounts. The seasonal average ETc and yield ranged from 412 mm to 809 mm and from 11,577 to 18,636 kg/ha, respectively, under different irrigation levels. The highest yields were obtained from the first growth period in all treatments in both years, due to the winter irrigation and the longest growth period. Alfalfa grown under lesser irrigation treatment conditions had higher variability in ETc and yield, mainly due to the variability in the amount of rainfall during the growth period. The seasonal average WUE of treatments ranged from 22.78 to 26.84 kg/(mm·ha), and the highest WUE was obtained at the first growth period, regardless of treatments. Seasonal average CP content ranged from 18.99% to 22.99%. A significant linear relationship was found between yield and ETc or irrigation amount, and the fitting results varied between growth periods and years. The present results also implied that winter irrigation provided the space for saving water and should be applied at the end of each growing season to fill the soil profile, and to maintain a greater yield in the next growing season. During the growing season, more irrigation should be concentrated in the early growth period, especially in the second growth period.

There is a large amount of saline-alkali land in China. Through the improvement and utilization of saline-alkali land to improve the carbon content in soil, it can not only become a reserve resource of cultivated land or grazing grassland, but also become an important land “carbon sink”. In this study, we performed a comprehensive meta-analysis to identify the impact of improvement and utilization of saline-alkali soil on soil organic carbon (SOC) in China. Our results showed that the soil salt and alkali content in Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province in China was the highest, with an SOC content between 3.05 and 17.8 g/kg and pH between 8.84 and 9.94. Among the five methods of reclamation, halophyte planting, fertilization, biochar and modifier application, only biochar and modifier application significantly increased the SOC content (p < 0.05). The content of SOC in saline-alkali soil was 2.9–6.3 g/kg before biochar application, and significantly increased to 6.2–13.05 g/kg after biochar application (p < 0.01). The SOC content was 3.05–8.12 g/kg before the application of the modifier, and significantly increased to 3.68–9 g/kg (p < 0.05) after the application of the modifier. After utilization and improvement of saline-alkali land, the total nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium also increased significantly (p < 0.05). This study provides a scientific basis for further understanding the improvement and utilization of saline-alkali land in China and its potential for increasing carbon sinks.

Estimating canopy interception of water by plants during rainfall or sprinkler irrigation is a critical step for evaluating water-use efficiency. Most existing experimental studies and mathematic models of canopy interception have paid little attention to the interception losses of water by herbaceous plants. To better understand the canopy interception processes of herbaceous plants and to estimate the interception losses, a process-based dynamic interception model for alfalfa canopy was developed and validated by an experiment under conditions of simulated sprinkler irrigation. The parameters of the model included the maximum interception, the rate of interception of the alfalfa canopy, and the duration of sprinkler irrigation. The model demonstrated that the amount of interception increased rapidly with duration in the early stage of sprinkler irrigation, and then gradually leveled off until the maximum retention capacity of the canopy was reached. The maximum interception by the alfalfa canopy, ranging from 0.29 to 1.26 mm, increased nonlinearly with the increase of leaf area index (LAI) and sprinkling intensity. The rate of interception increased with the decrease of LAI and the increase of sprinkling intensities. Meanwhile, a nonlinear equation based on sprinkling intensity and plant height was proposed in order to more practically estimate the maximum interception by alfalfa canopy.

Sprinkler selection influences the water distribution uniformity of center pivot irrigation systems. The sprinkling uniformity of the center pivot is crucial for the yield and quality of crops on a large scale. Rotating and fixed spray plate sprinklers (RSPSs and FSPSs) are the two most popular types. However, sprinkler selection is mainly based on price, not on differences in performance between them. Under low-wind field conditions, the water distributions of individual RSPSs and FSPSs with different nozzles (2.78, 4.76, and 6.75 mm in diameter) were measured using a catch can method. Cubic spline interpolation was used for data conversion for FSPS measurements; the nozzle configuration model was used to simulate the water distribution of the same-nozzle-sprinkler pipe section and full circular irrigated areas in a simulated center pivot under three sprinkler intervals of 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 m respectively. Results showed that (1) individual RSPSs distributed the most water around the sprinkler, whereas individual FSPSs distributed the most water over a ring-shaped region at the periphery of the sprinkler, and the wetted radii for RSPSs and FSPSs ranged from 4.88 to 7.05 m and from 5.02 to 6.85 m, respectively; (2) same-nozzle-sprinkler pipe sections of RSPSs distributed the most water around the central axes of the pipe sections, and their sprinkling uniformities were 44.7%–51.0%, whereas FSPSs distributed the most water over both sides of the axes symmetrically, and less water around the axes, with sprinkling uniformities of 40.3%–58.0%; and (3) the sprinkling uniformities of the full circular irrigated areas were 85.8%–91.7% and 85.8%–86.2% when using RSPSs and FSPSs, respectively, under different sprinkler intervals, and the uniformities were 3.1% and 6.2% higher using RSPSs than FSPSs with sprinkler intervals of 3.0 and 4.5 m, respectively. RSPS accommodated larger sprinkler intervals (>3.0 m) and maintained superior sprinkling performance when compared with FSPS.