Characteristics of water consumption of jujube forests with limited growth
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DOI:10.7606/j.issn.1000-7601.2019.04.02
Key Words: soil desiccation  jujube aerobic cultivation  biomass  consuming water depth  water use efficiency
Author NameAffiliation
LIU Lian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China 
ZHANG Jing-xiao Hebei College of Water Resources and Electric Engineering, Cangzhou Hebei 061000, China 
JIN Shan-shan College of Water Resources and Architecture Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China 
SUN Bo Hubei Provincial Institute of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Planning, Survey and Design, Wuhan, Hubei 430000, China 
DONG Jian-guo College of Water Resources and Architecture Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China 
WANG You-ke College of Water Resources and Architecture Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China 
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Abstract:
      Soil erosion is a serious problem on the Loess Plateau, and soil desiccation is common in the artificial jujube forest. In order to reduce the consumption of water resources in the jujube forest on the Loess Plateau, minimize soil desiccation, and improve water management in the jujube forest to achieve sustainable development, jujube trees in the mountainous region of the Loess Plateau were taken as the research object in this study, and the jujube trees were planted in communities with an area of 2×3 m2 and depths of 2, 3, 4, 5 m and 6 m, respectively. We pruned the jujubes to control the size of the tree body and the number and length of branches, and measured soil moisture and jujube growth index. Then, the individual biomass of jujube, water consumption, and water use efficiency were calculated to analyze the relationship between jujube biomass and water consumption. Through these, we tried to reveal the characteristics of water consumption when the jujube growth was strictly limited. After 3 years’ monitoring, the consuming water depth of 5 a jujubes was controlled at around 3 m, which was 1.4 m less than the dense jujube plantations. The change of water storage in each community was the same as that of precipitation. Although the water storage in each community was significantly lower in dry years (2015) than in 2014, and soil water storage in each community was deficient, the soil water in 2016 and 2017 was recovered by natural precipitation, which was an improvement over the initial soil water storage in 2014. Within 3 years, the average water consumption (520.78 mm) and local average rainfall (548.40 mm) were comparable. This showed that the supplement and consumption of soil water in forest land were basically the same. The results also showed that controlling the growth of jujube trees can regulate the water consumption of jujube forest land. It was proved that pruning intensity adopted in the experiment conformed to the local rainfall conditions and cold be used as a reference for the control index of water-saving pruning. Jujube trees growed normally depending on natural rainfall in limited growth space, and the experiment did not impact the jujube yield. Compared with the conventional dwarf densely planted mountain jujube trees, the biological water use efficiency and yield water use efficiency of the tested jujube trees are improved, and the higher the water use efficiency, the more economical the water use of the jujube trees. Through these, we found a way to increase the water use efficiency which is significantly important to relieve the soil desiccation in the deep soil.