Temporal and spatial study of water use efficiency of strategic crops in regional scale (Case study: Hamadan province)

Subject Areas : Farm water management with the aim of improving irrigation management indicators

Mohammad Ali Bayat ¹ , Mohammad Manshouri ²

1 - M.Sc. Graduated Department of Water Sciences and Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Assistant Praofessor, Department of Water Sciences and Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2011-01-10 Accepted : 2011-10-27 Published : 2011-12-15

Keywords: Evapotranspiration, Water use efficiency, wheat,

Abstract :

Agriculture sector is the largest water consumer in Iran in terms of water volume. Improvement of water use efficiency in this sector would enhance economic efficiency on one hand, and alleviate the challenges of limited renewable water resources on the other hand. Considering this fact, for identification of spatial and temporal variation of wheat crop water use efficiency, this research was carried out in Hamadan province area. The main objective of this study was to identify the best location and scheduling for planting wheat crop to obtain maximum water use efficiency. Wheat evapotranspiration was determined at selected meteorological stations and overall evapotranspiration in the area has been determined using IDW interpolation method. Then, the GIS map of wheat water use efficiency was produced using wheat yields data. The results indicated that west and south-west area of the province have the highest water use efficiency for wheat production.