A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
On the interactions between land and water use in Brazilian rainfed agriculture
In the coming decades, one of humankind’s main challenges will be to guarantee food supply for a growing population while managing ever more scarce resources, and safeguarding the availability of water and land for natural ecosystems. Brazil is a country with abundance of water and land resources, and has recently become one of the world’s main exporters of agricultural commodities. The Brazilian agricultural sector recently went through unprecedented intensification and extensification processes, which include the expansion of cropland and pasture areas into vulnerable ecosystems. This PhD thesis advances the research field on water and land resources assessment by investigating the following processes: i) changes in green water use by major rainfed crops in Brazil during recent decades ii) potential improvements of land and green water productivity for Brazilian rainfed crops, with and without implementation of supplemental irrigation, iii) influences of intensification and expansion of soybean production in Brazil on green water use, and iv) impacts of double-cropping on water use intensity. The process-based biogeophysical crop model EPIC was chosen and applied to simulate water use and crop growth for Brazilian rainfed crops, under diverse management conditions. In Chapter 2, I simulated yields, water use and water productivity for soybeans, maize, cotton and wheat under different scenarios of agricultural management, for rainfed and irrigated conditions. Chapter 3 focuses on soybean and maize, and analyzes water use for the production of these crops under single and double-cropping conditions. The results show an increase in green water use for the production of maize, cotton, soybeans and wheat from 145 to 263 km3 per year between 1990 and 2013. This increase is in large part due to the expansion of harvested area for soybean production. The analysis of management scenarios shows that improving nutrient management has a larger potential to improve land and water productivity compared to supplemental ...
On the interactions between land and water use in Brazilian rainfed agriculture
In the coming decades, one of humankind’s main challenges will be to guarantee food supply for a growing population while managing ever more scarce resources, and safeguarding the availability of water and land for natural ecosystems. Brazil is a country with abundance of water and land resources, and has recently become one of the world’s main exporters of agricultural commodities. The Brazilian agricultural sector recently went through unprecedented intensification and extensification processes, which include the expansion of cropland and pasture areas into vulnerable ecosystems. This PhD thesis advances the research field on water and land resources assessment by investigating the following processes: i) changes in green water use by major rainfed crops in Brazil during recent decades ii) potential improvements of land and green water productivity for Brazilian rainfed crops, with and without implementation of supplemental irrigation, iii) influences of intensification and expansion of soybean production in Brazil on green water use, and iv) impacts of double-cropping on water use intensity. The process-based biogeophysical crop model EPIC was chosen and applied to simulate water use and crop growth for Brazilian rainfed crops, under diverse management conditions. In Chapter 2, I simulated yields, water use and water productivity for soybeans, maize, cotton and wheat under different scenarios of agricultural management, for rainfed and irrigated conditions. Chapter 3 focuses on soybean and maize, and analyzes water use for the production of these crops under single and double-cropping conditions. The results show an increase in green water use for the production of maize, cotton, soybeans and wheat from 145 to 263 km3 per year between 1990 and 2013. This increase is in large part due to the expansion of harvested area for soybean production. The analysis of management scenarios shows that improving nutrient management has a larger potential to improve land and water productivity compared to supplemental ...
On the interactions between land and water use in Brazilian rainfed agriculture
Flach , R. (author)
2020-07-01
Berichte zur Erdsystemforschung
Theses
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
710
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