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Controlled drainage in the Nile River delta of Egypt: a promising approach for decreasing drainage off-site effects and enhancing yield and water use efficiency of wheat

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Abstract

North Africa is one of the most regions impacted by water shortage. The implementation of controlled drainage (CD) in the northern Nile River delta of Egypt is one strategy to decrease irrigation, thus alleviating the negative impact of water shortage. This study investigated the impacts of CD at different levels on drainage outflow, water table level, nitrate loss, grain yield, and water use efficiency (WUE) of various wheat cultivars. Two levels of CD, i.e., 0.4 m below the soil surface (CD-0.4) and 0.8 m below the soil surface (CD-0.8), were compared with subsurface free drainage (SFD) at 1.2 m below the soil surface (SFD-1.2). Under each drainage treatment, four wheat cultivars were grown for two growing seasons (November 2018–April 2019 and November 2019–April 2020). Compared with SFD-1.2, CD-0.4 and CD-0.8 decreased irrigation water by 42.0% and 19.9%, drainage outflow by 40.3% and 27.3%, and nitrate loss by 35.3% and 20.8%, respectively. Under CD treatments, plants absorbed a significant portion of their evapotranspiration from shallow groundwater (22.0% and 8.0% for CD-0.4 and CD-0.8, respectively). All wheat cultivars positively responded to CD treatments, and the highest grain yield and straw yield were obtained under CD-0.4 treatment. Using the initial soil salinity as a reference, the soil salinity under CD-0.4 treatment increased two-fold by the end of the second growing season without negative impacts on wheat yield. Modifying the drainage system by raising the outlet elevation and considering shallow groundwater contribution to crop evapotranspiration promoted water-saving and WUE. Different responses could be obtained based on the different plant tolerance to salinity and water stress, crop characteristics, and growth stage. Site-specific soil salinity management practices will be required to avoid soil salinization due to the adoption of long-term shallow groundwater in Egypt and other similar agroecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely acknowledge Dr. Antar SHABAAN for his assistance in data collection. Special thanks to Prof. Mahmoud SAIED, working at the Water and Environment Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt, for providing suggestions on the first version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil, Water and Environment Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, 12112, Egypt

    Mohamed K. El-Ghannam

  2. Higher Institute of Water Sciences and Techniques of Gabès, University of Gabès, Gabès, 6072, Tunisia

    Fatma Wassar

  3. Institute of Arid Regions, Medenine, 4119, Tunisia

    Fatma Wassar

  4. Crop Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Damanhour University, Damanhour, 22516, Egypt

    Sabah Morsy

  5. Land and Water Technologies Department, Arid Lands Cultivation Research Institute, City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications, New Borg El-Arab, 21934, Egypt

    Mohamed Hafez

  6. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, 110012, India

    Chiter M. Parihar

  7. Plant Science Research Unit, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Agricultural Research Services (ARS), Raleigh, North Carolina, 27607, USA

    Kent O. Burkey

  8. Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Damanhour University, Damanhour, 22516, Egypt

    Ahmed M. Abdallah

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  1. Mohamed K. El-Ghannam
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Correspondence to Fatma Wassar or Ahmed M. Abdallah.

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El-Ghannam, M.K., Wassar, F., Morsy, S. et al. Controlled drainage in the Nile River delta of Egypt: a promising approach for decreasing drainage off-site effects and enhancing yield and water use efficiency of wheat. J. Arid Land 15, 460–476 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-023-0095-3

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