Study on the Water Supply and the Requirements, Yield, and Water Use Efficiency of Maize in Heilongjiang Province Based on the AquaCrop Model

Agricultural irrigation depends heavily on freshwater resources. Under the context of increasingly severe water shortages, studying the relationship among crop water requirements (ETc), actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa), irrigation water requirements (Ir), yield, and water use efficiency (WUE) would be beneficial to improve the agricultural application of irrigation water. Based on the daily data of 26 meteorological stations in Heilongjiang Province from 1960 to 2015, this study used the calibrated AquaCrop model to calculate the ETc, ETa, Ir, and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) in different hydrological years (extremely dry years, dry years, normal years, and wet years) along with WUE to evaluate the mass of yield produced per unit mass of crop evapotranspiration (ET) under rainfed and irrigated scenarios. The results showed that ETc and ETa decreased first and then increased from the west to the east during the four types of hydrological years. Irexhibited a decreasing trend from the west to the east. Compared with the irrigation scenario, the rainfed scenario’s average yield only decreased by 2.18, 0.55, 0.03, and 0.05 ton/ha, while the WUE increased by 0.32, 0.4, 0.33, and 0.21 kg/m3 in the extremely dry years, dry years, normal years, and wet years, respectively. The results indicated that in the normal and wet years, the WUE was high in the central regions, and irrigation did not significantly increase yield; further, we determined that irrigation should not be considered in these two hydrological years in Heilongjiang Province. In the extremely dry and dry years, irrigation was necessary because it increased the yield, even though the WUE decreased. This study provides a theoretical basis for studying the regional irrigation schedule in Heilongjiang Province.