Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions

Anne Gobin; Kurt Kersebaum; Josef Eitzinger; Miroslav Trnka; Petr Hlavinka; Jozef Takáč; Joop Kroes; Domenico Ventrella; Anna Marta; Johannes Deelstra; Branislava Lalić; Pavol Nejedlik; Simone Orlandini; Pirjo Peltonen-Sainio; Ari Rajala; Triin Saue; Levent Şaylan; Ruzica Stričevic; Višnja Vučetić; Christos Zoumides

doi:10.3390/w9020093

journal article Open Access Feb 08, 2017

Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions

Anne Gobin

Kurt Kersebaum Josef Eitzinger Miroslav Trnka

Petr Hlavinka Jozef Takáč Joop Kroes Domenico Ventrella

Anna Marta Johannes Deelstra Branislava Lalić Pavol Nejedlik

Simone Orlandini

Pirjo Peltonen-Sainio Ari Rajala Triin Saue Levent Şaylan Ruzica Stričevic Višnja Vučetić Christos Zoumides

Water Vol. 9 No. 2 pp. 93 · MDPI AG

View at Publisher Save 10.3390/w9020093

Abstract

Crop growth and yield are affected by water use during the season: the green water footprint (WF) accounts for rain water, the blue WF for irrigation and the grey WF for diluting agri-chemicals. We calibrated crop yield for FAO’s water balance model “Aquacrop” at field level. We collected weather, soil and crop inputs for 45 locations for the period 1992–2012. Calibrated model runs were conducted for wheat, barley, grain maize, oilseed rape, potato and sugar beet. The WF of cereals could be up to 20 times larger than the WF of tuber and root crops; the largest share was attributed to the green WF. The green and blue WF compared favourably with global benchmark values (R2 = 0.64–0.80; d = 0.91–0.95). The variability in the WF of arable crops across different regions in Europe is mainly due to variability in crop yield ( c v ¯ = 45%) and to a lesser extent to variability in crop water use ( c v ¯ = 21%). The WF variability between countries ( c v ¯ = 14%) is lower than the variability between seasons ( c v ¯ = 22%) and between crops ( c v ¯ = 46%). Though modelled yields increased up to 50% under sprinkler irrigation, the water footprint still increased between 1% and 25%. Confronted with drainage and runoff, the grey WF tended to overestimate the contribution of nitrogen to the surface and groundwater. The results showed that the water footprint provides a measurable indicator that may support European water governance.

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Details

Published: Feb 08, 2017
Vol/Issue: 9(2)
Pages: 93
License: View

Authors

A

Anne Gobin

Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium

K

Kurt Kersebaum

Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), 15374 Müncheberg, Germany

J

Josef Eitzinger

Institute of Meteorology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1180 Vienna, Austria

M

Miroslav Trnka

Global Change Research Institute, The Czech Academy of Sciences, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Agrosystems and Bioclimatology, Mendel University in Brno, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic

P

Petr Hlavinka

Global Change Research Institute, The Czech Academy of Sciences, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Agrosystems and Bioclimatology, Mendel University in Brno, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic

J

Jozef Takáč

National Agricultural and Food Centre, Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, Bratislava 82713, Slovakia

J

Joop Kroes

Wageningen Environmental Research (Alterra), 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands

D

Domenico Ventrella

Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e L’analisi Dell’economia Agraria, Unità di Ricerca per i Sistemi Colturali degli Ambienti Caldo-Aridi, 70125 Bari, Italy

A

Anna Marta

Department of Agrifood Production and Environmental Sciences (DISPAA), University of Florence, 50155 Florence, Italy

J

Johannes Deelstra

Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), 1431 Ås, Norway

B

Branislava Lalić

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia

P

Pavol Nejedlik

Earth Science Institute of Slovak Academy of Science, Bratislava 84005, Slovakia

S

Simone Orlandini

Department of Agrifood Production and Environmental Sciences (DISPAA), University of Florence, 50155 Florence, Italy

P

Pirjo Peltonen-Sainio

Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), 31600 Jokioinen, Finland

A

Ari Rajala

Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), 31600 Jokioinen, Finland

T

Triin Saue

Estonian Crop Research Institute, Tallinn Technical University, Jõgeva 48309, Estonia

L

Levent Şaylan

Department of Meteorology, Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Istanbul Technical University, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey

R

Ruzica Stričevic

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Zemun-Belgrade 11080, Serbia

V

Višnja Vučetić

Meteorological and Hydrological Service, Zagreb 10000, Croatia

C

Christos Zoumides

Energy, Environment & Water Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia 2121, Cyprus

Funding

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic Award: LD13030

Belgian Science Policy Award: SD/RI/03A

Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia Award: III43007

JPI FACCE MACSUR Award: D.M. 24064/7303/15

Cite This Article

Anne Gobin, Kurt Kersebaum, Josef Eitzinger, et al. (2017). Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions. Water, 9(2), 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/w9020093

Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions

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