August 2018

(Trace gas measurement box IMK-IFU Garmisch-Partenkirchen)

Rice, the major food staple in the world, is a highly water demanding crop. We study diversified rice-based cropping systems considering wet rice, dry rice and maize in the crop rotations to improve water productivity and nutrient use efficiency. While dry rice significantly reduces evaporative water losses, drought-induced cracks under dry rice lead to deep seepage and severe water losses as soon as irrigation is resumed. Using stable isotopes of water and a source-mixing model we were able to further quantify dominant water uptake sources of the various rice varieties.

Mahindawansha, A., Orlowski, N., Kraft, P. et al. Plant Soil (2018) 429: 281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3693-7

For more information on the DFG-funded Research Unit ICON see https://www.uni-giessen.de/faculties/f08/departments/tsz/animal-ecology/iconproject/iconindex

Prof. Dr. Lutz Breuer, Landscape, Water and Biogeochemical Cycles