Water footprint in wheat production under conservation tillage

ABSTRACT

Water footprint (WF), water productivity of wheat (WWP) and interrelationships among water footprint components under conservation (CST) and conventional (CT) tillage were evaluated for two cropping years in this study. Results revealed that WF in CST was lower than that in CT one. While, WWP in CST was higher than that acquired from CT. The total, green, blue and gray WF in conservation (vs. conventional) tillage averaged 1319 (vs. 1629), 108 (vs. 152), 621 (vs. 737) and 590 (vs. 740) m³ t⁻¹. The gray WF had the highest total and direct effects on total WF. Also, higher grain yield (3857 kg ha⁻¹), straw yield (5065 kg ha⁻¹) and WWP (1.01 kg m⁻³) acquired from CST. The findings revealed that CST is the appropriate tillage practice to reduce total WF (19%) compared to CT, to enhance crop yield and productivity in wheat production.

KEYWORDS:

• Blue water
• gray water
• green water
• tillage system
• Wheat water productivity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2023.2236555