Study on influential factors of crop water productivity in irrigable land of arid area oasis

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to research influential factors of crop water productivity in irrigable land of arid area oasis. In middle reach of Heihe River in Linze County of Zhangye City, maize, a major crop in irrigable land in the oasis, was studied and nine influential factors were chosen through grey relation analysis. According to the analysis results, top five factors influencing water productivity of maize during 1995-2009 were as follows: applied quantity of chemical fertilizers>;labors input>;seeds>;mulch amount>;pesticide amount, which indicated that controllable factors, instead of uncontrollable ones, dominate in influence of water productivity of maize in the oasis irrigated area. With limited water resource, investment of controllable factors in high-efficient agricultural production should be the major strategy to improve water productivity of maize in irrigable land of arid area oasis.