Soil water availability, nutrient supply and climatic conditions are key factors for plant production. For a sustainable integration of bioenergy plants into agricultural systems, detailed studies on their water uses and growth performances are needed. The new bioenergy plant Igniscum Candy is a cultivar of the Sakhalin Knotweed (Fallopia sachalinensis), which is characterized by a high annual biomass production. For the determination of transpiration-yield relations at the whole plant level we used wicked lysimeters at multiple irrigation levels associated with the soil water availability (25, 35, 70, 100%) and nitrogen fertilization (0, 50, 100, 150 kg N ha-1). Leaf transpiration and net photosynthesis were determined with a portable minicuvette system. The maximum mean transpiration rate was 10.6 mmol m-2 s-1 for well-watered plants, while the mean net photosynthesis was 9.1 µmol m-2 s-1. The cumulative transpiration of the plants during the growing seasons varied between 49 l (drought stressed) and 141 l (well-watered) per plant. The calculated transpiration coefficient for Fallopia over all of the treatments applied was 485.6 l kg-1. The transpiration-yield relation of Igniscum is comparable to rye and barley. Its growth performance making Fallopia a potentially good second generation bioenergy crop.
The use of treated wastewater (TWW) for agricultural irrigation becomes increasingly important in water stressed regions like the Middle East for substituting fresh water (FW) resources. Due to elevated salt concentrations and organic compounds in TWW this practice has potential adverse effects on soil quality, such as the reduction of hydraulic conductivity (HC) and soil aggregate stability (SAS). To assess the impact of TWW irrigation in comparison to FW irrigation on HC, in-situ infiltration measurements using mini disk infiltrometer were deployed in four different long-term experimental orchard test sites in Israel. Topsoil samples (0-10 cm) were collected for analyzing SAS and determination of selected soil chemical and physical characteristics. The mean HC values decreased at all TWW sites by 42.9% up to 50.8% compared to FW sites. The SAS was 11.3% to 32.4% lower at all TWW sites. Soil electrical conductivity (EC) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) were generally higher at TWW sites. These results indicate the use of TWW for irrigation is a viable, but potentially deleterious option, as it influences soil physical and chemical properties.
Climate change impacts on the regional water cycle represent a long-term ''system disturbance'' and belong to the most urgent issues of today’s hydrological research. Stronger research efforts are needed especially at the regional and local scale, where political and technical adaptation measures can be taken to avoid critical developments for the environment and society. Studies in the past indicate considerable regional vul-nerabilities against changes of both temperature and precipitation patterns. The present study describes a methodology, which allows to assess the influences of climate changes in a meso-scale region. Results of a high temporal and spatial resolution mod-elling approach are presented for the State of Brandenburg in Eastern Germany, which suffers from water deficit similar to many Mediterranean regions. The study indicates strong impacts on various water balance components under changed climatic condi-tions in the period 1996-2050 and possible water availability problems in the future. Basis for the impact study are trend analyses in Brandenburg, which indicate a signifi-cant decrease of percolation already in the observation period 1961-1998, especially for areas with a shallow groundwater table. and Dopady zmeny klímy na hydrologický cyklus v regionálnej mierke predstavujú dlhodobé ''narušenia systému'' a patria k najnaliehavejším otázkam súčasného hydrologického výskumu. Výraznejšiu pozornosť výskumu si vyžadujú najmä problémy v regionálnej a lokálnej mierke, kde môžu byť prijaté opatrenia, ktoré umožnia vyhnúť sa krízovému vývoju v životnom prostredí a spoločnosti. Minulé štúdie poukázali na veľkú regionálnu zraniteľnosť voči zmenám teploty a atmosférických zrážok. Tento príspevok opisuje metodológiu odhadu vplyvov zmeny klímy v regióne veľkosti mezomierky. Sú v ňom prezentované výsledky modelovania s vysokým časovým a priestorovým rozlíšením v krajine Brandenbursko vo východnej časti Nemecka. Štúdia poukazuje na významné dopady zmenených klimatických podmienok pre obdobie 1996-2050 na rôzne prvky hydrologickej bilancie a možné problémy so zdrojmi vody v budúcnosti. Základom impaktovej štúdie je trendová analýza, ktorá poukazuje na významný pokles perkolácie už v pozorovanom období 1961-1998, najmä v oblastiach s plytkou hladinou podzemnej vody.
The main aim of this work is to evaluate the development of rainfall-runoff regime in selected river basins of the Šumava Mountains (Bohemian Forest), the Jeseníky Mountains and the Krušné Mountains (Ore Mountains) in the last 50 years. Besides the identification of inhomogeneity in time series of mean discharges, rainfall amounts, temperature and snow cover data, the work deals with an analysis of trends using annual and monthly data. Different methodological tools for identification of changes and trends in hydro-climatic time series have been introduced in this study, especially different methods of statistic testing and an application of Mann-Kendall seasonal test. The results have been compared not only from the point of view of the methods applied here, but as well from the viewpoint of geographical difference of the mentioned areas. and Hlavním cílem předložené studie je zhodnotit vývoj srážko-odtokového režimu ve vybraných povodích v oblasti Šumavy, Jeseníků a Krušných hor za posledních 50 let. Vedle zjišťování nehomogenit v časových řadách průměrných průtokových, srážkových, ale i teplotních a sněhových dat se práce zabývá analýzou trendů na úrovni ročních hodnot a jednotlivých měsíců. V práci jsou představeny různé metodické nástroje ke sledování změn a trendů v hydroklimatologických řadách, zejména různé metody statistického testování a aplikace Mann-Kendallova sezónního testu. Výsledky jsou porovnány nejen z hlediska použitých metod, ale i geografické rozdílnosti sledovaných území.