As a practical agricultural technique in Northwest China, the sand mulch reduces the soil moisture loss of irrigated farmland under an arid setting. To understand the soil moisture variability affected by sand mulch, we selected an irrigated orchard of peach (Amygdalus persica L.) in Northwest China and examined the soil moisture movement conditioned by irrigation using a stable water isotope method. Based on the isotopic variability of continuously collected soil, plant, and irrigation water samples, the infiltration and evaporation of soil moisture were assessed. The results showed that (1) during the sampling period, the average soil water content and infiltration volume of the sand mulch plot were 1.63% and 6.82%, respectively, which are higher than those of the uncovered plot, indicating a better soil water retention after sand mulch. (2) The slope of the evaporation line of the sand mulch plot (4.79) was greater than that of the uncovered plot (4.11), and the average evaporation loss of the sand mulch plot (0–30 cm) was 10.29% lower than that of the uncovered plot. The average evaporation rate of the sand mulch plot was 5.02% per day, which is lower than that of the uncovered plot 8.41% per day. The isotope‐based evidence shows that sand mulch effectively reduces soil water evaporation, which provides a theoretical basis for agricultural water management and optimization of water‐saving methods for arid land.
In order to cope with drought and water shortages, the working people in the arid areas of Northwest China have developed a drought-resistant planting method, namely, gravel-sand mulching, after long-term agricultural practices. To understand the effects of gravel-sand mulching on soil water evaporation, we selected Baifeng peach (Amygdalus persica L.) orchards in Northwest China as the experimental field in 2021. Based on continuously collected soil water stable isotopes data, we evaluated the soil evaporation loss rate in a gravel-sand mulching environment using the line-conditioned excess (lc-excess) coupled Rayleigh fractionation model and Craig-Gordon model. The results show that the average soil water content in the plots with gravel-sand mulching is 1.86% higher than that without gravel-sand mulching. The monthly variation of the soil water content is smaller in the plots with gravel-sand mulching than that without gravel-sand mulching. Moreover, the average lc-excess value in the plots without gravel-sand mulching is smaller. In addition, the soil evaporation loss rate in the plots with gravel-sand mulching is lower than that in the plots without gravel-sand mulching. The lc-excess value was negative for both the plots with and without gravel-sand mulching, and it has good correlation with relative humidity, average temperature, input water content, and soil water content. The effect of gravel-sand mulching on soil evaporation is most prominent in August. Compared with the eva poration data of similar environments in the literature, the lc-excess coupled Rayleigh fractionation model is better. Stable isotopes evidence shows that gravel-sand mulching can effectively reduce soil water evaporation, which provides a theoretical basis for agricultural water management and optimization of water-saving methods in arid areas.
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