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Innovative research group of NSFC  
Coupling Multiple Processes of Hydrological Cycle and Improving Water Use Efficiency in Agriculture
Date:2014-05-05

  The innovative research group was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) from the period of 2014-2016, and the principal investigator is Prof. Kang Shaozhong, an Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Center for Agricultural Water Research in China (CAWR). The group consists of 13 professors and 5 associate professors, including an Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, two Chang Jiang Scholars, two recipients of Distinguished Young Scholars of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) , two recipients of Outstanding Young Scientists of the NSFC, 7 recipients of the New Century Excellent Talents of the MOE. The research group was granted ‘Innovation Team’ by the MOE in 2006. In recent five years, the group has published total 565 papers, in which 200 were published in journals indexed by SCI and 354 by EI, cited 1421 times by others in SCI indexed journals and cited 2718 times by CSCD. The group has been awarded twice the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, four times the first prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award at ministry or provincial level. There were 29 invention patents granted to the group and two Ph.D dissertations admitted in “The National Top Hundred Ph.D Dissertations”.
  The main academic achievements
  Water use in agriculture relates to multiple processes, such as water transfer in soil-plant-atmosphere-continuum (SPAC) and crop production, precise delivery of field water resources, and efficient allocation of regional water resources, and the key for improving overall agricultural water efficiency is to improve the water transformation and use efficiency in every process. The main innovative achievements of the group include:
  (1) developed the theories and quantitative method for water transfer in SPAC, determined the threshold value of crop economic water consumption for efficient water use, and proposed the new approaches for regulating crop water use efficiency in the processes of water transformation and crop production.
  (2) invented the technologies and equipment for precision irrigation, overcame the technical difficulties in achieving even pressure and avoiding blockage of emitters for the ultra-large micro-irrigation system, and developed the comprehensive regulation technologies for improving water use efficiency during irrigation water - soil water transformation.
  (3) established the regional model and related optimization algorithms for rationally allocating water resources while considering ecosystem water demand, and founded the modes for reasonable water resources allocation and utilization in a typical basin of the arid region.
  Research topics and goals
  The goal of the research group strives to achieve is to improve water use efficiency in agriculture, and the research in the group will focus on the coupling multiple processes of hydrological cycle and improving water use efficiency in agriculture. Specifically, the three major research topics are:
  (1) Driving mechanisms and quantification of multiple processes in agricultural water transformation
  (2) Theories and approaches for synergistic improving water use efficiency in agriculture
  (3) Eco-environmental impacts from high-efficient water use practices in agriculture
  The research will be carried out in the typical area of northern China, including Shiyanghe Basin in Gansu, Hetao Irrigation District in Inner Mongolia, and the North China Plain, and the research will concentrate on basic theories, key technologies and novel methods in improving water use in agriculture. By in situ field experiment, laboratory experiments and mathematical modeling, the group attempts to quantify multi-scale and multi-process of hydraulic cycle in agriculture, build a technology system for synergistic improvement in agricultural water-use efficiency, and demonstrate interactive mechanisms in regional high-efficient water use practices in agricultural and their eco-environmental impacts. The group strives to build a high-level research team which will achieve significant results, have important impacts and accomplish international influence in the research area of the coupling multiple processes of hydraulic cycle and improving water use in agriculture. The group aims to advance the research on high-efficient water use in agriculture, and become an international research and training center in that area.

 

 

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