Ayumi Kotani, Tetsuya Hiyama, Takeshi Ohta, Miho Hanamura, Jack R Kambatuku, Simon K Awala, Morio Iijima
Received 2017/04/04, Accepted 2017/05/25, Published 2017/06/22

Ayumi Kotani1), Tetsuya Hiyama2), Takeshi Ohta1), Miho Hanamura1), Jack R Kambatuku3), Simon K Awala3), Morio Iijima4)

1) Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University
2) Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University
3) Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Namibia, Namibia
4) Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Kindai University

This paper aims to evaluate the effect of mixed-cropping of rice and upland crops on evapotranspiration (ET) in a small seasonal wetland in the north-central Namibia. Meteorological observations were conducted in the experimental sloped field, which simulated the cultivation of both rice in a wetland environment and upland crops in the surrounding rain-fed area, and included a reference wetland with natural vegetation. During cultivation, ET from the rice field was similar to that from the wetland. However, during the dry period ET was remarkably reduced in the post-harvest field, while continuous ET occurred in the natural wetland even after surface water had dried up. The response of surface conductance to meteorological variables was investigated by means of the Jarvis–Stewart conductance model. During cultivation, surface conductance of the rice field and the wetland had a distinct stress response compared with that of the rain–fed crop field. During the dry period, surface conductance of the wetland site, in which the surface water dried–up, still responded to the meteorological conditions in contrast to those of the post-harvest field with plowed bare soil.

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Copyright (c) 2017 The Author(s) CC-BY 4.0