In the North China Plain (NCP), while irrigation using groundwater has maintained a high-level crop productivity of the wheat-maize double cropping systems, it has resulted in rapid depletion of groundwater table. For more efficient and sustainable utilization of the limited water resources,...

Food security is an issue of global concern, which is tightly linked with water supply issues as regional demands for water are dominated by agricultural water use. This special issue of Agricultural Water Management focuses on crop-water use in China, especially in the North China Plain (NCP)...

Limited precipitation restricts crop yield in the North China Plain, where high level of production depends largely on irrigation. Establishing the optimal irrigation scheduling according to the crop water requirement (CWR) and precipitation is the key factor to achieve rational water use....