IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-41673-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Efficient agricultural drip irrigation inspired by fig leaf morphology

Author

Listed:
  • Shijie Liu

    (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Science and Technology of China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Chengqi Zhang

    (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Tao Shen

    (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Zidong Zhan

    (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Jia Peng

    (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Cunlong Yu

    (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Lei Jiang

    (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Science and Technology of China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Zhichao Dong

    (Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Irrigation is limited by water scarcity. Here, we show how a drip irrigation system inspired by the leaf of the fig tree Ficus religiosa (also known as the bodhi tree) can improve irrigation efficiency. The reverse curvature of the leaf regulates the convergence process of multiple water streams, while its long-tail apex allows for fast water drainage with the droplet separation centroid beyond the leaf apex. We explain why drip frequency increases after the break-up of contact line pinning at the apex tip by using scaling laws for drip volume and analyzing drainage dynamics. We build a drip irrigation emitter inspired by the bodhi leaf apex and compare the germination efficiency of wheat, cotton, and maize under different irrigation modes. These results show that the proposed bodhi-leaf-apex-mimetic (BLAM) drip irrigation can improve water saving while ensuring germination and seedling growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Shijie Liu & Chengqi Zhang & Tao Shen & Zidong Zhan & Jia Peng & Cunlong Yu & Lei Jiang & Zhichao Dong, 2023. "Efficient agricultural drip irrigation inspired by fig leaf morphology," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-41673-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41673-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-41673-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-41673-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marc Feldman, 2011. "Mathematics: Life models," Nature, Nature, vol. 476(7361), pages 396-396, August.
    2. Huawei Chen & Pengfei Zhang & Liwen Zhang & Hongliang Liu & Ying Jiang & Deyuan Zhang & Zhiwu Han & Lei Jiang, 2016. "Continuous directional water transport on the peristome surface of Nepenthes alata," Nature, Nature, vol. 532(7597), pages 85-89, April.
    3. Yang, Danni & Li, Sien & Kang, Shaozhong & Du, Taisheng & Guo, Ping & Mao, Xiaomin & Tong, Ling & Hao, Xinmei & Ding, Risheng & Niu, Jun, 2020. "Effect of drip irrigation on wheat evapotranspiration, soil evaporation and transpiration in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    4. Wang, Yahui & Li, Sien & Qin, Shujing & Guo, Hui & Yang, Danni & Lam, Hon-Ming, 2020. "How can drip irrigation save water and reduce evapotranspiration compared to border irrigation in arid regions in northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    5. Xuhui Wang & Christoph Müller & Joshua Elliot & Nathaniel D. Mueller & Philippe Ciais & Jonas Jägermeyr & James Gerber & Patrice Dumas & Chenzhi Wang & Hui Yang & Laurent Li & Delphine Deryng & Christ, 2021. "Global irrigation contribution to wheat and maize yield," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Rashit M. Hantemirov & Christophe Corona & Sébastien Guillet & Stepan G. Shiyatov & Markus Stoffel & Timothy J. Osborn & Thomas M. Melvin & Ludmila A. Gorlanova & Vladimir V. Kukarskih & Alexander Y. , 2022. "Current Siberian heating is unprecedented during the past seven millennia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    7. D. V. Spracklen & S. R. Arnold & C. M. Taylor, 2012. "Observations of increased tropical rainfall preceded by air passage over forests," Nature, Nature, vol. 489(7415), pages 282-285, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. He, Liuyue & Xu, Zhenci & Wang, Sufen & Bao, Jianxia & Fan, Yunfei & Daccache, Andre, 2022. "Optimal crop planting pattern can be harmful to reach carbon neutrality: Evidence from food-energy-water-carbon nexus perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    2. Onil Banerjee & Martin Cicowiez & Marcia Macedo & Žiga Malek & Peter Verburg & Sean Goodwin & Renato Vargas & Ludmila Rattis & Paulo M. Brando & Michael T. Coe & Christopher Neill & Octavio Damiani, 2020. "An Amazon Tipping Point: The Economic and Environmental Fallout," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0292, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    3. Yan, Shicheng & Wu, You & Fan, Junliang & Zhang, Fucang & Guo, Jinjin & Zheng, Jing & Wu, Lifeng, 2022. "Optimization of drip irrigation and fertilization regimes to enhance winter wheat grain yield by improving post-anthesis dry matter accumulation and translocation in northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    4. Wifo, 2023. "WIFO-Monatsberichte, Heft 9/2023," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 96(9), September.
    5. Haohao Gu & Kaixin Meng & Ruowei Yuan & Siyang Xiao & Yuying Shan & Rui Zhu & Yajun Deng & Xiaojin Luo & Ruijie Li & Lei Liu & Xu Chen & Yuping Shi & Xiaodong Wang & Chuanhua Duan & Hao Wang, 2024. "Rewritable printing of ionic liquid nanofilm utilizing focused ion beam induced film wetting," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Zhang, Tibin & Zou, Yufeng & Kisekka, Isaya & Biswas, Asim & Cai, Huanjie, 2021. "Comparison of different irrigation methods to synergistically improve maize’s yield, water productivity and economic benefits in an arid irrigation area," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    7. Wenjuan Chen & Mingsi Li & Qinglin Li, 2023. "The Influence of Winter Irrigation Amount on the Characteristics of Water and Salt Distribution and WUE in Different Saline-Alkali Farmlands in Northwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Wang, Tianyu & Wang, Zhenhua & Guo, Li & Zhang, Jinzhu & Li, Wenhao & He, Huaijie & Zong, Rui & Wang, Dongwang & Jia, Zhecheng & Wen, Yue, 2021. "Experiences and challenges of agricultural development in an artificial oasis: A review," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    9. Gong, Xuewen & Qiu, Rangjian & Ge, Jiankun & Bo, Guokui & Ping, Yinglu & Xin, Qingsong & Wang, Shunsheng, 2021. "Evapotranspiration partitioning of greenhouse grown tomato using a modified Priestley–Taylor model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    10. Wang, Chunyu & Li, Sien & Wu, Mousong & Zhang, Wenxin & Guo, Zhenyu & Huang, Siyu & Yang, Danni, 2023. "Co-regulation of temperature and moisture in the irrigated agricultural ecosystem productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    11. Firouzabadi, Ali Ghadami & Baghani, Javad & Jovzi, Mehdi & Albaji, Mohammad, 2021. "Effects of wheat row spacing layout and drip tape spacing on yield and water productivity in sandy clay loam soil in a semi-arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    12. N. Zafirah & N. A. Nurin & M. S. Samsurijan & M. H. Zuknik & M. Rafatullah & M. I. Syakir, 2017. "Sustainable Ecosystem Services Framework for Tropical Catchment Management: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-25, April.
    13. Serra, J. & Paredes, P. & Cordovil, CMdS & Cruz, S. & Hutchings, NJ & Cameira, MR, 2023. "Is irrigation water an overlooked source of nitrogen in agriculture?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    14. Yu, Qihua & Kang, Shaozhong & Zhang, Lu & Hu, Shunjun & Li, Yunfeng & Parsons, David, 2023. "Incorporating new functions into the WAVES model, to better simulate cotton production under film mulching and severe salinity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    15. Injy Johnstone, 2022. "Global governance and the Global Green New Deal: the G7’s role," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    16. Leghari, Shah Jahan & Hu, Kelin & Wei, Yichang & Wang, Tongchao & Bhutto, Tofique Ahmed & Buriro, Mahmooda, 2021. "Modelling water consumption, N fates and maize yield under different water-saving management practices in China and Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    17. Gao, Yukun & Zhao, Hongfang & Zhao, Chuang & Hu, Guohua & Zhang, Han & Liu, Xue & Li, Nan & Hou, Haiyan & Li, Xia, 2022. "Spatial and temporal variations of maize and wheat yield gaps and their relationships with climate in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    18. Lu, Junsheng & Hu, Tiantian & Geng, Chenming & Cui, Xiaolu & Fan, Junliang & Zhang, Fucang, 2021. "Response of yield, yield components and water-nitrogen use efficiency of winter wheat to different drip fertigation regimes in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    19. Cailin Wang & Enliang Guo & Yongfang Wang & Buren Jirigala & Yao Kang & Ye Zhang, 2023. "Spatiotemporal variations in drought and waterlogging and their effects on maize yields at different growth stages in Jilin Province, China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 118(1), pages 155-180, August.
    20. Puertes, Cristina & Bautista, Inmaculada & Lidón, Antonio & Francés, Félix, 2021. "Best management practices scenario analysis to reduce agricultural nitrogen loads and sediment yield to the semiarid Mar Menor coastal lagoon (Spain)," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-41673-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.