Water scarcity under global climate change: Ways of addressing them in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River in Uzbekistan

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of global climate change and its impact on the further development of agriculture in Uzbekistan and the problems associated with the growing shortage of irrigation water in the country. Based on the example of irrigated lands in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, a region where there is the greatest water shortage and is highly susceptible to the negative impact of often repeated dry years, recommendations have been developed for the efficient use of water resources. Additionally, the recommendations for the effective use of water resources have been developed. In the conditions of meadow alluvial soils subject to salinization and shallow salinized groundwater level, it is proposed to use subsurface irrigation – subirrigation and drip irrigation for irrigation of the main crop grown in the Republic-cotton, while maintaining the pre-irrigation soil moisture at the level of 70-80-60% LSMC (lowest soil moisture capacity). The introduction of a science-based regime on cotton with subirrigation and drip irrigation methods provides conservation of water up to 1.596–1.757 (subirrigation) and 1.596–1.757 (drip irrigation) cbm/ha, as well as an increase in cotton yield with these methods of irrigation up to 6.3 centner/ha.