Above ground biomass and water use efficiency of crops at shallow water tables in a temperate climate Lothar Mueller a, * , Axel Behrendt b , Gisbert Schalitz b , Uwe Schindler a a Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research (ZALF), Institute of Soil Landscape Research, Eberswalder Street 84, D-15374 Muencheberg, Germany b Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research (ZALF), Research Station Paulinenaue, Paulinenaue, Germany Accepted 23 December 2004 Abstract The objective of the paper was to quantify the water use efficiency (WUE) of different crops on lowland soils. This is relevant to agriculture for effective growing of bioenergy plants and sequestering carbon in plant biomass and soils. On two groundwater lysimeter stations in the vicinity of Berlin, Germany, a long-term study has been conducted. Above ground biomass, evapotranspiration (ET), proportion of subirrigated water and water use efficiency have been measured on soils of different texture. To quantify the effect of different water tables on crop biomass, additionally plant biomass production has been measured on surrounding farm plots. The climate was characterized by a mean temperature of 9.4 8C and an annual precipitation of 500–600 mm during the period of study. Subirrigation water requirements strongly depended on water table depths, crops and soil texture and showed a large variability between different years due to weather conditions. Spring barley consumed 10–60 mm of groundwater, winter wheat 20–250 mm, pasture and meadow grasses 80–300 mm, maize 100–400 mm, reed canary grass 400–900 mm, sedges 600–1000 mm and common reed 700–1200 mm. The ET in terms of the crop coefficient coincided with common recommendations, except from wetland plants, where it was higher than those. ET and above ground biomass were clearly crop-specific correlated. Plant type associated with appropriate water table depth, fertilization level and soil fertility were crucial factors of WUE. Results showed possible high dry matter biomass at all water table levels, www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat Agricultural Water Management 75 (2005) 117–136 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 432 82233; fax: +33 432 82280. E-mail address: lmueller@zalf.de (L. Mueller). 0378-3774/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2004.12.006