EVALUATING FRESH WATER CONSUMPTION OF OILSEED RAPE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WATER FOOTPRINT

The objective of this study was to evaluate fresh water consumption of oilseed rape in the middle-lower reaches of Yangtze River from the perspective of water footprint (WF), a comprehensive indicator considering direct water consumption for water quantity and indirect water consumption for water quality. The results showed that oilseed rape is a high WF consumption crop. The yearly total volume of WF of oilseed rape in the whole region in 2004 similar to 2017 was 205.30 similar to 326.37 billion m(3). The WF of oilseed rape showed a pattern of Jiangxi >Hunan > Zhejiang > Anhui > Hubei >Jiangsu in most years and the average values of 2004-2017 were 5414.16 m(3)/t, 4331.19 m(3)/t, 4056.54 m(3)/t, 3382.13 m(3)/t, 3177.62 m(3)/t and 2873.97 m(3)/t, respectively. Blue WF, green WF and gray WF accounted for 46.95%similar to 73.10%, 10.12%similar to 42.90% and 4.27%similar to 26.52% of the WF, respectively. Green WF and blue WF fluctuated over time but gray WF and total WF showed a decreased trend from 2004 to 2017, indicating the improvement in agricultural management of oilseed rape production in this region.