Abstract
Cotton production faces a mounting challenge: the crop's high water demand collides with intensifying water scarcity under climate change. Traditional approaches to water management have pursued efficiency gains through irrigation technologies and drought-tolerant varieties, yet they typically treat water in isolation from the biogeochemical cycles that ultimately shape agroecosystem performance. This review synthesizes current understanding through the lens of the Water-Carbon-Nitrogen (W-C-N) nexus, framing water management as the central lever that orchestrates coupled carbon and nitrogen processes in cotton systems. We systematically examine how irrigation practices regulate carbon assimilation and soil organic carbon dynamics while simultaneously controlling nitrogen transformations and losses, thereby co-determining water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), greenhouse gas emissions, and nitrate leaching. The analysis then evaluates eco-engineering strategies—including regulated deficit irrigation, integrated drip fertigation, soil amendments, and intercropping—for their capacity to optimize W-C-N couplings. Evidence shows these practices can enhance water productivity, mitigate environmental impacts, and build soil health in concert, rather than trading one benefit for another. The review's primary contribution lies in synthesizing the mechanistic feedbacks that govern synergies and trade-offs within the nexus, thereby providing an integrated framework for evaluating management options. We identify critical research gaps in rhizosphere processes, cross-scale modeling, and ecosystem service trade-offs, and argue for a paradigm shift: from isolated water conservation toward integrated, nexus-informed water-smart management that designs for multifunctionality. Such an approach is essential to build cotton systems resilient enough to deliver productivity, sustainability, and ecosystem services under global change.
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The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Eco-engineering strategies such as regulated deficit irrigation, integrated drip fertigation, soil amendments and intercropping can enhance water productivity, mitigate environmental impacts and build soil health together.
- Taxon
- cotton
Gossypium hirsutumt0 - Treatment
- eco-engineering strategiese2
- Outcome
- water productivity, mitigate environmental impacts, and build soil healthe1
- Direction
- can enhancee1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Evidence shows these practices can enhance water productivity, mitigate environmental impacts, and build soil health in concert”
e2“The analysis then evaluates eco-engineering strategies—including regulated deficit irrigation, integrated drip fertigation, soil amendments, and intercropping—for their capacity to optimize W-C-N couplings”
t0“cotton agroecosystems”
Claim · model-written summary
Cotton water management should move from isolated water conservation toward integrated, nexus-informed water-smart management designed for multifunctionality.
- Taxon
- cottonGossypium hirsutumt0
- Outcome
- water-smart managemente3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e3“from isolated water conservation toward integrated, nexus-informed water-smart management that designs for multifunctionality”
t0“cotton agroecosystems”
Claim · model-written summary
Irrigation practices regulate carbon assimilation and soil organic carbon dynamics while controlling nitrogen transformations and losses in cotton.
- Taxon
- cottonGossypium hirsutumt0
- Treatment
- irrigation practicese4
- Outcome
- nitrogen transformations and lossese4
- Direction
- controllinge4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“We systematically examine how irrigation practices regulate carbon assimilation and soil organic carbon dynamics while simultaneously controlling nitrogen transformations and losses”
t0“cotton agroecosystems”
Claim · model-written summary
Irrigation practices co-determine water use efficiency (WUE) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in cotton.
- Taxon
- cottonGossypium hirsutumt0
- Treatment
- irrigation practicese4
- Outcome
- water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE)e5
- Direction
- co-determininge5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“We systematically examine how irrigation practices regulate carbon assimilation and soil organic carbon dynamics while simultaneously controlling nitrogen transformations and losses”
e5“thereby co-determining water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), greenhouse gas emissions, and nitrate leaching”
t0“cotton agroecosystems”
Claim · model-written summary
Irrigation practices co-determine greenhouse gas emissions and nitrate leaching in cotton.
- Taxon
- cottonGossypium hirsutumt0
- Treatment
- irrigation practicese4
- Outcome
- greenhouse gas emissions, and nitrate leachinge5
- Direction
- co-determininge5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“We systematically examine how irrigation practices regulate carbon assimilation and soil organic carbon dynamics while simultaneously controlling nitrogen transformations and losses”
e5“thereby co-determining water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), greenhouse gas emissions, and nitrate leaching”
t0“cotton agroecosystems”