Estimated water Footprint for cotton under three climatic regions in Egypt

Estimated water Footprint for cotton under three climatic regions in Egypt | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Estimated water Footprint for cotton under three climatic regions in Egypt Waleed Mohamed Bassuny Yehia, Ahmed Awny Ahmed Farag, Soha Sayed Mohammad Mostafa This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7455337/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Irrigation for agricultural purposes accounts for roughly 70% of global water intake. The concept of the water footprint (WF) serves as a crucial indicator of freshwater use, playing a significant role in tackling the climate crisis and preventing nitrate pollution in water resources. As a decision-making tool, WF supports crop selection based on water intake and productivity, aiming to optimize agricultural water use sustainably. This study investigates the relationship between climate variability and the water footprint of cotton cultivation in Egypt. Three climatic zones Nile Delta, Middle Egypt, and Upper Egypt were selected to represent distinct microclimates. Climate data from 2020 to 2024 were used to estimate reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and evaluate cotton crop water use (CWU), in conjunction with data on cultivated area and yield. Results: The water footprint of cotton, including lint and seeds, was calculated for the three regions, considering blue and grey water components. Green water was excluded due to Egypt’s negligible rainfall. The average WF for cotton production in Egypt was 3905 m³/ton, with lint accounting for approximately 10,041 m³/ton and seed for 6342 m³/ton. These values illustrate the strong influence of microclimatic conditions and nitrogen application on water demands and WF across regions. Water use efficiency (WUE) and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) were also analyzed. The average WUE for cotton was 0.28 kg/m³, while NUE was 14.9 kg N/kg yield. Conclusions: The study demonstrates that regional climatic differences significantly affect the water and nitrogen footprint of cotton production. The findings offer a useful methodological approach to support decision-making in water resource management, helping policymakers and stakeholders enhance the sustainability and efficiency of water use in cotton-growing regions in Egypt. Cotton Water footprint water use efficiency- Nitrogen use efficiency Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7455337","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":530343627,"identity":"f8f1f88f-ad9a-40e1-88a1-d6caa4a2f160","order_by":0,"name":"Waleed Mohamed Bassuny 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efficiency","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7455337/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7455337/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground:\u003c/strong\u003e Irrigation for agricultural purposes accounts for roughly 70% of global water intake. The concept of the water footprint (WF) serves as a crucial indicator of freshwater use, playing a significant role in tackling the climate crisis and preventing nitrate pollution in water resources. As a decision-making tool, WF supports crop selection based on water intake and productivity, aiming to optimize agricultural water use sustainably. This study investigates the relationship between climate variability and the water footprint of cotton cultivation in Egypt. Three climatic zones Nile Delta, Middle Egypt, and Upper Egypt were selected to represent distinct microclimates. 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