Cultivar Mixture Cropping Increased Water Use Efficiency in Winter Wheat under Limited Irrigation Conditions

Abstract

The effects of cultivar mixture cropping on yield, biomass, and water use efficiency (WUE) in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were investigated under non-irrigation (W0, no irrigation during growth stage), one time irrigation (W1, irrigation applied at stem elongation) and two times irrigation (W2, irrigation applied at stem elongation and anthesis) conditions. Nearly 90% of cultivar mixture cropping treatments experienced an increase in grain yield as compared with the mean of the pure stands under W0, those for W1 and W2 were 80% and 85%, respectively. Over 75% of cultivar mixture cropping treatments got greater biomass than the mean of the pure stands under the three irrigation conditions. Cultivar mixture cropping cost more water than pure stands under W0 and W1, whereas the water consumption under W2 decreased by 5.9%–6.8% as compared with pure stands. Approximately 90% of cultivar mixtures showed an increase of 5.4%–34.5% in WUE as compared with the mean of the pure stands, and about 75% of cultivar mixtures had 0.8%–28.5% higher WUE than the better pure stands under W0. Similarly, there were a majority of mixture cropping treatments with higher WUE than the mean and the better one of the pure stands under W1 and W2. On the whole, proper cultivar mixture cropping could increase yield and WUE, and a higher increase in WUE occurred under limited irrigation condition.

Effect of coupled reduced irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer on soil mite community composition in a wheat field

“…The wheat yields in the reduced irrigation treatments were the same (2014) or higher (2015) than those in the conventional irrigation treatments. Similar results were obtained in previous studies in which reduced irrigation addition saved water use and advanced the wheat flowering date, which was helpful to prevent agricultural disaster (e.g., dry hot wind) and increasing yield (Meng et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2016Wang et al, , 2018.…”

“…The effect of reduced nitrogen fertilizer addition on wheat yields was similar to that in a previous data analysis in which the maximum yield was achieved at approximately 210 kg N/ ha in NCP (Chen et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2016). Similar results were obtained in previous studies in which reduced irrigation addition saved water use and advanced the wheat flowering date, which was helpful to prevent agricultural disaster (e.g., dry hot wind) and increasing yield (Meng et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2016Wang et al, , 2018. The reduced irrigation treatments (20% lower than conventional irrigation addition) did not have a more significant negative effect on wheat grain production than the conventional irrigation treatments.…”

The double-edge sword of heterogeneous ripening pattern in winter wheat cultivar mixtures: A case study under post-anthesis water stress

“…(2) (see Guevara-Escobar et al, 2005;and Wang et al, 2016) The diurnal temperatures for calculating accumulated thermal time (ATT) and growing degree days (GDD) were obtained from the weather station located near the experimental site (Haghshenas and Emam, 2019). The accumulated thermal time was calculated by summing the average diurnal temperatures (°C) from sowing to ripening i.e.…”

“…Therefore, it is suggested that unless the performance, and preferably the involved mechanisms, of cultivar mixtures are not fully understood, use of blends as an alternative for conventional high-input wheat cropping systems may lead to adverse results. a potential solution for water deficit conditions prevailed in semi-arid areas (Haghshenas et al, 2013;Fang et al, 2014;Adu-Gyamfi et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2016).One kind of dissimilarities among the mixture components considered for designing cultivar blends are phenological differences, which are physiologically vital enough to mainly determine the fate of interaction between the crop and environment. Accordingly, Haghshenas et al, (2013) evaluated the option of mitigating the intensified post-anthesis competition within the mixed canopy of two early-and middle-ripening wheat cultivars, and reported that the intra-specific competition under various seasons and irrigation conditions was several percent lower in mixtures, compared with monocultures; however, this relative advantage did not lead to significantly higher grain yield and post-anthesis water use efficiency.…”

“…Therefore, it is suggested that unless the performance, and preferably the involved mechanisms, of cultivar mixtures are not fully understood, use of blends as an alternative for conventional high-input wheat cropping systems may lead to adverse results. a potential solution for water deficit conditions prevailed in semi-arid areas (Haghshenas et al, 2013;Fang et al, 2014;Adu-Gyamfi et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2016).…”