Planting Patterns and Deficit Irrigation Strategies to Improve Wheat Production and Water Use Efficiency under Simulated Rainfall Conditions

Abstract

The ridge furrow (RF) rainwater harvesting system is an efficient way to enhance rainwater accessibility for crops and increase winter wheat productivity in semi-arid regions. However, the RF system has not been promoted widely in the semi-arid regions, which primarily exist in remote hilly areas. To exploit its efficiency on a large-scale, the RF system needs to be tested at different amounts of simulated precipitation combined with deficit irrigation. Therefore, in during the 2015–16 and 2016–17 winter wheat growing seasons, we examined the effects of two planting patterns: (1) the RF system and (2) traditional flat planting (TF) with three deficit irrigation levels (150, 75, 0 mm) under three simulated rainfall intensity (1: 275, 2: 200, 3: 125 mm), and determined soil water storage profile, evapotranspiration rate, grain filling rate, biomass, grain yield, and net economic return. Over the two study years, the RF treatment with 200 mm simulated rainfall and 150 mm deficit irrigation (RF2150) significantly (P < 0.05) increased soil water storage in the depth of (200 cm); reduced ET at the field scale by 33%; increased total dry matter accumulation per plant; increased the grain-filling rate; and improved biomass (11%) and grain (19%) yields. The RF2150 treatment thus achieved a higher WUE (76%) and RIWP (21%) compared to TF. Grain-filling rates, grain weight of superior and inferior grains, and net economic profit of winter wheat responded positively to simulated rainfall and deficit irrigation under both planting patterns. The 200 mm simulated rainfall amount was more economical than other precipitation amounts, and led to slight increases in soil water storage, total dry matter per plant, and grain yield; there were no significant differences when the simulated rainfall was increased beyond 200 mm. The highest (12,593 Yuan ha−1) net income profit was attained using the RF system at 200 mm rainfall and 150 mm deficit irrigation, which also led to significantly higher grain yield, WUE, and RIWP than all other treatments. Thus, we recommend the RF2150 treatment for higher productivity, income profit, and improve WUE in the dry-land farming system of China.

The integrated effect of salinity, organic amendments, phosphorus fertilizers, and deficit irrigation on soil properties, phosphorus fractionation and wheat productivity

“…Similarly, water deficit during the sensitive growth stages (flowering and grain filling) caused a considerable reduction in wheat yield, and quality. This is mainly due to the negative effect of DI on plant physiological features such as accelerated leaf senescence, assimilate translocation, sink capacity, reduced grain set, as well as the oxidative damage to assimilatory machinery 35,36 . Consequently, the combined application of P fertilizers and organic amendments could alleviate the negative impacts of salinity and DI, improved soil physical and chemical properties, and thus enhanced wheat yield and quality.…”

Ridge-furrow mulched with plastic film improves the anti-oxidative defence system and photosynthesis in leaves of winter wheat under deficit irrigation

“…In this research, we adopted the use of a rainfall simulator (RS) to supply the crop water requirements, and no natural precipitation occurred during the winter wheat growing season. The RS was used according to methods in a previous study [ 26 ]. In the precipitation simulation, three total seasonal precipitations, 125, 200, and 275 mm, corresponded to light, moderate, and heavy rainfall levels.…”

“…The seasonal evapotranspiration rate was calculated using the following Eq ( 1 ) [ 26 ]: where P (mm) is the precipitation; I (mm) is the irrigation; ΔW (mm) is the soil moisture content for the 0–200 cm soil depths between planting time and maturity stage, or between the growth stages.…”

“…Water use efficiency (WUE, kg ha −1 mm −1 ) was calculated using the following Eq ( 2 ) [ 26 ]: where Y is the grain yield (kg ha -1 ) which was measured at maturity in the central four rows of each plot, including the combined area of the ridges and furrows, and ET is the total evapotranspiration (mm) over the growing season.…”

Plastic-Covered Ridge-Furrow Planting Combined with Supplemental Irrigation Based on Measuring Soil Moisture Promotes Wheat Grain Yield and Irrigation Water Use Efficiency in Irrigated Fields on the Loess Plateau, China

“…In the rainfed regions of the Loess Plateau, rainfall is the only source of water for wheat production. Therefore, the effective use of rainwater is necessary in this region [14]. One of the important rainwater harvesting systems, namely plastic-covered ridge and furrow planting (RF) has been widely used in recent years in the rainfed region of the Loess Plateau [15].…”