Root growth and water uptake in winter wheat under deficit irrigation

Effects of Soil Moisture Conditions before Heading on Growth of Wheat Plants under Drought Conditions in the Ripening Stage: Insufficient Soil Moisture Conditions before Heading Render Wheat Plants More Resistant to Drought during Ripening

“…Growth of shoots and roots, and the ratio of root growth to shoot growth can be changed, to some extent, by the irrigation scheduling. From the results of this study and those of Xue et al (2003), the irrigation schedule could affect grain yield and the efficiency of irrigation water use through its effects on the development of root system. Irrigation should be scheduled in specifi c geographic regions on the basis of the strength of water stress, the availability of irrigation water, and the responses of plants to drought, among other factors.…”

“…Much research on irrigation scheduling has been performed, but almost all studies involved fi xed irrigation intervals without consideration of the adaptive responses of plants to drought (Proffitt et al, 1985;Oweis et al, 1998Oweis et al, , 2000. However, it was reported recently that irrigation a few weeks before heading, during which roots grew vigorously, encouraged plants to develop shoots and roots more effectively with increased grain yield under severe soil moisture depletion (Xue et al, 2003). Few attempts have been made to understand plant responses to drought and to exploit them in irrigation scheduling (Hirasawa et al, 1994), to our knowledge.…”

“…It is important for the effi cient use of irrigation water and associated labor to determine how irrigation should be scheduled. Considerable researches have been conducted on the effects of drought stress and irrigation on wheat growth and yield (Proffitt et al, 1985;Kobata et al, 1992;Musick et al, 1994;Zhang et al, 1998;Oweis et al, 1998;2000;Foulkes et al, 2001;Yang et al, 2001;Xue et al, 2003). While soluble carbohydrate reserves before heading might contribute to grain yield to some extent (Yang et al, 2001;Foulkes et al, 2002), grain yield is mainly determined by dry matter production after heading (Schnyder, 1993;Gebbing and Schnyder, 1999).…”

Biomass accumulation and radiation use efficiency of winter wheat under deficit irrigation regimes

“…in recent years, some researchers found that deficit irrigation (less than full irrigation) could improve agricultural water use, and subsequent use of that water is possible for more efficient crop production. Xu et al (2006) found that water deficit remarkably increased the n translocation ratio derived from soil and the contributions of n in various vegetative organs to grain n. Xue et al (2003) noted that due to a relatively deep root system in rainfed crops, the higher grain yield in deficit irrigated crops compared to rainfed crops was not a result of rooting depth or root length density, but of increased harvest index, and higher water uptake rate during grain filling. Some researchers focus on efficient use of limited soil water and increasing crop water use efficiency (Zhang et al 1999, Walter and Morio 2005, ali et al 2007, Elvio and Michele 2008, Saleh et al 2008, vazifedoust et al 2008, others focus on the integrated effects of the cropping systems when combined with deficit irrigation applications on the water consumption and yield of winter wheat and summer maize in north China (li et al 2004, Fang et al 2006b, Zhang et al 2006, li et al 2007.…”

Effects of Soil Type, Vertical Root Distribution and Precipitation on Grain Yield of Winter Wheat

“…In contrast to these reports, EI Hafid et al (1998) showed that root length density was weakly associated with total water use and wateruse effi ciency. Furthermore, Xue et al (2003) reported that the higher grain yield and water-use efficiency in irrigated plants than in rain-fed plants were not attributed to rooting depth or root length density. However, it is diffi cult to apply these data to the effects of deep root systems on grain yields in specifi c regional soil types.…”