Subsoiling increases grain yield, water use efficiency, and economic return of maize under a fully mulched ridge-furrow system in a semiarid environment in China

Xie, Junhong; Wang, Lin Lin; Li, Lingling; Coulter, Jeffrey A.; Chai, Qiang; Zhang, Renzhi; Luo, Zhen; Carberry, Peter; Rao, K P C

doi:10.1016/j.still.2020.104584

Cited by 39 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…It is considered to be a decisive factor affecting soil fertility and crop yields ( Qiu et al, 2009 ). In this study, SS increased the organic carbon content in soil aggregates and soil fertility and promoted increases in crop yield ( Xie et al, 2020 ). Subsoiling can not only increase soil AOC and improve soil fertility, but also break hard plow bottoms ( Ma et al, 2015b ), improve soil pore conditions, and increase permeability ( Wang et al, 2007 ), all of which are conducive to the distribution of plant roots in deep soils ( Sun et al, 2017 ) and promote the use of nutrients and water therein.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Subsoiling increases aggregate-associated organic carbon, dry matter, and maize yield on the North China Plain

Shen

Zhang

Cui

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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Background Soil degradation is one of the main problems in agricultural production and leads to decreases in soil quality and productivity. Improper farming practices speed this process and are therefore not conducive to food security. The North China Plain (NCP) is a key agricultural area that greatly influences food security in China. To explore the effects of different tillage measures on aggregate-associated organic carbon (AOC), the accumulation and transport of dry matter, and maize yield, and to identify the most suitable tillage method for use on the NCP, a field experiment was conducted at Shandong Agricultural University from 2016–2017 using plots that have been farmed using conservation tillage since 2002. Methods In this study, Zhengdan 958 summer maize was used as the test material and undisturbed soil and plant samples were obtained under four tillage methods—no-tillage (NT, tillage depth: 0 cm); rotary tillage (RT, tillage depth: 10 cm); conventional tillage (CT, tillage depth: 20 cm); subsoiling (SS, tillage depth: 40 cm)—which were used to determine the AOC and dry matter contents, as well as the yields of two summer maize growing seasons. Each sample was replicated three times and the AOC content was determined via potassium dichromate oxidation colorimetry. Potassium dichromate oxidized organic carbon in organic matter was employed to reduce hexadecent chromium into green trivalent chromium. Colorimetry was then used to determine the amount of reduced trivalent chromium and calculate the organic matter content. Results The resulting data were statistically analyzed and the results showed that, compared with CT, the AOC contents with NT and SS increased by 5.65% and 9.73%, respectively, while that with RT decreased by 0.12%. Conventional tillage resulted in the highest mean dry matter weight when the maize reached maturity, which was 19.19%, 9.83%, and 3.38% higher than those achieved using NT, RT, and SS, respectively. No significant difference was found between CT and SS treatments, both of which tended to increase the accumulation of dry matter as well as its contribution of assimilates to grain yield post-anthesis. Compared with CT, the mean yield increased at a rate of 0.18% with SS, while yields declined at rates of 17.17% and 11.15 with NT and RT, respectively. The yield with NT was the lowest, though the harvest indices with NT and SS were higher than those with RT and CT. Overall, SS increased the accumulation of dry matter and its contribution of assimilates to grain yields post-anthesis, as well as the AOC content and yields, making it the ideal tillage method for the NCP.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Subsoiling increases aggregate-associated organic carbon, dry matter, and maize yield on the North China Plain

Shen

Zhang

Cui

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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“…Adopting water–saving management strategies is also an efficient measure for achieving sustained agricultural production in arid, semi–arid, and even dry semi-humid areas 14 , 15 . As an innovative water–saving technology, the ridge–furrow with plastic film mulching on the ridge (RP) has the advantages of building ridges along the farmland contours to reduce soil and water loss from heavy rains, penetrating collected light-rain water into deep soil and preserving soil moisture in decreasing unproductive evaporation, and thus prolongs the period of soil water availability to plants 16 . Several field studies also have identified that the RP could increase the water use efficiency and crop yields in dry semi–humid areas 17 , 18 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy budget and carbon footprint in a wheat and maize system under ridge furrow strategy in dry semi humid areas

2021

Sci Rep

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The well-irrigated planting strategy (WI) consumes a large amount of energy and exacerbates greenhouse gas emissions, endangering the sustainable agricultural production. This 2-year work aims to estimate the economic benefit, energy budget and carbon footprint of a wheat–maize double cropping system under conventional rain-fed flat planting (irrigation once a year, control), ridge–furrows with plastic film mulching on the ridge (irrigation once a year, RP), and the WI in dry semi-humid areas of China. Significantly higher wheat and maize yields and net returns were achieved under RP than those under the control, while a visible reduction was found for wheat yields when compared with the WI. The ratio of benefit: cost under RP was also higher by 10.5% than that under the control in the first rotation cycle, but did not differ with those under WI. The net energy output and carbon output followed the same trends with net returns, but the RP had the largest energy use efficiency, energy productivity carbon efficiency and carbon sustainability among treatments. Therefore, the RP was an effective substitution for well–irrigated planting strategy for achieving sustained agricultural development in dry semi-humid areas.

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“…Deep pine can improve soil structure, increase soil porosity, promote root growth and binding, and improve root uptake of soil water and nutrients (Baumhardt et al 2008;Qi et al 2012;Ping et al 2020). Deep pine can also promote the growth of crops, increase the accumulation of dry matter, and improve grain yield and water use efficiency of crops (He et al 2006;Xie et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subsoiling Impact on Soil Physical Structure, Root Activity, Photosynthetic Characteristics, and Water Use Efficiency in Maize

Wang¹

2021

IJAB

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In order to promote the comprehensive production capacity and yield of farmland soil, the effects of subsoil tillage on soil structure, root activity, photosynthetic characteristics, dry matter accumulation, yield and water use through long-term positioning research in semi-arid areas were studied. This study was started in 2011 and investigated in the 2015–2016 research cycle. The experiment was conducted with five treatments including 30 cm subsoiling (SS-30) and 40 cm subsoiling (SS-40) before spring sowing, 30 cm (AS-30) and 40 cm (SS-40) between rows after autumn harvest and no subsoiling (CK). The effects of subsoiling on soil properties, crop growth, yield and water use of maize in semi-arid areas were investigated. The results showed that subsoiling significantly reduced the penetration resistance and bulk density of soil, and significantly increased the soil moisture content from subsoiling to the surface. Subsoiling increased GSand Ci, Tr, Pnand WUE in maize plants, and significantly increased root activity. Subsoiling significantly increased dry weight of aboveground part and root, significantly decreased root shoot ratio, and significantly increased WUE per plant. Subsoiling significantly increased 100 grain weight, yield and WUE of population. Subsoiling can effectively improve the soil structure, enhance the water storage capacity of the soil in arid areas, delay water loss, improve root activity, net photosynthetic rate, dry matter accumulation and WUE, and promote crop growth and yield of maize. Subsoiling in autumn has the best effect on soil improvement. Increasing the subsoiling depth properly can improve their effects, which will gradually less with the passage of time.© 2021 Friends Science Publishers

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Subsoiling increases grain yield, water use efficiency, and economic return of maize under a fully mulched ridge-furrow system in a semiarid environment in China

Cited by 39 publications

References 39 publications

Subsoiling increases aggregate-associated organic carbon, dry matter, and maize yield on the North China Plain

Subsoiling increases aggregate-associated organic carbon, dry matter, and maize yield on the North China Plain

Energy budget and carbon footprint in a wheat and maize system under ridge furrow strategy in dry semi humid areas

Subsoiling Impact on Soil Physical Structure, Root Activity, Photosynthetic Characteristics, and Water Use Efficiency in Maize

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