Drip irrigation incorporating water conservation measures: Effects on soil water–nitrogen utilization, root traits and grain production of spring maize in semi-arid areas

doi:10.1016/S2095-3119(20)63314-7

摘要/Abstract

摘要：

东北平原是中国最大的玉米产区。近年来滴灌技术开始在该区推广应用，以解决玉米生产中干旱频发和水分利用效率(WUE)低下的问题。为确定高效和环境友好的灌溉措施，2016-2018年针对滴灌结合不同农田保水措施进行了大田试验研究，处理如下：(1)塑料薄膜覆盖+滴灌(PI)，(2)生物降解膜覆盖+滴灌(BI)，(3)秸秆深翻还田+滴灌(SI)，(4)浅埋滴灌(OI)，以传统沟灌(FI)为对照。PI和BI处理根长密度(RLD)和营养生长期间土温较高，其产量、WUE和氮素利用效率(NUE)最高。与BI相比，PI处理在20-60 cm和60-100 cm土层中消耗了更多的土壤水分，且0-20 cm土壤上层根系较大，生殖生长期间土温较高，根系和叶片衰老进程加快。SI处理能有效提高土壤水分和硝态氮含量，促进深层RLD增加，从而维持了花后较高的生理活性。FI处理与滴灌相比，60-100 cm土壤深层硝态氮含量较高，增加了氮素淋溶损失的风险。0-20 cm土层中，RLD与产量、WUE和NUE极显著正相关(P<0.001)，与根系氮利用效率(NRE)显著负相关(P<0.05)，这一相关性随土层加深而减弱。在干旱条件下，降解膜覆盖与滴灌耦合有利于玉米稳产和提高土壤水氮利用效率，是一项东北区玉米可持续生产与环境友好的推荐技术。

Abstract:

The Northeast Plain is the largest maize production area in China, and drip irrigation has recently been proposed to cope with the effects of frequent droughts and to improve water use efficiency (WUE). In order to develop an efficient and environmentally friendly irrigation system, drip irrigation experiments were conducted in 2016–2018 incorporating different soil water conservation measures as follows: (1) drip irrigation under plastic film mulch (PI), (2) drip irrigation under biodegradable film mulch (BI), (3) drip irrigation incorporating straw returning (SI), and (4) drip irrigation with the tape buried at a shallow soil depth (OI); with furrow irrigation (FI) used as the control. The results showed that PI and BI gave the highest maize yield, as well as the highest WUE and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) because of the higher root length density (RLD) and better heat conditions during the vegetative stage. But compared with BI, PI consumed more soil water in the 20–60 and 60–100 cm soil layers, and accelerated the progress of root and leaf senescence due to a larger root system in the top 0–20 cm soil layer and a higher soil temperature during the reproductive stage. SI was effective in improving soil water and nitrate contents, and promoted RLD in deeper soil layers, thereby maintaining higher physiological activity during the reproductive stage. FI resulted in higher nitrate levels in the deep 60–100 cm soil layer, which increased the risk of nitrogen losses by leaching compared with the drip irrigation treatments. RLD in the 0–20 cm soil layer was highly positively correlated with yield, WUE and NUE (P<0.001), but it was negatively correlated with root nitrogen use efficiency (NRE) (P<0.05), and the correlation was weaker in deeper soil layers. We concluded that BI had advantages in water–nitrogen utilization and yield stability response to drought stress, and thus is recommended for environmentally friendly and sustainable maize production in Northeast China.

Key words: drip irrigation , root , water use efficiency , , nitrogen use efficiency , maize

. [J]. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(12): 3127-3142.

WU Yang, BIAN Shao-feng, LIU Zhi-ming, WANG Li-chun, WANG Yong-jun, XU Wen-hua, ZHOU Yu. Drip irrigation incorporating water conservation measures: Effects on soil water–nitrogen utilization, root traits and grain production of spring maize in semi-arid areas[J]. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(12): 3127-3142.

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