Abstract
Winter wheat is threatened by drought in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China, thus, effective water-saving irrigation practices are urgently required to maintain its high winter wheat production. This study was conducted from 2012 to 2014 to determine how supplemental irrigation (SI) affected soil moisture, photosynthesis, and dry matter (DM) production of winter wheat by measuring the moisture in 0–20 cm (W2), 0–40 cm (W3), and 0–60 cm (W4) soil profiles. Rainfed (W0) and local SI practice (W1, irrigation with 60 mm each at jointing and anthesis) treatments were designed as controls. The irrigation amount for W3 was significantly lower than that for W1 and W4 but higher than that for W2. The soil relative water content (SRWC) in 0–40 cm soil profiles at jointing after SI for W3 was significantly lower than that for W1 and W4 but higher than that for W2. W3 exhibited lower SRWC in 100–140 and 60–140 cm soil profiles at anthesis after SI and at maturity, respectively, but higher root length density in 60–100 cm soil profiles than W1, W2 and W4. Compared with W1, W2 and W4, photosynthetic and transpiration rates and stomatal conductance of flag leaves for W3 were significantly greater during grain filling, particularly at the mid and later stages. The total DM at maturity, DM in grain and leaves, post-anthesis DM accumulation and its contribution to grain and grain filling duration were higher for W3. The 1000-grain weight, grain yield and water use efficiency for W3 were the highest. Therefore, treatment of increasing SRWC in the 0–40 cm soil profiles to 65% and 70% field capacities at jointing and anthesis (W3), respectively, created a suitable soil moisture environment for winter wheat production, which could be considered as a high yield and water-saving treatment in Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China.
Highlights
The Huang-Huai-Hai Plain is one of the most important agricultural regions in China and produces more than 60% of China’s winter wheat [1]
We found that the photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr) and gs of flag leaves at 14 days after anthesis (DAA) from the W3 were significantly higher than those from the W2 and W4, which is similar to the results from the study by Guo et al [20]
We found that the Pn, Tr and gs of flag leaves for 21–35 DAA from the W3 were significantly higher than those from W1, W2 and W4, which may be beneficial for the high leaf area index at anthesis [20] and high root length density (RLD) in 40–100 cm soil layers, which promotes soil water absorption (Fig 2 and Fig 3) from the deep soil layers during the grain-filling stages; our findings are similar to those of Hayashi et al [52]
Summary
The Huang-Huai-Hai Plain is one of the most important agricultural regions in China and produces more than 60% of China’s winter wheat [1]. This area has a warm, temperate, semihumid continental monsoon climate. The mean annual precipitation in this region is approximately 500–600 mm; approximately only 30%–40% of the rain occurs in winter wheat growing seasons [2,3,4]. The total water consumption required by high-yield winter wheat is 400–500 mm during the growing season [3, 5]. Additional irrigation is required to maintain a high winter wheat production. Effective water-saving technologies are urgently needed, those that seek to match crop water demand with SI by considering precipitation, soil water storage and ETc [9]
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