Abstract
To reveal the effect of biochar addition on rice growth and yield under water-saving irrigation, a 2-year field experiment was carried out to clarify the variations of rice tiller number, plant height, yield components, and irrigation water use efficiency with different biochar application amounts (0, 20, 40 t/ha) and irrigation management (flooding irrigation and water-saving irrigation). The results showed that the rice yield with biochar addition (20 and 40 t/ha) was 15.53% and 24.43% higher than that of non-biochar addition paddy fields under water-saving irrigation. The addition of biochar promoted the growth of tillers and plant height, improved the filled grain number, productive panicle number, and seed setting rate, thus affecting rice yield. Rice yield was raised with the increase in the biochar application amount. Under the condition of water-saving irrigation, water deficit had a certain negative effect on the rice growth indexes, resulting in a slight decrease in yield. However, irrigation water input was significantly decreased with water-saving irrigation compare to flooding irrigation. Under the comprehensive effect of water-saving irrigation and biochar application, the irrigation water use efficiency of a rice paddy field with high biochar application (40 t/ha) under water-saving irrigation was the highest, with an average increase of 91.05% compared to a paddy field with flooding irrigation. Therefore, the application of biochar in paddy fields with water-saving irrigation can substantially save irrigation water input, stably increase rice yield, and ultimately improve irrigation water productive efficiency.
Highlights
Rice is one of the three major food crops in the world and the most important food crop in China
Existing studies have shown that biochar can promote crop growth [17] and increase yield
Rice plant height with biochar is obviously higher than that of the paddy field without biochar [25], and the enhancement effect increases with the increase in biochar input [26], which is consistent with the results in this experiment
Summary
Rice is one of the three major food crops in the world and the most important food crop in China. It is the staple food for more than 65% of the population in China and the cornerstone of the country’s food security. China is one of the countries with the largest rice planting area in the world, accounting for 22.7% of the world’s rice planting area and. 37% of the world’s rice yield (NBSC, 2013). Chinese total grain output has stabilized at more than 600 million t since 2013. As a by-product in the process of grain production, the amount of straw is increasing with the increase in grain output.
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