Abstract
The objective of this study was to explore the effects of the ridge and mulch on soil moisture,grain yield,and water use efficiency(WUE) in rainfall winter wheat growing region in Weibei Area.In a three-year field experiment from Sept.2007 to June 2010,we compared three ridge(for collecting rainfall) and mulch treatments with traditional plat planting as the control(CK).The ridge was covered with common plastic film and the dent was bare(P1) or covered with either wheat straw(P2) or degradable film(P3).At the early growth stage of winter wheat,soil water storages in 0–20 cm and 20–100 cm layers were sig-nificantly higher in all ridge and mulch treatments than in CK,particularly in P2.At late growth stage,the effect of P3 was similar to that of P1 with no significant difference due to the degradation of the film in dent.However,compared to CK,treatments P1,P2,and P3 had no effect on soil water storage in 100–200 cm layer.Plant height and biomass of wheat were the largest in P2,which were 26.7% and 60.3% higher than that of CK,respectively.Moreover,P2 was also the best treatment for grain yield and WUE with 39.3% increased yield and 35.6% increased WUE over CK.Yield and WUE were similar between P3 and P1 with no significant difference.Therefore,P2 is recommended as an efficient planting pattern in semi-humid drought-prone wheat region.
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