Abstract
In semi-arid and arid areas, crop growth is mainly limited by low rainfall (mm). Using plastic film-mulched and special soil tillage can be employed to harvest limited rainfall for crop growth so as to assure food production. The objective of this work was to find out how to exploit limited rainfall (mm) to increase yield of proso millet. Effects of different rainfall harvesting systems based on plastic film-mulched in proso millet were managed in semi-arid regions of Loess Plateau in 2010-2012, and soil type that study involved was calciccambisols. The hypothesis was that proso millet could improve growth and yield of proso millet by using rainfall harvesting system. Experiment designed three rainfall harvesting systems based on plastic mulched and no mulching (NM) as a control. A flat plot with no mulching was a control (NM), the width of furrow was 60 cm with 60 cm wide ridge (P60), the width of furrow was 60 cm with 100 cm wide M-shaped ridge (M160), and the width of furrow was 40 cm with 40 cm wide W-shaped ridge (W80). Control plot and systems were laid out in a randomized block design with three replications. Only the ridge was mulched with white plastic film. The results showed as follows: rainfall harvesting systems based on plastic film-mulched could increase water content of topsoil by 19.6%-43%, move up in temperature of topsoil by 0.1oC-2.7oC, improve agronomic traits (P=0.05), and increase yield by 96.8%-115.3% (P=0.05) and WUE by 120.2%-179.3% (P=0.05) compared with those of NM, respectively; “W-shaped” system performed advantage enough among all rainfall harvesting systems, increased water content of topsoil and temperature of topsoil, and separately increased yield and WUE of proso millet by 115.3% and 179.3% compared with those of NM =0.05) in three growing seasons; average rate of yield increase of proso millet in all rainfall harvesting systems tended to be quadratic function correlated with the rainfall (mm) (R2=1); rainfall harvesting systems had better effect on improving plant heights at early growing stage of proso millet than those at later growing stage. The hypothesis was supported by these findings that suggested rainfall harvesting systems with plastic film-mulched could improve yield and water use efficiency of proso millet and have affection effectively at early growing stage of proso millet, increasing yield of rainfall harvesting system was limited by abundant rainfall (mm) and had to be suitable for 250 mm-300 mm rainfall of growing seasons for proso millet; “W-shaped” system performed well in semi-arid areas.
Highlights
Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is an important food crop in semi-arid region of the Loess plateau (Zhang et al, 2012), still yield of proso millet remains low under rain-fed agriculture conditions because rainfall is not adequate to meet evaporation requirement during growing seasons (Jaetzold R et al, 2006; Xie et al, 2010; Li et al, 2013)
In 20-40 cm soil layer, water content of topsoil of different systems increased by 21.1 %, 32.7 %, and 44.3 %, respectively compared with those of no mulching (NM) at jointing stage in three growing seasons, and water contents of topsoil of different systems increased by 14.7 %, 32.5 %, and 45.1 %, respectively compared with those of NM at mature stage in the three growing seasons
These results showed rainfall harvesting systems played an important factor in increasing water content of topsoil and temperature of topsoil (Gao and li, 2005; Xiao et al, 2010; Hong et al, 2012; Wang et al, 2013), and this result supported hypotheses tested
Summary
Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is an important food crop in semi-arid region of the Loess plateau (Zhang et al, 2012), still yield of proso millet remains low under rain-fed agriculture conditions because rainfall is not adequate to meet evaporation requirement during growing seasons (Jaetzold R et al, 2006; Xie et al, 2010; Li et al, 2013). Mulching practices with plastic film is introduced in 1978 and has spread quickly and widely, especially in rain-fed regions because it makes limited rainfall utilized effectively (Dong et al, 2009), endures water lost under evaporation (Liakatas et al.,1986; Muller, 1991), redistributes moisture in the soil, alleviates water stress to some extent (Li et al, 2004), and keeps topsoil warmer and moist (Li et al, 2001, 1999; Song et al, 2002; Wang et al, 2003), respectively. Plastic film-mulched improved rate of photosynthesis (Li et al, 1999) and roots growth of crops
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