Improving the annual yield of a wheat and maize system through irrigation at the maize sowing stage†

Abstract

AbstractTo achieve high‐yielding and eco‐friendly crop production, it is crucial to identify the critical water requirement period of crops, especially in annual crop production systems. A 2‐year experiment was established to study the annual yield, total water consumption and water productivity (WP) of a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and summer maize (Zea mays L.) system in the Huang‐Huai‐Hai Plain.The results showed that the annual yield of this crop system increased with irrigation frequency and was highest when irrigation was applied three times in the wheat season and once in the maize season (W3M1), though there was no significant difference in annual yield among W2M1, W3M1 and W4M1. And there is no evidence in this paper that irrigation scheduling substantially affects WP. W2M1 had the second highest annual yield (18.7 t ha−1 in 2013–2014 and 19.9 ha−1 in 2014–2015) with a low amount of irrigation compared with W3M1 and W4M1. The highest total water consumption was measured in W3M1 and reached 812 and 873 mm in the first and second years, respectively. Irrigation during the summer maize sowing stage is essential for improving the annual yield and WP. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.