Abstract
In arid regions, higher irrigation quota for conventional farming causes substantial conflict between water supply and demand for crop production. Innovations in cropping systems are needed to alleviate this issue. A field experiment was conducted in northwestern China to assess whether straw and plastic managements in wheat/maize intercropping could alleviate these issues. Integrating no tillage with two-year plastic and straw mulching (NTMI2) improved grain yields by 13.8–17.1%, compared to conventional tillage without straw residue and annual new plastic mulching (CTI). The NTMI2 treatment reduced soil evaporation by 9.0–17.3% and the proportion of evaporation to evapotranspiration (E/ET) by 8.6–17.5%, compared to CTI. The NTMI2 treatment weakened wheat competition of soil moisture from maize strip during wheat growth period, and enhanced wheat compensation of soil moisture for maize growth after wheat harvest, compared with CTI. Thus, soil water movement potential of NTMI2 was lowest during wheat growth period, but it was highest during maize-independent growth stage after wheat harvest. The NTMI2 treatment increased evapotranspiration before maize silking, decreased from maize silking to early-filling stage, and increased after the early-filling stage of maize, this effectively coordinated water demand contradiction of intercrops at early and late stages. The NTMI2 treatment improved WUE by 12.4–17.2%, compared with CTI. The improved crop yields and WUE was attributed to the coordinated water competition and compensation, and the decreased soil evaporation and E/ET.
Highlights
In densely populated countries, such as Indonesia, India, and China, most of the rural population lives on self-sufficient and small-scale family farms that produce the majority of the country’s grain[1]
Across the four intercropping treatments, the NTMI2 treatment had the greatest soil water potential of wheat and maize strips. These results show that integrated water conservation practices kept a relatively high soil water potential, thereby enhancing the soil water environment for intercropping
Wheat/maize strip intercropping combined with straw residue and plastic mulching can reduce soil evaporation, decrease the proportion of evaporation to evapotranspiration (E/ET), and improve crop yields and water use efficiency compared to conventional monoculture and intercropping treatments
Summary
In densely populated countries, such as Indonesia, India, and China, most of the rural population lives on self-sufficient and small-scale family farms that produce the majority of the country’s grain[1]. Maize and wheat are the two major food crops planted in arid areas of northwestern China[9] Both are usually produced with strip intercropping, which allows two crops to be grown within a single season in the same field[10]. High yields with this system have been attributed to the large amount of water supplied during the growing season compared to monocropping[14], creating conflict between increased yields through use of strip intercropping and reduced water consumption for agricultural production. Improvements to this system are needed to concurrently achieve high yields while reducing or optimizing utilization of the limited water resources. The intercropping combined with regulated deficit irrigation[16] or straw and plastic mulching[7,17], can improve water use efficiency in semiarid regions
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