Optimized Water and Fertilizer Management of Mature Jujube in Xinjiang Arid Area Using Drip Irrigation

Zhenhua Wang,Bo Zhou,Jinzhu Zhang,Qingyong Bian

doi:10.3390/w10101467

Abstract

Studying water–fertilizer coupling effects in a drip irrigation system is critical for sustainable agricultural development in arid areas, such as that of Xinjiang in China, to find out the optimized water and fertilizer management. Therefore, a two-year field experiment was conducted to find out how the combination of three levels of irrigation quotas and three levels of fertilizer amounts would affect the physiological and growth indexes of jujube, as well as ascertain the differences between drip irrigation and flood irrigation. The results showed that the interacted and coupled effects of irrigation and fertilization influenced most of the physiological indicators and growth indexes. On the other hand, the physiological and growth indexes were increased after transferring flood irrigation to drip irrigation, as the maximum chlorophyll content (CC) and photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE) values increased on average by 6.00%, and 11.39% in 2016, and 1.47% and 6.83% in 2017, respectively. Undoubtedly, inappropriate water and fertilizer management had negative impacts on jujube growth and yield. Based on the treatments and results in this paper, low fertilizer and moderate irrigation would be the best choice. The crop yield, irrigation water use efficiency (iWUE), and fertilizer partial productivity (PFP) increased by 6.77%, 29.48%, and 193.62% in 2016, and similar increments were also found in 2017 of 6.17%, 78.72%, and 133.06%, respectively. This indicated that fertilizer efficiency was promoted along with water use, and in turn, the water amounts were adjusted by the amount of fertilizer that was applied. Based on a comprehensive consideration of the physiological and growth indexes, a mathematical model was established, and the optimized irrigation and fertilizer amounts of jujube in northern Xinjiang area were found to be 815 mm and 400 kg ha−1 (with N–P2O5–K2O proportioned at 2–1–1.5). The results that were obtained in this paper would provide theoretical reference to the sustainable development of jujube plantation using drip irrigation in the arid areas.

Highlights

Jujube (Zizyphus jujube mill) is one of the most important economical crops in the northern desert of Xinjiang area in China, and it has become one of the Chinese’s favorite fruits due to its good taste, sufficient nutrition, and medical value [1]
In 2016, and similar increments were found in 2017 of 6.17%, 78.72%, and 133.06%, respectively. This indicated that fertilizer efficiency was promoted along with water use, and in turn, the water amounts were adjusted by the amount of fertilizer that was applied
The irrigation quota and fertilizer amount (N:P:K = 2:1:1.5 based on local agricultural amounts as irrigation (W1), 820the mm (W2), and mm and (W3), and the fertilizer treatments were set up management) weremm defined as two factors

Summary

Introduction

Jujube (Zizyphus jujube mill) is one of the most important economical crops in the northern desert of Xinjiang area in China, and it has become one of the Chinese’s favorite fruits due to its good taste, sufficient nutrition, and medical value [1]. The planting area of jujube in Xinjiang has reached. The majority of jujube are still using flood irrigation, and the irrigation quota exceeds 1000 m3 /mu, leaving merely 9.5% applying drip irrigation. The traditional flood irrigation applied to a jujube plantation has disadvantages in its. Drip irrigation is a high-efficiency water-saving irrigation method that directly supplies water and nutrients to the root of crops. As an extreme water shortage has always been the key barrier of agriculture in this area, scholars have increasingly paid more and more attention to drip irrigation technology [3]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion