IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v202y2018icp19-32.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effect of planting density and pattern on maize yield and rainwater use efficiency in the Loess Plateau in China

Author

Listed:
  • Jia, Qianmin
  • Sun, Lefeng
  • Ali, Shahzad
  • Zhang, Yan
  • Liu, Donghua
  • Kamran, Muhammad
  • Zhang, Peng
  • Jia, Zhikuan
  • Ren, Xiaolong

Abstract

We conducted a two-year field research to evaluate the effect of three planting densities (L: 52,500, M: 75,000 and H: 97,500 plants ha−1) and three different planting patterns (RF: ridge with plastic film mulching; FM: flat planting with plastic film mulching; and CP: conventional planting without mulching) on maize yield. Results showed that, at each planting density, average topsoil temperature (5–25 cm) was improved under FM and RF, relative to CP, before silking. This resulted in earlier emergence and accelerated plant development. Compared to CP, RF significantly increased soil water storage (SWS) at the end of the fallow season and provided non-limiting water conditions for early seedling growth. During the growing season, when rainfall was more abundant, RF prevented evapotranspiration (ET); thereby, favouring SWS. Furthermore, when rainfall was scarce, RF provided the crop with additional soil moisture, which resulted in increased ET. Under RF and FM, the two-year average grain yield increased by 33.4% and 30%, respectively; while, water use efficiency (WUE) increased by 34.2% and 27.5%, respectively; similarly, rainwater use efficiency (RUE) increased by 35.6% and 32.1%, respectively. In a normal year (2015), grain yield, WUE and RUE, significantly increased as planting density increased from low to moderate; but not in a dry year (2016). Under such conditions, no significant differences were observed in grain yield, WUE or RUE among planting density treatments within the same planting pattern. Under moderate planting density, the two-year average final aboveground dry matter, grain yield, WUE and RUE in RF increased by 14.7%, 31.8%, 31.9% and 34.1%, respectively, compared to CP. Therefore, we conclude that RF is the most suitable planting pattern under moderate planting density for increasing maize yield in the Loess Plateau in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Jia, Qianmin & Sun, Lefeng & Ali, Shahzad & Zhang, Yan & Liu, Donghua & Kamran, Muhammad & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan & Ren, Xiaolong, 2018. "Effect of planting density and pattern on maize yield and rainwater use efficiency in the Loess Plateau in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 19-32.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:202:y:2018:i:c:p:19-32
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2018.02.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377418300970
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.02.011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gan, Y. & Campbell, C.A. & Liu, L. & Basnyat, P. & McDonald, C.L., 2009. "Water use and distribution profile under pulse and oilseed crops in semiarid northern high latitude areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 337-348, February.
    2. Ren, Xiaolong & Jia, Zhikuan & Chen, Xiaoli, 2008. "Rainfall concentration for increasing corn production under semiarid climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(12), pages 1293-1302, December.
    3. Li, Xiao-Yan & Gong, Jia-Dong, 2002. "Effects of different ridge:furrow ratios and supplemental irrigation on crop production in ridge and furrow rainfall harvesting system with mulches," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 243-254, April.
    4. Qin, Shuhao & Zhang, Junlian & Dai, Hailin & Wang, Di & Li, Deming, 2014. "Effect of ridge–furrow and plastic-mulching planting patterns on yield formation and water movement of potato in a semi-arid area," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 87-94.
    5. Li, Feng-Min & Wang, Ping & Wang, Jun & Xu, Jin-Zhang, 2004. "Effects of irrigation before sowing and plastic film mulching on yield and water uptake of spring wheat in semiarid Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 77-88, June.
    6. Li, Rong & Hou, Xianqing & Jia, Zhikuan & Han, Qingfang & Ren, Xiaolong & Yang, Baoping, 2013. "Effects on soil temperature, moisture, and maize yield of cultivation with ridge and furrow mulching in the rainfed area of the Loess Plateau, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 101-109.
    7. Deng, Xi-Ping & Shan, Lun & Zhang, Heping & Turner, Neil C., 2006. "Improving agricultural water use efficiency in arid and semiarid areas of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 23-40, February.
    8. Wang, Xiao-Ling & Li, Feng-Min & Jia, Yu & Shi, Wen-Quan, 2005. "Increasing potato yields with additional water and increased soil temperature," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 181-194, December.
    9. Zhang, Jiyang & Sun, Jingsheng & Duan, Aiwang & Wang, Jinglei & Shen, Xiaojun & Liu, Xiaofei, 2007. "Effects of different planting patterns on water use and yield performance of winter wheat in the Huang-Huai-Hai plain of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 41-47, August.
    10. Nyakudya, Innocent Wadzanayi & Stroosnijder, Leo, 2014. "Effect of rooting depth, plant density and planting date on maize (Zea mays L.) yield and water use efficiency in semi-arid Zimbabwe: Modelling with AquaCrop," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 280-296.
    11. Huang, Yilong & Chen, Liding & Fu, Bojie & Huang, Zhilin & Gong, Jie, 2005. "The wheat yields and water-use efficiency in the Loess Plateau: straw mulch and irrigation effects," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 209-222, April.
    12. Yuan, Tian & Fengmin, Li & Puhai, Liu, 2003. "Economic analysis of rainwater harvesting and irrigation methods, with an example from China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 217-226, May.
    13. Payero, José O. & Tarkalson, David D. & Irmak, Suat & Davison, Don & Petersen, James L., 2008. "Effect of irrigation amounts applied with subsurface drip irrigation on corn evapotranspiration, yield, water use efficiency, and dry matter production in a semiarid climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(8), pages 895-908, August.
    14. Kang, Shaozhong & Gu, Binjie & Du, Taisheng & Zhang, Jianhua, 2003. "Crop coefficient and ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration of winter wheat and maize in a semi-humid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 239-254, April.
    15. Wu, Yang & Jia, Zhikuan & Ren, Xiaolong & Zhang, Yan & Chen, Xin & Bing, Haoyang & Zhang, Peng, 2015. "Effects of ridge and furrow rainwater harvesting system combined with irrigation on improving water use efficiency of maize (Zea mays L.) in semi-humid area of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1-9.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Meng, Xiangping & Lian, Yanhao & Liu, Qi & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan & Han, Qingfang, 2020. "Optimizing the planting density under the ridge and furrow rainwater harvesting system to improve crop water productivity for foxtail millet in semiarid areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    2. Chen, Ning & Li, Xianyue & Šimůnek, Jirí & Shi, Haibin & Ding, Zongjiang & Peng, Zunyuan, 2019. "Evaluating the effects of biodegradable film mulching on soil water dynamics in a drip-irrigated field," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    3. Zhang, Peng & Wei, Ting & Han, Qingfang & Ren, Xiaolong & Jia, Zhikuan, 2020. "Effects of different film mulching methods on soil water productivity and maize yield in a semiarid area of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    4. Yueyue Xu & Yingxin Wang & Xiangcheng Ma & Tie Cai & Zhikuan Jia, 2022. "Effect of a Ridge-Furrow Mulching System and Limited Supplementary Irrigation on N 2 O Emission Characteristics and Grain Yield of Winter Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) Fields under Dryland Conditions," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Shi, Rongchao & Wang, Jintao & Tong, Ling & Du, Taisheng & Shukla, Manoj Kumar & Jiang, Xuelian & Li, Donghao & Qin, Yonghui & He, Liuyue & Bai, Xiaorui & Guo, Xiaoxu, 2022. "Optimizing planting density and irrigation depth of hybrid maize seed production under limited water availability," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    6. Hou, Xianqing & Li, Rong & He, Wenshou & Ma, Kun, 2020. "Effects of planting density on potato growth, yield, and water use efficiency during years with variable rainfall on the Loess Plateau, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    7. Guoqiang Zhang & Bo Ming & Dongping Shen & Ruizhi Xie & Peng Hou & Jun Xue & Keru Wang & Shaokun Li, 2021. "Optimizing Grain Yield and Water Use Efficiency Based on the Relationship between Leaf Area Index and Evapotranspiration," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-14, April.
    8. He, Rui & He, Min & Xu, Haidong & Zhang, Kun & Zhang, Mingcai & Ren, Dan & Li, Zhaohu & Zhou, Yuyi & Duan, Liusheng, 2023. "A novel plant growth regulator brazide improved maize water productivity in the arid region of Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    9. Yang, Wenjia & Yan, Naitong & Zhang, Jiali & Yan, Jiakun & Ma, Dengke & Wang, Shiwen & Yin, Lina, 2022. "The applicability of water-permeable plastic film and biodegradable film as alternatives to polyethylene film in crops on the Loess Plateau," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    10. Yuan Li & Zhenxing Zhang & Jingwei Wang & Mingzhi Zhang, 2022. "Soil Aeration and Plastic Film Mulching Increase the Yield Potential and Quality of Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-16, February.
    11. Chen, Zhijun & Sun, Shijun & Zhu, Zhenchuang & Jiang, Hao & Zhang, Xudong, 2019. "Assessing the effects of plant density and plastic film mulch on maize evaporation and transpiration using dual crop coefficient approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    12. Ali, Shahzad & Xu, Yueyue & Jia, Qianmin & Ahmad, Irshad & Ma, Xiangcheng & Yan, Zhang & Cai, Tie & Ren, Xiaolong & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan, 2018. "Interactive effects of planting models with limited irrigation on soil water, temperature, respiration and winter wheat production under simulated rainfall conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 198-211.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jia, Qianmin & Sun, Lefeng & Mou, Hongyan & Ali, Shahzad & Liu, Donghua & Zhang, Yan & Zhang, Peng & Ren, Xiaolong & Jia, Zhikuan, 2018. "Effects of planting patterns and sowing densities on grain-filling, radiation use efficiency and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) in semi-arid regions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 287-298.
    2. Meng, Xiangping & Lian, Yanhao & Liu, Qi & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan & Han, Qingfang, 2020. "Optimizing the planting density under the ridge and furrow rainwater harvesting system to improve crop water productivity for foxtail millet in semiarid areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    3. Lian, Yanhao & Ali, Shahzad & Zhang, Xudong & Wang, Tianlu & Liu, Qi & Jia, Qianmin & Jia, Zhikuan & Han, Qingfang, 2016. "Nutrient and tillage strategies to increase grain yield and water use efficiency in semi-arid areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 137-147.
    4. Ali, Shahzad & Ma, Xiangcheng & Jia, Qianmin & Ahmad, Irshad & Ahmad, Shakeel & Sha, Zhang & Yun, Bai & Muhammad, Adil & Ren, Xiaolong & shah, Shahen & Akbar, Habib & Cai, Tie & Zhang, Jiahua & Jia, Z, 2019. "Supplemental irrigation strategy for improving grain filling, economic return, and production in winter wheat under the ridge and furrow rainwater harvesting system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    5. Ali, Shahzad & Jan, Amanullah & Zhang, Peng & Khan, Muhammad Numan & Cai, Tei & Wei, Ting & Ren, Xiaolong & Jia, Qianmin & Han, Qingfang & Jia, Zhikuan, 2016. "Effects of ridge-covering mulches on soil water storage and maize production under simulated rainfall in semiarid regions of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 1-11.
    6. Ali, Shahzad & Xu, Yueyue & Jia, Qianmin & Ahmad, Irshad & Ma, Xiangcheng & Yan, Zhang & Cai, Tie & Ren, Xiaolong & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan, 2018. "Interactive effects of planting models with limited irrigation on soil water, temperature, respiration and winter wheat production under simulated rainfall conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 198-211.
    7. Zhang, Yan & Ma, Qian & Liu, Donghua & Sun, Lefeng & Ren, Xiaolong & Ali, Shahzad & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan, 2018. "Effects of different fertilizer strategies on soil water utilization and maize yield in the ridge and furrow rainfall harvesting system in semiarid regions of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 414-421.
    8. Zhang, Shaohui & Wang, Haidong & Sun, Xin & Fan, Junliang & Zhang, Fucang & Zheng, Jing & Li, Yuepeng, 2021. "Effects of farming practices on yield and crop water productivity of wheat, maize and potato in China: A meta-analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    9. Wang, Jialin & Pan, Zhihua & Pan, Feifei & He, Di & Pan, Yuying & Han, Guolin & Huang, Na & Zhang, Ziyuan & Yin, Wenjuan & Zhang, Jiale & Peng, Ruiqi & Wang, Zizhong, 2020. "The regional water-conserving and yield-increasing characteristics and suitability of soil tillage practices in Northern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    10. Hu, Yajin & Ma, Penghui & Zhang, Binbin & Hill, Robert L. & Wu, Shufang & Dong, Qin’ge & Chen, Guangjie, 2019. "Exploring optimal soil mulching for the wheat-maize cropping system in sub-humid drought-prone regions in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 59-71.
    11. Duan, Chenxiao & Chen, Guangjie & Hu, Yajin & Wu, Shufang & Feng, Hao & Dong, Qin’ge, 2021. "Alternating wide ridges and narrow furrows with film mulching improves soil hydrothermal conditions and maize water use efficiency in dry sub-humid regions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    12. He, Zhihao & Gong, Kaiyuan & Zhang, Zhiliang & Dong, Wenbiao & Feng, Hao & Yu, Qiang & He, Jianqiang, 2022. "What is the past, present, and future of scientific research on the Yellow River Basin? —A bibliometric analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    13. Liu, Yi & Li, Shiqing & Chen, Fang & Yang, Shenjiao & Chen, Xinping, 2010. "Soil water dynamics and water use efficiency in spring maize (Zea mays L.) fields subjected to different water management practices on the Loess Plateau, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(5), pages 769-775, May.
    14. Gu, Xiao-Bo & Li, Yuan-Nong & Du, Ya-Dan, 2018. "Effects of ridge-furrow film mulching and nitrogen fertilization on growth, seed yield and water productivity of winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) in Northwestern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 60-70.
    15. Hou, Xianqing & Li, Rong, 2019. "Interactive effects of autumn tillage with mulching on soil temperature, productivity and water use efficiency of rainfed potato in loess plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Wu, Yang & Jia, Zhikuan & Ren, Xiaolong & Zhang, Yan & Chen, Xin & Bing, Haoyang & Zhang, Peng, 2015. "Effects of ridge and furrow rainwater harvesting system combined with irrigation on improving water use efficiency of maize (Zea mays L.) in semi-humid area of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1-9.
    17. Jia, Qianmin & Xu, Ranran & Chang, Shenghua & Zhang, Cheng & Liu, Yongjie & Shi, Wei & Peng, Zechen & Hou, Fujiang, 2020. "Planting practices with nutrient strategies to improves productivity of rain-fed corn and resource use efficiency in semi-arid regions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    18. Ali, Shahzad & Xu, Yueyue & Ahmad, Irshad & Jia, Qianmin & Fangyuan, Huang & Daur, Ihsanullah & Wei, Ting & Cai, Tie & Ren, Xiaolong & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan, 2018. "The ridge furrow cropping technique indirectly improves seed filling endogenous hormonal changes and winter wheat production under simulated rainfall conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 138-148.
    19. Liu, Xiaoli & Wang, Yandong & Yan, Xiaoqun & Hou, Huizhi & Liu, Pei & Cai, Tie & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan & Ren, Xiaolong & Chen, Xiaoli, 2020. "Appropriate ridge-furrow ratio can enhance crop production and resource use efficiency by improving soil moisture and thermal condition in a semi-arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    20. Munyasya, Alex Ndolo & Koskei, Kiprotich & Zhou, Rui & Liu, Shu-Tong & Indoshi, Sylvia Ngaira & Wang, Wei & Zhang, Xu-Cheng & Cheruiyot, Wesly Kiprotich & Mburu, David Mwehia & Nyende, Aggrey Bernard , 2022. "Integrated on-site & off-site rainwater-harvesting system boosts rainfed maize production for better adaptation to climate change," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:202:y:2018:i:c:p:19-32. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.