IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v289y2023ics0378377423004377.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Responses of winter wheat yield and water productivity to sowing time and plastic mulching in the Loess Plateau

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Lihong
  • Quan, Hao
  • Wu, Lina
  • Zhang, Xi
  • Feng, Hao
  • Ding, Dianyuan
  • Siddique, Kadambot H.M.

Abstract

On the Loess Plateau, unfavorable late-sowing conditions often arise due to late harvests from the previous season or excessive rainfall during the sowing season, which can delay seed germination, reduce tiller numbers, and decrease winter wheat yields. Few studies have explored whether plastic mulching (PM) can mitigate the adverse effects of late sowing. Consequently, we conducted a 3-year field experiment from 2017 to 2020 on the Loess Plateau combining two mulching conditions [PM and no mulching (NPM)] and three sowing times (normal, 10-day late, and 20-day late sowing). We investigated the combined influence of sowing time and mulching conditions on soil hydrothermal status, crop water productivity (WP), and yield. The results revealed that delayed sowing significantly prolonged emergence times and decreased tiller numbers, leaf area index (LAI), root biomass, and aboveground biomass (AGB). The PM increased soil temperatures, advancing wheat emergence and increasing tiller numbers. Plants under PM had higher LAI, root biomass, and AGB than those under NPM. Moreover, PM reduced ineffective transpiration by accelerating the degradation of ineffective tillers, resulting in higher yields without a corresponding increase in evapotranspiration. The beneficial effects extended to spike numbers, thousand-grain weight, and harvest index. Specifically, PM combined with 10-day late sowing increased yield by 12.8 % compared to NPM combined with normal sowing. Furthermore, under 20-day late sowing, PM mitigated yield losses, reducing them from a 28.7 % decline under NPM to a 12.8 % decline when compared to normal sowing under NPM. We conclude that PM completed compensated for the yield loss under 10-day late sowing and partially alleviated losses under 20-day late sowing. Therefore, combining 10-day late sowing (accumulated air temperature before winter > 430 °C d) with PM was the optimal approach for simultaneously improving yield and WP in winter wheat seasons with unfavorable late-sowing conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Lihong & Quan, Hao & Wu, Lina & Zhang, Xi & Feng, Hao & Ding, Dianyuan & Siddique, Kadambot H.M., 2023. "Responses of winter wheat yield and water productivity to sowing time and plastic mulching in the Loess Plateau," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:289:y:2023:i:c:s0378377423004377
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108572
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377423004377
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108572?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. Dong, Baodi & Liu, Mengyu & Jiang, Jingwei & Shi, Changhai & Wang, Xiaoming & Qiao, Yunzhou & Liu, Yueyan & Zhao, Zhihai & li, Dongxiao & Si, Fuyan, 2014. "Growth, grain yield, and water use efficiency of rain-fed spring hybrid millet (Setaria italica) in plastic-mulched and unmulched fields," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 93-101.
    2. Zhang, Xiying & Chen, Suying & Sun, Hongyong & Wang, Yanmei & Shao, Liwei, 2010. "Water use efficiency and associated traits in winter wheat cultivars in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(8), pages 1117-1125, August.
    3. Ali, Shahzad & Xu, Yueyue & Ma, Xiangcheng & Ahmad, Irshad & Manzoor, & Jia, Qianmin & Akmal, Muhammad & Hussain, Zahid & Arif, Muhammad & Cai, Tie & Zhang, Jiahua & Jia, Zhikuan, 2019. "Deficit irrigation strategies to improve winter wheat productivity and regulating root growth under different planting patterns," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 1-11.
    4. Wang, Huan & Fan, Jun & Fu, Wei & Du, Mengge & Zhou, Gu & Zhou, Mingxing & Hao, Mingde & Shao, Ming'an, 2022. "Good harvests of winter wheat from stored soil water and improved temperature during fallow period by plastic film mulching," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    5. Fernández, J.E. & Alcon, F. & Diaz-Espejo, A. & Hernandez-Santana, V. & Cuevas, M.V., 2020. "Water use indicators and economic analysis for on-farm irrigation decision: A case study of a super high density olive tree orchard," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    6. Gao, Yanmei & Zhang, Meng & Yao, Chunsheng & Liu, Yuqing & Wang, Zhimin & Zhang, Yinghua, 2021. "Increasing seeding density under limited irrigation improves crop yield and water productivity of winter wheat by constructing a reasonable population architecture," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Zhang, Hongbo & Han, Kun & Gu, Shubo & Wang, Dong, 2019. "Effects of supplemental irrigation on the accumulation, distribution and transportation of 13C-photosynthate, yield and water use efficiency of winter wheat," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 1-8.
    9. Yunlong Zhai & Quanzhong Wu & Guodong Chen & Hailin Zhang & Xiaogang Yin & Fu Chen, 2018. "Broadcasting Winter Wheat Can Increase Grain Yield without Reducing the Kernels per Spike and the Kernel Weight," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Hu, Yajin & Ma, Penghui & Wu, Shufang & Sun, Benhua & Feng, Hao & Pan, Xiaolian & Zhang, Binbin & Chen, Guangjie & Duan, Chenxiao & Lei, Qi & Siddique, Kadambot H.M. & Liu, Boyang, 2020. "Spatial-temporal distribution of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) roots and water use efficiency under ridge–furrow dual mulching," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    11. Ding, Dianyuan & Zhao, Ying & Feng, Hao & Hill, Robert Lee & Chu, Xiaosheng & Zhang, Tibin & He, Jianqiang, 2018. "Soil water utilization with plastic mulching for a winter wheat-summer maize rotation system on the Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 246-257.
    12. Ren, Baizhao & Dong, Shuting & Liu, Peng & Zhao, Bin & Zhang, Jiwang, 2016. "Ridge tillage improves plant growth and grain yield of waterlogged summer maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 392-399.
    13. Liu, Shuaikang & Lin, Xiang & Wang, Weiyan & Zhang, Baojun & Wang, Dong, 2022. "Supplemental irrigation increases grain yield, water productivity, and nitrogen utilization efficiency by improving nitrogen nutrition status in winter wheat," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    14. Ali, Shahzad & Xu, Yueyue & Ahmad, Irshad & Jia, Qianmin & Ma, Xiangcheng & Sohail, Amir & Manzoor, & Arif, Muhammad & Ren, Xiaolong & Cai, Tie & Zhang, Jiahua & Jia, Zhikuan, 2019. "The ridge-furrow system combined with supplemental irrigation strategies to improves radiation use efficiency and winter wheat productivity in semi-arid regions of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 76-86.
    15. Julia Bailey-Serres & Jane E. Parker & Elizabeth A. Ainsworth & Giles E. D. Oldroyd & Julian I. Schroeder, 2019. "Genetic strategies for improving crop yields," Nature, Nature, vol. 575(7781), pages 109-118, November.
    16. Dai, Yulong & Fan, Junliang & Liao, Zhenqi & Zhang, Chen & Yu, Jiang & Feng, Hanlong & Zhang, Fucang & Li, Zhijun, 2022. "Supplemental irrigation and modified plant density improved photosynthesis, grain yield and water productivity of winter wheat under ridge-furrow mulching," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    17. Xie, Zhong-kui & Wang, Ya-jun & Li, Feng-min, 2005. "Effect of plastic mulching on soil water use and spring wheat yield in arid region of northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 71-83, July.
    18. J. Křen & K. Klem & I. Svobodová & P. Míša & L. Neudert, 2014. "Yield and grain quality of spring barley as affected by biomass formation at early growth stages," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 60(5), pages 221-227.
    19. Yan, Shicheng & Wu, You & Fan, Junliang & Zhang, Fucang & Guo, Jinjin & Zheng, Jing & Wu, Lifeng, 2022. "Optimization of drip irrigation and fertilization regimes to enhance winter wheat grain yield by improving post-anthesis dry matter accumulation and translocation in northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    20. Yang, Yonghui & Ding, Jinli & Zhang, Yunhong & Wu, Jicheng & Zhang, Jiemei & Pan, Xiaoying & Gao, Cuimin & Wang, Yue & He, Fang, 2018. "Effects of tillage and mulching measures on soil moisture and temperature, photosynthetic characteristics and yield of winter wheat," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 299-308.
    21. Yang, Jian & Mao, Xiaomin & Wang, Kai & Yang, Weicai, 2018. "The coupled impact of plastic film mulching and deficit irrigation on soil water/heat transfer and water use efficiency of spring wheat in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 232-245.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Chai, Yuwei & Chai, Qiang & Yang, Changgang & Chen, Yuzhang & Li, Rui & Li, Yawei & Chang, Lei & Lan, Xuemei & Cheng, Hongbo & Chai, Shouxi, 2022. "Plastic film mulching increases yield, water productivity, and net income of rain-fed winter wheat compared with no mulching in semiarid Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    2. Zhang, Yan & Qiang, Shengcai & Zhang, Guangxin & Sun, Min & Wen, Xiaoxia & Liao, Yuncheng & Gao, Zhiqiang, 2023. "Effects of ridge–furrow supplementary irrigation on water use efficiency and grain yield of winter wheat in Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    3. Wang, Han & Xiang, Youzhen & Liao, Zhenqi & Wang, Xin & Zhang, Xueyan & Huang, Xiangyang & Zhang, Fucang & Feng, Li, 2024. "Integrated assessment of water-nitrogen management for winter oilseed rape production in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Dai, Yulong & Liao, Zhenqi & Lai, Zhenlin & Bai, Zhentao & Zhang, Fucang & Li, Zhijun & Fan, Junliang, 2023. "Interactive effects of planting pattern, supplementary irrigation and planting density on grain yield, water-nitrogen use efficiency and economic benefit of winter wheat in a semi-humid but drought-pr," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    6. Hu, Yajin & Ma, Penghui & Duan, Chenxiao & Wu, Shufang & Feng, Hao & Zou, Yufeng, 2020. "Black plastic film combined with straw mulching delays senescence and increases summer maize yield in northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    7. Zhang, Runze & Lei, Tong & Wang, Yunfeng & Xu, Jiaxing & Zhang, Panxin & Han, Yan & Hu, Changlu & Yang, Xueyun & Sadras, Victor & Zhang, Shulan, 2022. "Responses of yield and water use efficiency to the interaction between water supply and plastic film mulch in winter wheat-summer fallow system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    8. Dai, Yulong & Fan, Junliang & Liao, Zhenqi & Zhang, Chen & Yu, Jiang & Feng, Hanlong & Zhang, Fucang & Li, Zhijun, 2022. "Supplemental irrigation and modified plant density improved photosynthesis, grain yield and water productivity of winter wheat under ridge-furrow mulching," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    9. Ding, Jinli & Wu, Jicheng & Ding, Dianyuan & Yang, Yonghui & Gao, Cuimin & Hu, Wei, 2021. "Effects of tillage and straw mulching on the crop productivity and hydrothermal resource utilization in a winter wheat-summer maize rotation system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    10. Han, Xuyang & Feng, Yu & Zhao, Jie & Ren, Aixia & Lin, Wen & Sun, Min & Gao, Zhiqiang, 2022. "Hydrothermal conditions impact yield, yield gap and water use efficiency of dryland wheat under different mulching practice in the Loess Plateau," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    11. Mehmood, Faisal & Wang, Guangshuai & Abubakar, Sunusi Amin & Zain, Muhammad & Rahman, Shafeeq Ur & Gao, Yang & Duan, Aiwang, 2023. "Optimizing irrigation management sustained grain yield, crop water productivity, and mitigated greenhouse gas emissions from the winter wheat field in North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    12. Yang, Jian & Mao, Xiaomin & Wang, Kai & Yang, Weicai, 2018. "The coupled impact of plastic film mulching and deficit irrigation on soil water/heat transfer and water use efficiency of spring wheat in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 232-245.
    13. Wang, Xiao-Ling & Duan, Pei-Ling & Yang, Shen-Jiao & Liu, Yu-Hua & Qi, Lin & Shi, Jiang & Li, Xue-Lin & Song, Peng & Zhang, Li-Xia, 2020. "Corn compensatory growth upon post-drought rewatering based on the effects of rhizosphere soil nitrification on cytokinin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    14. Jovanovic, N. & Pereira, L.S. & Paredes, P. & Pôças, I. & Cantore, V. & Todorovic, M., 2020. "A review of strategies, methods and technologies to reduce non-beneficial consumptive water use on farms considering the FAO56 methods," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    15. Xiangxiang Wang & Zhilong Cheng & Xin Cheng & Quanjiu Wang, 2022. "Effects of Surface Mulching on the Growth and Water Consumption of Maize," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-12, November.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Zhao, Guoqing & Mu, Yan & Wang, Yanhui & Wang, Li, 2022. "Magnetization and oxidation of irrigation water to improve winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production and water-use efficiency," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    19. Yao, Chunsheng & Li, Jinpeng & Zhang, Zhen & Liu, Ying & Wang, Zhimin & Sun, Zhencai & Zhang, Yinghua, 2023. "Improving wheat yield, quality and resource utilization efficiency through nitrogen management based on micro-sprinkler irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    20. Sun, Tao & Li, Geng & Ning, Tang-Yuan & Zhang, Zhi-Meng & Mi, Qing-Hua & Lal, Rattan, 2018. "Suitability of mulching with biodegradable film to moderate soil temperature and moisture and to increase photosynthesis and yield in peanut," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 214-223.

    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:289:y:2023:i:c:s0378377423004377. 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.