Sustainable Analysis of Maize Production under Previous Wheat Straw Returning in Arid Irrigated Areas

Conservation tillage is widely recognized as an important way to improve soil quality, ensure food security and mitigate climate change. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the subject in terms of sustainable evaluation of environmental and economic benefits of the combination of no tillage and straw returning for maize production in arid irrigated areas. In this study, grain yield (GY) and water use efficiency based on grain yield (WUE GY ), soil carbon emission characteristics and economic benefits were investigated, and a sustainability evaluation index based on the above indicators was assessed in maize production under a wheat–maize rotation system from 2009 to 2012. Four wheat straw returning approaches were designed: no tillage with 25 to 30 cm tall wheat straw mulching (NTSMP), no tillage with 25 to 30 cm tall wheat straw standing (NTSSP), conventional tillage with 25 to 30 cm tall wheat straw incorporation (CTSP), and conventional tillage without wheat straw returning (CTP). The results showed that NTSMP treatment could effectively regulate water consumption characteristics of maize fields and meet the water conditions for high grain yield formation, thus gaining higher GY and WUE GY . NTSMP increased GY and WUE GY of maize by 13.7–17.5% and 15.4–16.7% over the CTP treatment, and by 5.6–9.0% and 2.3–11.2% over the CTSP treatment, respectively. Meanwhile, compared with CTP, the NTSMP treatment could effectively reduce carbon emissions from maize fields, where average soil carbon emission fluxes (AC f ), carbon emission (CE) and water use efficiency based on carbon emission (WUE CE ) were reduced by 17.7–18.9%, 11.1–11.2% and 8.8–12.8% and carbon emission efficiency (CEE) was increased by 10.2–14.7%. In addition, the NTSMP and NTSSP treatments could effectively increase total output and reduce human labor and farm machinery input, resulting in higher economic benefit. Among them, the NTSMP treatment was the most effective, net income (NI) and benefit per cubic meter of water (BPW) were increased by 16.1–34.2% and 19.1–31.8% over the CTP treatment, and by 13.2–13.3% and 9.8–15.6% over the CTSP treatment, respectively. The sustainability analysis showed that the NTSMP treatment had a high sustainability evaluation index and was a promising field-management strategy. Therefore, no tillage with 25 to 30 cm tall wheat straw mulching is a sustainable maize-management practice for increasing economic benefits and improving environmental impacts in arid irrigated areas.