TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of straw incorporation on soil water utilization and summer maize productivity
T2 - A five-year field study on the Loess Plateau of China
AU - Li, Yue
AU - Chen, Hao
AU - Feng, Hao
AU - Dong, Qin'ge
AU - Wu, Wenjie
AU - Zou, Yufeng
AU - Chau, Henry Wai
AU - Siddique, Kadambot H.M.
PY - 2020/4/30
Y1 - 2020/4/30
N2 - Soil water is a major limitation to high crop production on the Loess Plateau of China. Straw incorporation is often suggested to promote soil water retention and grain production. Despite the rising number of studies on straw application to soil, the demonstrated merits for straw with lower C: N ratios and varying lengths remain unknown. A five-year field experiment was conducted to explore the effect of ammoniated long or short straw incorporated into the soil on soil water storage (SWS), leaf area index (LAI), intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (PARi), aboveground biomass, evapotranspiration (ET), grain yield, and water use efficiency (WUE). The three treatments were: (i) control (CK: no straw), (ii) ammoniated long straw (50 mm) incorporated into the soil (ALSI), and (iii) ammoniated powdered straw (1 mm) incorporated into the soil (APSI). Compared to the CK plots, the APSI plots increased maize SWS and soil available water (SAW) by 0.2–5.1 % and 1.2–5.7 %, respectively, across the five cropping seasons, and had higher WUE and lower ET and evapotranspiration rate (ETR). The coefficients of variation (CV)—indicating the stability of aboveground biomass, grain yield, and harvest index (HI) in the three treatments across five growing seasons—were ranked as follows: APSI < ALSI < CK. The ammoniated powdered straw incorporated into the soil improved soil water utilization (i.e., conserved more water) and increased maize grain production better than the other two treatments in the rainfed region of the Loess Plateau of China.
AB - Soil water is a major limitation to high crop production on the Loess Plateau of China. Straw incorporation is often suggested to promote soil water retention and grain production. Despite the rising number of studies on straw application to soil, the demonstrated merits for straw with lower C: N ratios and varying lengths remain unknown. A five-year field experiment was conducted to explore the effect of ammoniated long or short straw incorporated into the soil on soil water storage (SWS), leaf area index (LAI), intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (PARi), aboveground biomass, evapotranspiration (ET), grain yield, and water use efficiency (WUE). The three treatments were: (i) control (CK: no straw), (ii) ammoniated long straw (50 mm) incorporated into the soil (ALSI), and (iii) ammoniated powdered straw (1 mm) incorporated into the soil (APSI). Compared to the CK plots, the APSI plots increased maize SWS and soil available water (SAW) by 0.2–5.1 % and 1.2–5.7 %, respectively, across the five cropping seasons, and had higher WUE and lower ET and evapotranspiration rate (ETR). The coefficients of variation (CV)—indicating the stability of aboveground biomass, grain yield, and harvest index (HI) in the three treatments across five growing seasons—were ranked as follows: APSI < ALSI < CK. The ammoniated powdered straw incorporated into the soil improved soil water utilization (i.e., conserved more water) and increased maize grain production better than the other two treatments in the rainfed region of the Loess Plateau of China.
KW - Novel cropping system
KW - Soil water utilization
KW - Straw incorporation
KW - Summer maize yield
KW - WUE
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080045311&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106106
DO - 10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106106
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85080045311
VL - 233
JO - Agricultural Water Management
JF - Agricultural Water Management
SN - 0378-3774
M1 - 106106
ER -