Webbläsaren som du använder stöds inte av denna webbplats. Alla versioner av Internet Explorer stöds inte längre, av oss eller Microsoft (läs mer här: * https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Var god och använd en modern webbläsare för att ta del av denna webbplats, som t.ex. nyaste versioner av Edge, Chrome, Firefox eller Safari osv.

Default user image.

Wenxin Zhang

Forskare

Default user image.

Drip irrigation improves spring wheat water productivity by reducing leaf area while increasing yield

Författare

  • Danni Yang
  • Sien Li
  • Mousong Wu
  • Hanbo Yang
  • Wenxin Zhang
  • Ji Chen
  • Chunyu Wang
  • Siyu Huang
  • Ruoqing Zhang
  • Yunxuan Zhang

Summary, in English

To mitigate the climate change-induced water shortage and realize the sustainable development of agriculture, drip irrigation, a more efficient water-saving irrigation method, has been intensively implemented in most arid agricultural regions in the world. However, compared to traditional border irrigation, how drip irrigation affects the biophysical conditions in the cropland and how crops physiologically respond to changes in biophysical conditions in terms of water, heat and carbon exchange remain largely unknown. In view of the above situation, to reveal the mechanism of drip irrigation in improving spring wheat water productivity, paired field experiments based on drip irrigation and border irrigation were conducted to extensively monitor water and heat fluxes at a typical spring wheat field (Triticum aestivum L.) in Northwest China during 2017–2020. The results showed that drip irrigation improved yield by 10.3 % and crop water productivity (i.e., yield-to-evapotranspiration-ratio) by 15.6 %, but reduced LAI by 16.9 % in contrast with border irrigation. Under drip irrigation, the lateral development of spring wheat roots was promoted by higher soil temperature combined with frequent dry-wet alternation in the shallow soil layer (0–20 cm), which was the basis for efficient absorption of water and fertilizer, as well as efficient formation of photosynthate. Meanwhile, drip irrigation increased net radiation and decreased latent heat flux by inhibiting leaf growth, thereby increased sensible heat, causing a higher soil temperature (+1.10 ℃) and canopy temperature (+1.11 ℃). Further analysis proved that soil temperature was the key factor affecting yield formation. Based on the above conditions, the decrease in leaf distribution coefficient (−0.030) led to the decrease in evapotranspiration (−5.7 %) and the increase in ear distribution coefficient (+0.029). Therefore, drip irrigation emphasized the role of soil moisture in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, enhanced crop activity by increasing field temperature, especially soil temperature, and finally improved yield and water productivity via carbon reallocation. The study revealed the mechanism of drip irrigation for improving spring wheat yield, and would contribute to improving Earth system models in representing agricultural cropland ecosystems with drip irrigation and predicting the subsequent biophysical and biogeochemical feedbacks to climate change.

Avdelning/ar

  • Institutionen för naturgeografi och ekosystemvetenskap
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Lund University Bioimaging Center

Publiceringsår

2023-02

Språk

Engelska

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

European Journal of Agronomy

Volym

143

Dokumenttyp

Artikel i tidskrift

Förlag

Elsevier

Ämne

  • Other Agricultural Sciences
  • Climate Research

Nyckelord

  • Carbon allocation
  • Drip irrigation
  • Energy balance
  • Root water uptake
  • Water productivity

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISSN: 1161-0301