Exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in China
Water and nutrient availability significantly limits global crop production, especially for dryland agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions. To explore the optimal soil mulching options for the Loess Plateau in China, a 3-year field study was conducted to investigate the effects of various soil mu...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2018-04-01
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| Series: | Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica. Section B, Soil and Plant Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09064710.2017.1394486 |
| _version_ | 1797684431914270720 |
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| author | Liang Gaimei Wang Yuguo Chi Baoliang Li Nana Chen Wenliang Qin Wei |
| author_facet | Liang Gaimei Wang Yuguo Chi Baoliang Li Nana Chen Wenliang Qin Wei |
| author_sort | Liang Gaimei |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Water and nutrient availability significantly limits global crop production, especially for dryland agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions. To explore the optimal soil mulching options for the Loess Plateau in China, a 3-year field study was conducted to investigate the effects of various soil mulching practices on soil temperature and the water use and grain yield of spring maize. The treatments included traditional flat farming (CK), narrow plastic film mulch (NM), wide plastic film mulch (WM) and narrow plastic film mulch + maize straw mulch between rows (MS). The results showed that MS treatment increased consistently soil temperature during the initial stages of maize growth, and more importantly, it reduced diurnal temperature variation. MS also increased in soil water storage by 10.1%, leading to the highest water use efficiency (WUE = 30.9 kg ha−1 mm−1) over CK on 3 year average. MS significantly increased maize yield and net income of farmers by up to 20%, compared to CK. In conclusion, optimisation of soil mulching strategies significantly enhanced crop yield and water productivity in dryland agriculture in China. Our study provides important guidance for exploring better soil management practice for dryland agriculture in the other regions of the world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T00:29:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ce5e93dcba2143fbbaa2439b424009fe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0906-4710 1651-1913 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T00:29:35Z |
| publishDate | 2018-04-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica. Section B, Soil and Plant Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce5e93dcba2143fbbaa2439b424009fe2023-09-15T10:26:23ZengTaylor & Francis GroupActa Agriculturae Scandinavica. Section B, Soil and Plant Science0906-47101651-19132018-04-0168327328210.1080/09064710.2017.13944861394486Exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in ChinaLiang Gaimei0Wang Yuguo1Chi Baoliang2Li Nana3Chen Wenliang4Qin Wei5Shanxi Agriculture UniversityShanxi Agriculture UniversityShanxi Academy of Agricultural SciencesShanxi Academy of Agricultural SciencesShanxi Academy of Agricultural SciencesWageningen University and ResearchWater and nutrient availability significantly limits global crop production, especially for dryland agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions. To explore the optimal soil mulching options for the Loess Plateau in China, a 3-year field study was conducted to investigate the effects of various soil mulching practices on soil temperature and the water use and grain yield of spring maize. The treatments included traditional flat farming (CK), narrow plastic film mulch (NM), wide plastic film mulch (WM) and narrow plastic film mulch + maize straw mulch between rows (MS). The results showed that MS treatment increased consistently soil temperature during the initial stages of maize growth, and more importantly, it reduced diurnal temperature variation. MS also increased in soil water storage by 10.1%, leading to the highest water use efficiency (WUE = 30.9 kg ha−1 mm−1) over CK on 3 year average. MS significantly increased maize yield and net income of farmers by up to 20%, compared to CK. In conclusion, optimisation of soil mulching strategies significantly enhanced crop yield and water productivity in dryland agriculture in China. Our study provides important guidance for exploring better soil management practice for dryland agriculture in the other regions of the world.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09064710.2017.1394486soil waterdrylandmulchmaize yieldprecipitation |
| spellingShingle | Liang Gaimei Wang Yuguo Chi Baoliang Li Nana Chen Wenliang Qin Wei Exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in China Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica. Section B, Soil and Plant Science soil water dryland mulch maize yield precipitation |
| title | Exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in China |
| title_full | Exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in China |
| title_fullStr | Exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in China |
| title_short | Exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in China |
| title_sort | exploring optimal soil mulching to enhance maize yield and water use efficiency in dryland areas in china |
| topic | soil water dryland mulch maize yield precipitation |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09064710.2017.1394486 |
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