Oxygation Enhances Growth,Gas Exchange and Salt Tolerance of Vegetable Soybean and Cotton in a Saline Vertisol

Impacts of salinity become severe when the soil is deficient in oxygen. OxygaUon （using aerated water for subsurface drip irrigation of crop） could minimize the impact of salinity on plants under oxygen-limiting soil environments. Pot experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of oxygation （12% air volume/volume of water） on vegetable soybean （moderately salt tolerant） and cotton （salt tolerant） in a salinized vertisol at 2, 8, 14, 20 dS/m ECe. In vegetable soybean, oxygation increased above ground biomass yield and water use efficiency （WUE） by 13% and 22%, respectively, compared with the control. Higher yield with oxygation was accompanied by greater plant height and stem diameter and reduced specific leaf area and leaf Na^＋ and CI^- concentrations. In cotton, oxygation increased lint yield and WUE by 18% and 16%, respectively, compared with the control, and was accompanied by greater canopy light interception, plant height and stem diameter. Oxygation also led to a greater rate of photosynthesis, higher relative water content in the leaf, reduced crop water stress index and lower leaf water potential. It did not, however, affect leaf Na^＋ or CI^- concentration. Oxygation invariably increased, whereas salinity reduced the K^＋： Na^＋ ratio in the leaves of both species. Oxygation improved yield and WUE performance of salt tolerant and moderately tolerant crops under saline soil environments, and this may have a significant impact for irrigated agriculture where saline soils pose constraints to crop production.     

Much Improved Irrigation Use Efficiency in an Intensive Wheat-Maize Double Cropping System in the North China Plain

Crop yield and water use efficiency （WUE） in a wheat-maize double cropping system are influenced by short and uneven rainfalls in the North China Plain （NCP）, A 2-year experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of irrigation on soil water balance, crop yield and WUE to improve irrigation use efficiency in the cropping system, Soil water depletion （~SWS） by crop generally decreased with the increase of irrigation and rainfall, while ASWS for the whole rotation was relatively stable among these irrigation treatments, High irrigations in wheat season increased initial soil moisture and ASWS for subsequent maize especially in the drought season, Initial soil water influenced mainly by the irrigation and rainfall in the previous crop season, is essential to high yield in such cropping systems, Grain yield decreased prior to evapotranspiraUon （ET） when ET reached about 300mm for wheat, while maize showed various WUEs with similar seasonal ET, For whole rotation, WUE declined when ET exceeded about 650 mm, These results indicate great potential for improving irrigation use efficiency in such wheat-maize cropping system in the NCP, Based on the present results, reasonable irrigation schedules according to different annual rainfall conditions are presented for such a cropping system.     

Water-Saving and High-Yielding Irrigation for Lowland Rice by Controlling Limiting Values of Soil Water Potential

The present study investigated whether an irrigation system could be established to save water and increase grain yield to enhance water productivity by proper water management at the field level in irrigated lowland rice （Oryza sativa L.）. Using two field-grown rice cultivars, two irrigation systems; conventional irrigation and water-saving irrigation, were conducted. In the water-saving irrigation system, limiting values of soil water potential related to specific growth stages were proposed as irrigation indices. Compared with conventional irrigation where drainage was in mid-season and flooded at other times, the water-saving irrigation increased grain yield by 7.4% to 11.3%, reduced irrigation water by 24.5% to 29.2%, and increased water productivity （grain yield per cubic meter of irrigation water） by 43.1% to 50.3%. The water-saving irrigation significantly increased harvest index, improved milling and appearance qualities, elevated zeatin-I-zeaUn riboside concentrations in root bleedings and enhanced activities of sucrose synthase, adenosine diphosphate glucose pyrophosphorylase, starch synthase and starch branching enzyme in grains. Our results indicate that water-saving irrigation by controlling limiting values of soil water potential related to specific growth stages can enhance physiological activities of roots and grains, reduce water input, and increase grain yield.     

Effects of elevated CO2 concentration, supplemental irrigation and nitrogenous fertilizer application on rain-fed spring wheat yield

It is expected that the CO₂ concentration of the Earth’s atmosphere will reach 600–1000 ppm by the end of the 21st century. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the effects of elevated CO₂ concentrations on the development of rain-fed spring wheat in an attempt to identify a practical pathway to increase crop production. To accomplish this, a field experiment was conducted at Guyuan Experimental Station in a semiarid region of China during 2005–2007. During this experiment, the CO₂ concentration was increased to 40.0 ppm and supplemental irrigation and nitrogenous fertilizer (N fertilizer) were applied. The experimental results showed that the elevated CO₂ concentration significantly improved the thousand-grain weight and the grain number per spike. Furthermore, supplemental irrigation and N fertilizer application during the elongation and booting stage of rain-fed spring wheat in conjunction with an elevated CO₂ concentration improved the water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), thousand-grain weight, and the yield by 14.6%, 39.6%, 9.3%, and 14.7%, respectively, when compared to groups subjected to the same treatment but not grown under elevated CO₂ concentrations. Furthermore, the spring wheat yield was improved by 81.8% in response to an elevated CO₂ concentration, 60 mm of supplemental irrigation and applied N fertilizer (37.5 g m^?2 NH₄NO₃). However, the presence of an elevated CO₂ concentration without supplemental irrigation and N fertilizer only resulted in an increase in the wheat yield of 7.8%. Consequently, the combination of elevated CO₂ concentration, supplemental irrigation and N fertilizer application played an important role in the improvement of WUE, NUE, thousand-grain weight, and grain yield of rain-fed spring wheat in this region.     

Effects of elevated CO2 concentration, supplemental irrigation and nitrogenous fertilizer application on rain-fed spring wheat yield

It is expected that the CO₂ concentration of the Earth’s atmosphere will reach 600–1000 ppm by the end of the 21st century. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the effects of elevated CO₂ concentrations on the development of rain-fed spring wheat in an attempt to identify a practical pathway to increase crop production. To accomplish this, a field experiment was conducted at Guyuan Experimental Station in a semiarid region of China during 2005–2007. During this experiment, the CO₂ concentration was increased to 40.0 ppm and supplemental irrigation and nitrogenous fertilizer (N fertilizer) were applied. The experimental results showed that the elevated CO₂ concentration significantly improved the thousand-grain weight and the grain number per spike. Furthermore, supplemental irrigation and N fertilizer application during the elongation and booting stage of rain-fed spring wheat in conjunction with an elevated CO₂ concentration improved the water use efficiency (WUE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), thousand-grain weight, and the yield by 14.6%, 39.6%, 9.3%, and 14.7%, respectively, when compared to groups subjected to the same treatment but not grown under elevated CO₂ concentrations. Furthermore, the spring wheat yield was improved by 81.8% in response to an elevated CO₂ concentration, 60 mm of supplemental irrigation and applied N fertilizer (37.5 g m^?2 NH₄NO₃). However, the presence of an elevated CO₂ concentration without supplemental irrigation and N fertilizer only resulted in an increase in the wheat yield of 7.8%. Consequently, the combination of elevated CO₂ concentration, supplemental irrigation and N fertilizer application played an important role in the improvement of WUE, NUE, thousand-grain weight, and grain yield of rain-fed spring wheat in this region.     

Stomatal Density and Bio-water Saving

Bio-water saving is to increase water use efficiency of crops or crop yield per unit of water input. Plant water use efficiency is determined by photosynthesis and transpiration, for both of which stomata are crucial. Stomata are pores on leaf epidermis for both water and carbon dioxide fluxes that are controlled by two major factors： stomatal behavior and density. Stomatal behavior has been the focus of intensive research, while less attention has been paid to stomatal density. Recently, a number of genes controlling stomatal development have been identified. This review summarizes the recent progress on the genes regulating stomatal density, and discusses the role of stomatal density in plant water use efficiency and the possibility to increase plant water use efficiency, hence bio-water saving by genetically manipulating stomatal density.     

Balanced nitrogen economy as a flexible strategy on yield stabilizing and quality of aquatic food crops in wetland ecosystem

In wetland ecosystem, nitrogen along with other elements and its management is most imperative for the production of so many aquatic food, non-food and beneficial medicinal plants and for the improvement of soil and water characteristics. With great significant importance of INM (integrated nutrient management) as sources, emphasizing on management on nitrogen as a key element and its divergence, a case study was undertaken on such aquatic food crops (starch and protein-rich, most popular and remunerative) in the farmers' field of low-lying 'Tal' situation of New Alluvial Zone of Indian subtropics. The study was designed in factorial randomized block design, where, three important aquatic food crops (water chestnut (Trapa bispinosa Roxb.), makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.) and water lily (Nymphaea spp.) as major factor and eleven combinations of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients as sub-factor was considered in the experiment. It revealed from the results that the production of fresh kernels or nuts of water chestnut (8.571 ha-1), matured nut yield of makhana (3.06 t ha-1) and flower stalks of water-lily as vegetables (6.38 t ha-1) including its nutritional quality (starch, protein, sugar and minerals) was remarkably influenced with the application of both organic (neem oilcake @ 0.2 t ha-1) and inorganic sources (NPK @ 30:20:20 kg ha-1 along with spraying of NPK @ 0.5% each over crop canopy at 20 days interval after transplanting) than the other INM combinations applied to the crops. Among the crops, highest WCYE (water chestnut yield equivalence) exhibited in makhana due to its high price of popped-form in the country, which is being exported to other countries at now. Sole application of both (organic and inorganic sources) with lower range did not produce any significant outcome from the study and exhibited lower value for all the crops. Besides production of food crops, INM also greatly influenced the soil and water characterization and it was favourably reflected in this study. The physico-chemical characteristics of soil (textural class, pH, organic carbon, organic matter, ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) are most important and contributed a significant improvement due to cultivation of these aquatic crops. Analysis of such wet bodies represented the water characteristics (pH, BOD, COD, CO3 =, HCO3-, NO3- N, SO4-S and Cl-) were most responsive, adaptable and quite favourable for the cultivation of these crops in this vast waste unused wetlands for the mankind without any environmental degradation.     

Simulating the rice yield change in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River under SRES B2 scenario

As one of the most important crops in China, rice accounts for 18% of the country’s total cultivated area. Increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration and associated climate change may greatly affect the rice productivity. Therefore, understanding the impacts of climate change on rice production is of great significance. This paper aims to examine the potential impacts of future climate change on the rice yield in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which is one of the most important food production regions in China. Climate data generated by the regional climate Model PRECIS for the baseline (1961–1990) and future (2021–2050) period under IPCC SRES B2 scenario were employed as the input of the rice crop model ORYZA2000. Four experimental schemes were carried out to evaluate the effects of future climate warming, CO₂ fertilization and water managements (i.e., irrigation and rain-fed) on rice production. The results indicated that the average rice growth duration would be shortened by 4 days and the average rice yield would be declined by more than 14% as mean temperature raised by 1.5 °C during the rice growing season in 2021–2050 period under B2 scenario. This negative effect of climate warming was more obvious on the middle and late rice than early rice, since both of them experience higher mean temperature and more extreme high temperature events in the growth period from July to September. The significance effect of the enhanced CO₂ fertilization to rice yield was found under elevated CO₂ concentrations in 2021–2050 period under B2 scenario, which would increase rice yield by more than 10%, but it was still not enough to offset the negative effect of increasing temperature. As an important limiting factor to rice yield, precipitation contributed less to the variation of rice yield than either increased temperature or CO₂ fertilization, while the spatial distribution of rice yield depended on the temporal and spatial patterns of precipitation and temperature. Compared to the rain-fed rice, the irrigated rice generally had higher rice yield over the study area, since the irrigated rice was less affected by climate change. Irrigation could increase the rice yield by more than 50% over the region north of the Yangtze River, with less contribution to the south, since irrigation can relieve the water stress for rice growing in the north region of the study area. The results above indicated that future climate change would significantly affect the rice production in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, the adverse effect of future climate change on rice production will be reduced by taking adaptation measures to avoid disadvantages. However, there is uncertainty in the rice production response prediction due to the rice acclimation to climate change and bias in the simulation of rice yield with uncertainty of parameters accompanied with the uncertainty of future climate change scenario.     

Simulating the rice yield change in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River under SRES B2 scenario

As one of the most important crops in China, rice accounts for 18% of the country’s total cultivated area. Increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration and associated climate change may greatly affect the rice productivity. Therefore, understanding the impacts of climate change on rice production is of great significance. This paper aims to examine the potential impacts of future climate change on the rice yield in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which is one of the most important food production regions in China. Climate data generated by the regional climate Model PRECIS for the baseline (1961–1990) and future (2021–2050) period under IPCC SRES B2 scenario were employed as the input of the rice crop model ORYZA2000. Four experimental schemes were carried out to evaluate the effects of future climate warming, CO₂ fertilization and water managements (i.e., irrigation and rain-fed) on rice production. The results indicated that the average rice growth duration would be shortened by 4 days and the average rice yield would be declined by more than 14% as mean temperature raised by 1.5 °C during the rice growing season in 2021–2050 period under B2 scenario. This negative effect of climate warming was more obvious on the middle and late rice than early rice, since both of them experience higher mean temperature and more extreme high temperature events in the growth period from July to September. The significance effect of the enhanced CO₂ fertilization to rice yield was found under elevated CO₂ concentrations in 2021–2050 period under B2 scenario, which would increase rice yield by more than 10%, but it was still not enough to offset the negative effect of increasing temperature. As an important limiting factor to rice yield, precipitation contributed less to the variation of rice yield than either increased temperature or CO₂ fertilization, while the spatial distribution of rice yield depended on the temporal and spatial patterns of precipitation and temperature. Compared to the rain-fed rice, the irrigated rice generally had higher rice yield over the study area, since the irrigated rice was less affected by climate change. Irrigation could increase the rice yield by more than 50% over the region north of the Yangtze River, with less contribution to the south, since irrigation can relieve the water stress for rice growing in the north region of the study area. The results above indicated that future climate change would significantly affect the rice production in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, the adverse effect of future climate change on rice production will be reduced by taking adaptation measures to avoid disadvantages. However, there is uncertainty in the rice production response prediction due to the rice acclimation to climate change and bias in the simulation of rice yield with uncertainty of parameters accompanied with the uncertainty of future climate change scenario.     

An Integrated Approach to Crop Genetic Improvement

The balance between the supply and demand of the major food crops is fragile,fueling concerns for long-term global food security.The rising population,increasing wealth and a proliferation of nonfood uses(e.g.bioenergy) has led to growing demands on agriculture,while increased production is limited by greater urbanization,and the degradation of land.Furthermore,global climate change with increasing temperatures and lower,more erratic rainfall is projected to decrease agricultural yields.There is a predicted need to increase food production by at least 70% by 2050 and therefore an urgent need to develop novel and integrated approaches,incorporating high-throughput phenotyping that will both increaseproduction per unit area and simultaneously improve the resource use efficiency of crops.Yield potential,yield stability,nutrient and water use are all complex multigenic traits and while there is genetic variability,their complexity makes such traits difficult to breed for directly.Nevertheless molecular plant breeding has the potential to deliver substantial improvements,once the component traits and the genes underlying these traits have been identified.In addition,interactions between the individual traits must also be taken into account,a demand that is difficult to fulfill with traditional screening approaches.Identified traits will be incorporated into new cultivars using conventional or biotechnological tools.In order to better understand the relationship between genotype,component traits,and environment over time,a multidisciplinary approach must be adopted to both understand the underlying processes and identify candidate genes,QTLs and traits that can be used to develop improved crops.     

Deficit Irrigation as a Strategy to Save Water: Physiology and Potential Application to Horticulture

Water is an increasingly scarce resource worldwide and irrigated agriculture remains one of the largest and most inefficient users of this resource. Low water use efficiency (WUE) together with an increased competition for water resources with other sectors (e.g. tourism or industry) are forcing growers to adopt new irrigation and cultivation practices that use water more judiciously. In areas with dry and hot climates, drip irrigation and protected cultivation have improved WUE mainly by reducing runoff and evapotranspiration losses. However, complementary approaches are still needed to increase WUE in irrigated agriculture. Deficit irrigation strategies like regulated deficit irrigation or partial root drying have emerged as potential ways to increase water savings in agriculture by allowing crops to withstand mild water stress with no or only marginal decreases of yield and quality. Grapevine and several fruit tree crops seem to be well adapted to deficit irrigation,but other crops like vegetables tend not to cope so well due to losses in yield and quality. This paper aims at providing an overview of the physiological basis of deficit irrigation strategies and their potential for horticulture by describing the major consequences of their use to vegetative growth, yield and quality of different crops (fruits, vegetables and ornamentals).     

不同荫蔽栽培下亏缺灌溉对干热区小粒咖啡水光利用和产量的影响

干热区小粒咖啡水光管理粗放,产量和品质得不到保证.为探明干热区小粒咖啡最佳灌水和荫蔽栽培耦合模式,通过大田试验,设3个灌水水平(充分灌水、轻度亏缺灌水和重度亏缺灌水)和4个荫蔽栽培模式(无荫蔽:单作咖啡;轻度荫蔽:4行咖啡间作1行香蕉;中度荫蔽:3行咖啡间作1行香蕉;重度荫蔽:2行咖啡间作1行香蕉),研究香蕉荫蔽栽培下亏缺灌溉对小粒咖啡生长、叶片光合特性、水光利用和产量的影响.结果表明: 小粒咖啡叶片的净光合速率(P_n)、蒸腾速率(T_r)、气孔导度(g_s)、叶片水分利用效率(LWUE)、叶片表观光能利用效率(LRUE)随灌水量的增大而增大,胞间CO₂浓度(C_i)随灌水量的增大而减小;与充分灌水相比,轻度亏缺灌水的干豆产量减小9.4%,重度亏缺灌水的干豆产量减小36.7%,水分利用效率(WUE)减小16.9%.P_n、T_r、g_s、LWUE随荫蔽度的增大呈先增大后减小的趋势,中度荫蔽栽培的增量最大;与无荫蔽模式相比,轻度荫蔽模式干豆产量增加13.0%,WUE增加12.9%,中度荫蔽栽培模式干豆产量增加23.1%,WUE增加23.4%.干豆产量、WUE、百粒咖啡豆的体积和百粒鲜质量随灌水量和荫蔽度的增大呈不同程度增大,其中,中度荫蔽栽培下充分灌水的干豆产量和WUE增量最大.相同土层深度的土壤含水率随荫蔽度的增加而减小;在0~50 cm土层,土壤含水率随土层深度的增加先增大后减小.LRUE与光合有效辐射呈显著的负指数关系或符合Logistic曲线变化.因此,从优质高产、水光高效利用的综合效益考虑,中度荫蔽栽培下充分灌水是小粒咖啡灌水处理和香蕉荫蔽栽培模式的最佳组合.     

亏缺灌溉对棉花生长和水分利用效率的影响研究进展

棉花是世界上最主要的农作物之一。随着全球水资源的日益紧张,灌溉用水将成为限制棉花生产的主要因素。亏缺灌溉是一种低于作物正常腾发量的灌溉方式,可以在保证棉花产量和品质的前提下提高水分利用效率,是一种有效的节水灌溉方式。本文综述了亏缺灌溉对棉花生长和水分利用效率的影响。亏缺灌溉可以通过促进棉花由营养生长向生殖生长转化,降低棉花株高、叶面积、总生物量,从而提高收获指数、茎粗和水分利用效率。最后,综合现有的研究,结合棉花生产实际,提出亏缺灌溉应用推广建议,以期为旱区棉花可持续发展提供理论指导。     

Root growth and water uptake in winter wheat under deficit irrigation

Root growth is critical for crops to use soil water under water-limited conditions. A field study was conducted to investigate the effect of available soil water on root and shoot growth, and root water uptake in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under deficit irrigation in a semi-arid environment. Treatments consisted of rainfed, deficit irrigation at different developmental stages, and adequate irrigation. The rainfed plots had the lowest shoot dry weight because available soil water decreased rapidly from booting to late grain filling. For the deficit-irrigation treatments, crops that received irrigation at jointing and booting had higher shoot dry weight than those that received irrigation at anthesis and middle grain filling. Rapid root growth occurred in both rainfed and irrigated crops from floral initiation to anthesis, and maximum rooting depth occurred by booting. Root length density and dry weight decreased after anthesis. From floral initiation to booting, root length density and growth rate were higher in rainfed than in irrigated crops. However, root length density and growth rate were lower in rainfed than in irrigated crops from booting to anthesis. As a result, the difference in root length density between rainfed and irrigated treatments was small during grain filling. The root growth and water use below 1.4 m were limited by a caliche (45% CaCO₃) layer at about 1.4 m profile. The mean water uptake rate decreased as available soil water decreased. During grain filling, root water uptake was higher from the irrigated crops than from the rainfed. Irrigation from jointing to anthesis increased seasonal evapotranspiration, grain yield, harvest index and water-use efficiency based on yield (WUE), but did not affect water-use efficiency based on aboveground biomass. There was no significant difference in WUE among irrigation treatments except one-irrigation at middle grain filling. Due to a relatively deep root system in rainfed crops, the higher grain yield and WUE in irrigated crops compared to rainfed crops was not a result of rooting depth or root length density, but increased harvest index, and higher water uptake rate during grain filling.     

节水农业及其生理生态基础

提高自然降水和灌溉水利用效率是节水农业要解决的中心问题。近年实践证明,通过提高水分利用率的途径增加农田生产力存在很大潜力,节水和增产的目标可能同时实现。为实现这一目标,需要研究确定植物水分亏缺的允许程度。植物各个生理过程对水分亏缺的敏感性不同,综合文献报道和作者研究结果,水分亏缺对与作物产量密切相关生理过程影响的先后顺序为:生长—蒸腾—光合—运输。在一定条件下,有限水分亏缺不会对作物最终经济产量造成影响,但却能显著提高水分利用效率。     

Oxygation Enhances Growth, Gas Exchange and Salt Tolerance of Vegetable Soybean and Cotton in a Saline Vertisol

Impacts of salinity become severe when the soil is deficient in oxygen. Oxygation (using aerated water for subsurface drip irrigation of crop) could minimize the impact of salinity on plants under oxygen-limiting soil environments. Pot experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of oxygation (12% air volume/volume of water) on vegetable soybean (moderately salt tolerant) and cotton (salt tolerant) in a salinized vertisol at 2, 8, 14, 20 dS/m ECe. In vegetable soybean, oxygation increased above ground biomass yield and water use efficiency (WUE) by 13% and 22%, respectively, compared with the control. Higher yield with oxygation was accompanied by greater plant height and stem diameter and reduced specific leaf area and leaf Na+ and Cl-concentrations. In cotton, oxygation increased lint yield and WUE by 18% and 16%, respectively, compared with the control, and was accompanied by greater canopy light interception, plant height and stem diameter. Oxygation also led to a greater rate of photosynthesis, higher relative water content in the leaf, reduced crop water stress index and lower leaf water potential. It did not, however, affect leaf Na+ or Cl- concentration. Oxygation invariably increased, whereas salinity reduced the K+ : Na+ ratio in the leaves of both species. Oxygation improved yield and WUE performance of salt tolerant and moderately tolerant crops under saline soil environments, and this may have a significant impact for irrigated agriculture where saline soils pose constraints to crop production.     

Deficit irrigation for reducing agricultural water use

At present and more so in the future, irrigated agriculture will take place under water scarcity. Insufficient water supply for irrigation will be the norm rather than the exception, and irrigation management will shift from emphasizing production per unit area towards maximizing the production per unit of water consumed, the water productivity. To cope with scarce supplies, deficit irrigation, defined as the application of water below full crop-water requirements (evapotranspiration), is an important tool to achieve the goal of reducing irrigation water use. While deficit irrigation is widely practised over millions of hectares for a number of reasons - from inadequate network design to excessive irrigation expansion relative to catchment supplies - it has not received sufficient attention in research. Its use in reducing water consumption for biomass production, and for irrigation of annual and perennial crops is reviewed here. There is potential for improving water productivity in many field crops and there is sufficient information for defining the best deficit irrigation strategy for many situations. One conclusion is that the level of irrigation supply under deficit irrigation should be relatively high in most cases, one that permits achieving 60-100% of full evapotranspiration. Several cases on the successful use of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) in fruit trees and vines are reviewed, showing that RDI not only increases water productivity, but also farmers' profits. Research linking the physiological basis of these responses to the design of RDI strategies is likely to have a significant impact in increasing its adoption in water-limited areas.     

调亏灌溉对冬小麦耗水特性和水分利用效率的影响

以高产中筋冬小麦品种济麦22为材料,在山东兖州小孟镇史王村进行田间试验,研究了调亏灌溉对冬小麦耗水特性和水分利用效率的影响.结果表明：在全生育期降水228 mm条件下,W₁（土壤相对含水量：播种期80%+拔节期70%+开花期70%）和W₄（土壤相对含水量：播种期90%+拔节期85%+开花期85%）处理总耗水量高于W₀（土壤相对含水量：播种期80%+拔节期65%+开花期65%）、W₂（土壤相对含水量：播种期80%+拔节期80%+开花期80%）和W₃（土壤相对含水量：播种期90%+拔节期80%+开花期80%）处理,W₁和W₄处理间无显著差异;W₁处理增加了0～200 cm土层土壤贮水消耗量,降低了小麦拔节至开花期的耗水模系数,提高了开花至成熟期的耗水模系数;W₄处理在开花至成熟期、拔节至开花期的耗水量和耗水模系数均较大.调亏灌溉条件下,W₀处理水分利用效率较高,但产量最低;随灌溉量增加,其他处理水分利用效率呈先增加后降低的趋势.耗水量最高的W₁和W₄处理产量也最高,W₁处理灌溉水利用效率和灌溉效益均高于W₄处理,为本试验条件下高产节水的最佳处理.     

亏缺灌溉对干旱区两种乡土植物种子生产性能及其水分利用效率的影响

科学灌溉对植物种子生产具有重要意义。本研究以荒漠草原优良乡土植物沙芦草和牛枝子为对象,以充分灌溉为对照,探究不同生育时期亏缺灌溉对两种牧草种子生产和水分利用效率的影响。结果表明: 与对照相比,亏缺灌溉下两种植物土壤含水率下降,其中沙芦草土壤含水率下降主要发生在0～60 cm土层,牛枝子土壤水分下降未出现明显的分层现象。亏缺灌溉下沙芦草种子产量各构成因子差异均显著,开花期亏缺灌溉种子产量最高;牛枝子仅生殖枝数、小花数和荚果数差异显著,种子产量各处理差异不显著。相关分析显示,沙芦草种子产量与生殖枝数(r=0.776)、小穗数(r=0.717)呈显著正相关;牛枝子花序数与生殖枝数呈极显著负相关(r=-0.685),与小花数呈显著正相关(r=0.412)。与充分灌溉相比,亏缺灌溉下两种乡土植物种子生产耗水量减少,水分利用效率提高,其中,沙芦草开花期亏缺灌溉水分利用效率提高最多(32.9%);牛枝子分枝期亏缺灌溉提高最多(27.4%)。因此,适当亏缺灌溉可以提高两种植物水分利用效率。从水分利用效率和种子产量来看,干旱区沙芦草和牛枝子种子人工繁育时可采取亏缺灌溉,适宜亏缺的生育期分别为开花期和分枝期。     

喷灌条件下耕作方式和亏缺灌溉对麦后移栽棉产量和水分利用的影响

探明耕作方式和亏缺灌溉对麦后移栽棉产量和水分利用的效应,对于建立麦后移栽棉的适宜耕作方式及灌溉制度十分重要.在大田条件下设置了翻耕和免耕2种耕作方式(灌水定额均为45 mm)及相应减小50％灌水定额的亏缺灌溉,分析了不同耕作方式和亏缺灌溉对棉花耗水规律、籽棉产量、水分利用效率和纤维品质的影响.结果表明:与翻耕相比,免耕减少了棉田20.3％的棵间土壤蒸发;不论何种耕作方式,亏缺灌溉在不影响棉花产量和纤维品质的同时,有效降低了耗水量,提高了水分利用效率.在喷灌条件下,灌水定额为22.5 mm的免耕耕作方式,不仅可有效降低麦后移栽棉田间无效棵间土壤蒸发,还可实现节水、优质、高产的有效统一.