Conservation tillage increases yield and precipitation use efficiency of wheat on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China

Zhengkai Peng; Linlin Wang; Junhong Xie; Lingling Li; Jeffrey A. Coulter; Renzhi Zhang; Zhuzhu Luo; Liqun Cai; Peter Carberry; Anthony Whitbread

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106024

Conservation tillage increases yield and precipitation use efficiency of wheat on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China

Zhengkai Peng, Linlin Wang, Junhong Xie, Lingling Li, Jeffrey A. Coulter, Renzhi Zhang, Zhuzhu Luo, Liqun Cai, Peter Carberry, Anthony Whitbread

Agronomy and Plant Genetics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

75 Scopus citations

Abstract

Drought is a major limiting factor for rainfed spring wheat production on the semiarid Loess Plateau of China. Suitable tillage practices are important for improving precipitation use efficiency (PUE), which is the ratio of grain yield to annual precipitation. To obtain a better understanding of the effects of conservation tillage practices on PUE on the semiarid Loess Plateau, PUE was divided into five steps: precipitation storage efficiency, farmland water consumption rate, ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration, crop transpiration efficiency, and harvest index. Six tillage practices were assessed in this paper, including conventional tillage with no straw (T), no-till with straw cover (NTS), no-till with no straw (NT), conventional tillage with straw incorporated (TS), conventional tillage with plastic mulch (TP), and no-till with plastic mulch (NTP), based on a long-term experiment initiated in 2001. The impact of tillage practices on soil quality, soil water storage, soil evaporation, biomass yield, and grain yield of spring wheat were monitored in 2015 and 2016. The results show that NTS improved soil quality and soil water storage before sowing. No-till with plastic mulch and NTS increased evapotranspiration but decreased evaporation, thus optimizing precipitation storage efficiency, the farmland water consumption rate, the ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration, and crop transpiration efficiency, which gave rise to greater aboveground dry matter accumulation and more dry matter accumulation in grain. As a result, grain yield under NTS and NTP was significantly increased by 45 and 41 % compare to T, respectively, with corresponding improvements in PUE of 43 and 39 %. Therefore, both NTS and NTP have potential to substantially increase grain yield of spring wheat and PUE. However, for sustainable intensification in the long-run, NTS is the best combination of tillage and soil surface management for spring wheat production on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	106024
Journal	Agricultural Water Management
Volume	231
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106024
State	Published - Mar 31 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Research Program of the Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University (GSCS-2019-Z04, GSCS-2019-09, and GSCS-2017-4), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31761143004 and 31660373), and the Department of Education of Gansu Province (2017C-12).

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Research Program of the Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University ( GSCS-2019-Z04 , GSCS-2019-09 , and GSCS-2017-4 ), the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 31761143004 and 31660373 ), and the Department of Education of Gansu Province ( 2017C-12 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

Conservation tillage
Grain yield
Precipitation use efficiency
Soil evaporation
Transpiration

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106024

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title = "Conservation tillage increases yield and precipitation use efficiency of wheat on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China",

abstract = "Drought is a major limiting factor for rainfed spring wheat production on the semiarid Loess Plateau of China. Suitable tillage practices are important for improving precipitation use efficiency (PUE), which is the ratio of grain yield to annual precipitation. To obtain a better understanding of the effects of conservation tillage practices on PUE on the semiarid Loess Plateau, PUE was divided into five steps: precipitation storage efficiency, farmland water consumption rate, ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration, crop transpiration efficiency, and harvest index. Six tillage practices were assessed in this paper, including conventional tillage with no straw (T), no-till with straw cover (NTS), no-till with no straw (NT), conventional tillage with straw incorporated (TS), conventional tillage with plastic mulch (TP), and no-till with plastic mulch (NTP), based on a long-term experiment initiated in 2001. The impact of tillage practices on soil quality, soil water storage, soil evaporation, biomass yield, and grain yield of spring wheat were monitored in 2015 and 2016. The results show that NTS improved soil quality and soil water storage before sowing. No-till with plastic mulch and NTS increased evapotranspiration but decreased evaporation, thus optimizing precipitation storage efficiency, the farmland water consumption rate, the ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration, and crop transpiration efficiency, which gave rise to greater aboveground dry matter accumulation and more dry matter accumulation in grain. As a result, grain yield under NTS and NTP was significantly increased by 45 and 41 % compare to T, respectively, with corresponding improvements in PUE of 43 and 39 %. Therefore, both NTS and NTP have potential to substantially increase grain yield of spring wheat and PUE. However, for sustainable intensification in the long-run, NTS is the best combination of tillage and soil surface management for spring wheat production on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China.",

keywords = "Conservation tillage, Grain yield, Precipitation use efficiency, Soil evaporation, Transpiration",

author = "Zhengkai Peng and Linlin Wang and Junhong Xie and Lingling Li and Coulter, {Jeffrey A.} and Renzhi Zhang and Zhuzhu Luo and Liqun Cai and Peter Carberry and Anthony Whitbread",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Research Program of the Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University (GSCS-2019-Z04, GSCS-2019-09, and GSCS-2017-4), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31761143004 and 31660373), and the Department of Education of Gansu Province (2017C-12). Funding Information: This work was supported by the Research Program of the Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University ( GSCS-2019-Z04 , GSCS-2019-09 , and GSCS-2017-4 ), the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 31761143004 and 31660373 ), and the Department of Education of Gansu Province ( 2017C-12 ). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier B.V.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106024",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "231",

journal = "Agricultural Water Management",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Conservation tillage increases yield and precipitation use efficiency of wheat on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China

AU - Peng, Zhengkai

AU - Wang, Linlin

AU - Xie, Junhong

AU - Li, Lingling

AU - Coulter, Jeffrey A.

AU - Zhang, Renzhi

AU - Luo, Zhuzhu

AU - Cai, Liqun

AU - Carberry, Peter

AU - Whitbread, Anthony

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Research Program of the Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University (GSCS-2019-Z04, GSCS-2019-09, and GSCS-2017-4), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31761143004 and 31660373), and the Department of Education of Gansu Province (2017C-12). Funding Information: This work was supported by the Research Program of the Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University ( GSCS-2019-Z04 , GSCS-2019-09 , and GSCS-2017-4 ), the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 31761143004 and 31660373 ), and the Department of Education of Gansu Province ( 2017C-12 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2020/3/31

Y1 - 2020/3/31

N2 - Drought is a major limiting factor for rainfed spring wheat production on the semiarid Loess Plateau of China. Suitable tillage practices are important for improving precipitation use efficiency (PUE), which is the ratio of grain yield to annual precipitation. To obtain a better understanding of the effects of conservation tillage practices on PUE on the semiarid Loess Plateau, PUE was divided into five steps: precipitation storage efficiency, farmland water consumption rate, ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration, crop transpiration efficiency, and harvest index. Six tillage practices were assessed in this paper, including conventional tillage with no straw (T), no-till with straw cover (NTS), no-till with no straw (NT), conventional tillage with straw incorporated (TS), conventional tillage with plastic mulch (TP), and no-till with plastic mulch (NTP), based on a long-term experiment initiated in 2001. The impact of tillage practices on soil quality, soil water storage, soil evaporation, biomass yield, and grain yield of spring wheat were monitored in 2015 and 2016. The results show that NTS improved soil quality and soil water storage before sowing. No-till with plastic mulch and NTS increased evapotranspiration but decreased evaporation, thus optimizing precipitation storage efficiency, the farmland water consumption rate, the ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration, and crop transpiration efficiency, which gave rise to greater aboveground dry matter accumulation and more dry matter accumulation in grain. As a result, grain yield under NTS and NTP was significantly increased by 45 and 41 % compare to T, respectively, with corresponding improvements in PUE of 43 and 39 %. Therefore, both NTS and NTP have potential to substantially increase grain yield of spring wheat and PUE. However, for sustainable intensification in the long-run, NTS is the best combination of tillage and soil surface management for spring wheat production on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China.

AB - Drought is a major limiting factor for rainfed spring wheat production on the semiarid Loess Plateau of China. Suitable tillage practices are important for improving precipitation use efficiency (PUE), which is the ratio of grain yield to annual precipitation. To obtain a better understanding of the effects of conservation tillage practices on PUE on the semiarid Loess Plateau, PUE was divided into five steps: precipitation storage efficiency, farmland water consumption rate, ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration, crop transpiration efficiency, and harvest index. Six tillage practices were assessed in this paper, including conventional tillage with no straw (T), no-till with straw cover (NTS), no-till with no straw (NT), conventional tillage with straw incorporated (TS), conventional tillage with plastic mulch (TP), and no-till with plastic mulch (NTP), based on a long-term experiment initiated in 2001. The impact of tillage practices on soil quality, soil water storage, soil evaporation, biomass yield, and grain yield of spring wheat were monitored in 2015 and 2016. The results show that NTS improved soil quality and soil water storage before sowing. No-till with plastic mulch and NTS increased evapotranspiration but decreased evaporation, thus optimizing precipitation storage efficiency, the farmland water consumption rate, the ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration, and crop transpiration efficiency, which gave rise to greater aboveground dry matter accumulation and more dry matter accumulation in grain. As a result, grain yield under NTS and NTP was significantly increased by 45 and 41 % compare to T, respectively, with corresponding improvements in PUE of 43 and 39 %. Therefore, both NTS and NTP have potential to substantially increase grain yield of spring wheat and PUE. However, for sustainable intensification in the long-run, NTS is the best combination of tillage and soil surface management for spring wheat production on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China.

KW - Conservation tillage

KW - Grain yield

KW - Precipitation use efficiency

KW - Soil evaporation

KW - Transpiration

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SN - 0378-3774

VL - 231

JO - Agricultural Water Management

JF - Agricultural Water Management

M1 - 106024

ER -

Conservation tillage increases yield and precipitation use efficiency of wheat on the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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