The Effect of Hose-micro-sprinkling Irrigation Amount on Yield and Water Consumption of Strip-planted Winter Wheat

Abstract

【Background】Hebei plain is one of the most important winter wheat production bases in China and plays an critical role in national food security. Most precipitations within wheat growth season in this region fall in July- August and cannot sustain wheat growth. Therefore, supplementary irrigation using groundwater is needed. Over exploitation of groundwater combining with the inefficient flood irrigation over the past few decades has led to serious environmental and ecological degradation, and developing water-saving irrigation techniques has thus become essential to sustaining wheat production in this region. 【Objective】The purpose of this paper is to study how hose-micro-sprinkler irrigation amount impacts water consumption and yield of winter wheat planted in strip pattern, in attempts to improve water use efficacy without undermining crop yield. 【Method】The field experiment was conducted in 2019 with the cultivar Jimai 22 used as the model plant. We compared four irrigation amounts: 15 mm (W1), 22.5 mm (W2), 30 mm(W3) and 37.5 mm(W4), with the 60 mm furrow-irrigation used by local farmers taken as the control (CK). Crops in each treatment were irrigated at jointing, early and middle grain-filling stages, respectively. During the experiment, we measured and calculated water consumption, grain yield and water use efficiency of the wheat. 【Result】The total water consumption during the growth season was 306.46~399.4 mm, varying with treatments, and the proportion of soil water consumed by the crops under W1, W2, W3, W4 and CK was 44.2%, 42.97%, 41.24%, 40.15% and 38.41%, respectively. With the irrigation amount increasing, the proportion of irrigation water consumed by the crops increased. The crops were most water-demanding from the jointing stage to the early filling stage, with 45.33%~53.68% of the total water they consumed occurring in this period. The crops consumed more water from sowing stage to early grouting stage in all treatments, while in CK the crops took up more water they consumed between the early grain-filling stage and the ripening stage. The grain yield increased with irrigation amount, peaking at 9 682.66 kg/hm2 in W4. In contrast, water use efficiency in W3 was the highest, increasing by 7.54% compared to the CK. 【Conclusion】In terms of high-yield and high-water use efficiency, the most appropriate irrigation was 135~157.5 mm, with its associated water consumption being 367.5~400 mm.

Keywords

• winter wheat
• micro-sprinkling-hoses irrigation
• irrigation amount
• water consumption
• yield