Optimizing Planting Density to Increase Maize Yield and Water Use Efficiency and Economic Return in the Arid Region of Northwest China

Guoqiang Zhang, Dongping Shen, Bo Ming, Ruizhi Xie, Peng Hou, Jun Xue, Keru Wang () and Shaokun Li ()
Additional contact information
Guoqiang Zhang: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Dongping Shen: The Key Laboratory of Oasis Eco-Agriculture, Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, College of Agronomy, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, China
Bo Ming: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Ruizhi Xie: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Peng Hou: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Jun Xue: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Keru Wang: The Key Laboratory of Oasis Eco-Agriculture, Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, College of Agronomy, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, China
Shaokun Li: Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: High grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE) are the key goals when producing maize ( Zea mays L.) under irrigation in arid areas. Increasing the planting density and optimizing irrigation are important agronomic practices for increasing the maize grain yield and WUE. A two-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of planting density and irrigation on the maize grain yield, WUE, and economic return of spring maize under a mulch drip irrigation system in Xinjiang, Northwest China. The experiment included four irrigation levels and five planting densities. The results showed that the reduction of irrigation decreased the yield and evapotranspiration (ET c ) but improved the WUE. Increasing the planting density increased the ET c , but there was a quadratic curve relationship between yield and WUE and planting density. Treatment with 600 mm of water and 12 plants m −2 obtained the highest grain yield (21.0–21.2 t ha −1 ) and economic return (3036.0 USD ha −1 ) and a relatively high WUE (2.64–2.70 kg kg −1 ). Therefore, a reasonable increase in planting density and an appropriate reduction of irrigation combined with drip irrigation under a mulch system can simultaneously achieve high yields and economic return and high WUE in maize production.

Keywords: maize; grain yield; water use efficiency; evapotranspiration; economic return (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/9/1322/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/9/1322/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:9:p:1322-:d:899386

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().