Wheat straw mulching with fertilizer nitrogen: An approach for improving soil water storage and maize crop productivity

Kashif Akhtar, Weiyu Wang, Ahmad Khan, Guangxin Ren, Muhammad Zahir Afridi, Yongzhong Feng and Gaihe Yang
Additional contact information
Kashif Akhtar: College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, P.R. China
Weiyu Wang: College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, P.R. China
Ahmad Khan: Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan
Guangxin Ren: College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, P.R. China
Muhammad Zahir Afridi: Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan
Yongzhong Feng: College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, P.R. China
Gaihe Yang: College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, P.R. China

Plant, Soil and Environment, 2018, vol. 64, issue 7, 330-337

Abstract: Field studies using wheat straw mulching effects on soil water storage and maize development were conducted in China. The studies contained four treatments during three years (2014-2016): CK (no straw and no nitrogen); N (no straw mulching with 172 kg N/ha); HS + N (half straw mulching at the rate of 2500 kg/ha with 172 kg N/ha), and FS + N (full straw mulching at the rate of 5000 kg/ha with 172 kg N/ha). The FS + N treatment significantly increased soil water storage in a drought period during crop growth stages and promoted plant growth along with increased evapotranspiration. The FS + N treatment increased the soil water storage (26.5, 19.9 and 11.1 mm), grain yield (28.7, 6.93 and 2.4%), and water use efficiency (26.6, 6.64 and 2.40%) compared to CK, N and HS + N, respectively. In conclusion, compared to N, HS + N or FS + N increased the biomass (11 and 19%) and water use efficiency (4 and 5%), respectively, and are considered beneficial in Guanzhong, China. Mulching levels were superior to N and compensated the wheat nitrogen requirements. Thus, further studies with minimum fertilizer nitrogen for an environmentally friendly and effective approach are recommended in semiarid regions of China.

Keywords: semi-arid region; Zea mays L.; rainfall; soil temperature; crop yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/96/2018-PSE.html (text/html)
http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/96/2018-PSE.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

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:caa:jnlpse:v:64:y:2018:i:7:id:96-2018-pse

DOI: 10.17221/96/2018-PSE

Access Statistics for this article

Plant, Soil and Environment is currently edited by Kateřina Součková

More articles in Plant, Soil and Environment from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().