Assessing Growth and Water Productivity for Drip-Irrigated Maize under High Plant Density in Arid to Semi-Humid Climates

Feng Wang, Jun Xue, Ruizhi Xie, Bo Ming, Keru Wang, Peng Hou, Lizhen Zhang and Shaokun Li
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Feng Wang: Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China
Jun Xue: Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China
Ruizhi Xie: Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China
Bo Ming: Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China
Keru Wang: Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China
Peng Hou: Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China
Lizhen Zhang: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Shaokun Li: Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100081, China

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Determining the water productivity of maize is of great significance for ensuring food security and coping with climate change. In 2018 and 2019, we conducted field trials in arid areas (Changji), semi-arid areas (Qitai) and semi-humid areas (Xinyuan). The hybrid XY335 was selected for the experiment, the planting density was 12.0 × 10 4 plants ha −1 , and five irrigation amounts were set. The results showed that yield, biomass, and transpiration varied substantially and significantly between experimental sites, irrigation and years. Likewise, water use efficiency (WUE) for both biomass (WUE B ) and yield (WUE Y ) were affected by these factors, including a significant interaction. Normalized water productivity (WP*) of maize increased significantly with an increase in irrigation. The WP* for film mulched drip irrigation maize was 37.81 g m −2 d − 1 ; it was varied significantly between sites and irrigation or their interaction. We conclude that WP* differs from the conventional parameter for water productivity but is a useful parameter for assessing the attainable rate of film-mulched drip irrigation maize growth and yield in arid areas, semi-arid areas and semi-humid areas. The parametric AquaCrop model was not accurate in simulating soil water under film mulching. However, it was suitable for the prediction of canopy coverage (CC) for most irrigation treatments.

Keywords: AquaCrop model; normalized water productivity; film-mulched drip irrigation; dense planting; multi-ecological area (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 (3)

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