Impact of Tillage and Straw Treatment Methods on Rice Growth and Yields in a Rice–Ratoon Rice Cropping System

Shengchun Li, Yilin Zhang, Lihao Guo and Xiaofang Li
Additional contact information
Shengchun Li: College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China
Yilin Zhang: College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China
Lihao Guo: College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China
Xiaofang Li: College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-13

Abstract: The rice–ratoon rice cropping system has the advantages of saving labor and imparting economic benefits. Optimizing tillage and straw management is beneficial for improving ratoon rice growth and yield. In this study, field experiments were conducted to examine the effects of four tillage and straw managements on the growth and yield of a rice–ratoon rice cropping system in central China in 2020 to 2021. The managements included no-till with main-season and ratoon-season rice residues retained on the soil’s surface (NT+S), plow tillage with residue retention (CT+S), no-till with residues removed (NT-S), and plow tillage with residues removed (CT-S). Compared to NT, CT significantly increased yield by 33.70% and 29.12% in the main and ratoon seasons, respectively. Compared to straw removal, straw returning significantly increased yield by 13.37% and 27.29% in the main and ratoon seasons, respectively. In general, both CT and straw returning improved root function (root activity and root dry weight) and photosynthetic capacity (leaf area index, net photosynthetic rate, and leaf chlorophyll content). CT combined with straw returning was able to achieve the highest annual rice yield.

Keywords: plow tillage; straw removing; ratoon rice; root function; photosynthetic capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9290/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9290/ (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:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9290-:d:874929

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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