The Effects of Aerated Irrigation on Soil Respiration and the Yield of the Maize Root Zone

Zhenzhen Yu, Chun Wang, Huafen Zou, Hongxuan Wang, Hailiang Li, Haitian Sun and Deshui Yu
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Zhenzhen Yu: College of Engineering, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, China
Chun Wang: College of Engineering, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, China
Huafen Zou: National Soil Quality Zhanjiang Observation and Experimental Station, South Subtropical Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Zhanjiang 524000, China
Hongxuan Wang: National Soil Quality Zhanjiang Observation and Experimental Station, South Subtropical Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Zhanjiang 524000, China
Hailiang Li: National Soil Quality Zhanjiang Observation and Experimental Station, South Subtropical Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Zhanjiang 524000, China
Haitian Sun: College of Engineering, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, China
Deshui Yu: School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: To investigate the effect of aerated irrigation on the soil environment and yield in the root zone of maize, and to provide a basis for the extension of aerated irrigation, a 2-year experiment (2020–2021) was conducted at the Zhanjiang National Soil Quality Observation Experiment Station, with two experimental observations per year (spring-summer and fall-winter) to investigate the effects of aerated irrigation (AI) and non-aerated irrigation (CK) on soil respiration rate, soil temperature, water content, oxygen content, soil bacterial biomass and root biomass. We used partial least square regression analysis (PLSR) to establish the regression equations of soil respiration rate, soil temperature, water content, oxygen content, soil bacterial biomass and root biomass under the two treatments, and the screening of the main soil environmental factors affecting changes in soil respiration rate under aerated irrigation technology. The results showed that, compared with CK, the AI treatment significantly increased the soil respiration rate and soil oxygen content (15.38~17.87% and 18.94~25.17%, respectively), as well as the root biomass and soil bacterial biomass (14.99~19.09% and 35.10~45.59%, respectively), and reduced the soil water content by 5.33~12.71% ( p < 0.05). The effects of different treatments on soil temperature were not significant. The mean fruit yield with AI treatment was also 7.16~20.51% higher ( p < 0.05) than that with CK, and the stem thickness and leaf area of maize plants were significantly increased (9.31~17.06% and 8.68~15.20%, respectively ( p < 0.05)). The regression fitting results showed that the soil respiration rate is quadratic polynomial negatively correlated with soil temperature, water content and soil oxygen, and the power function is positively correlated with root biomass and bacterial biomass under the two treatments. The variable importance for projection (VIP) values of the PLSR model showed a soil temperature VIP = 1.51, soil oxygen content VIP = 1.42 and root biomass VIP = 1.40, demonstrating that aerated irrigation technology can drive soil respiration rate by changing soil oxygen content and root biomass. Furthermore, the improvements in soil aeration conditions and respiration with AI appeared to facilitate the improvement in fruit yields, which also suggests the economic benefits of AI.

Keywords: aerated irrigation; soil respiration; soil oxygen; yield; maize (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: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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