Good crop stand establishment and root system development are essential for optimum grain yield of dryland wheat （Triti-cum aestivumL.）. At present, little is known about the effect of tilage and straw mulch on the ...Good crop stand establishment and root system development are essential for optimum grain yield of dryland wheat （Triti-cum aestivumL.）. At present, little is known about the effect of tilage and straw mulch on the root system of wheat under dryland areas in southwestern China. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three tilage treatments （no-til, NT; rotary til, RT; conventional til, CT） and two crop residue management practices （straw mulch, ML; non-straw mulch, NML） on stand establishment, root growth and grain yield of wheat. NT resulted in lower soil cover thickness for the wheat seed, higher number of uncovered seeds, lower percentage of seedling-less ridges and lower tiler density compared to RT and CT; ML resulted in higher tiler density compared to NML. Straw mulching resulted in more soil water content and root length density （RLD） at most of the growth stages and soil depths. The maximum RLD, root surface area density and root dry matter density were obtained under NT. In the topmost 10 cm soil layer, higher RLD values were found under NT than those under RT and CT. There were no signiifcant differences in the yield or yield components of wheat among the tilage treatments in 2011–2012, but NT resulted in a signiifcant higher yield compared to RT and CT in 2012–2013. Grain yield was signiifcantly higher in ML compared to in NML. A strong relationship was observed between the water-use efifciency and the grain yield. Both NT and ML proved beneifcial for wheat in term of maintaining higher tiler density, better soil water status and root growth, leading to a higher grain yield and enhanced water-use efifciency, especialy in a low rainfal year.展开更多
基金supported by the China Agriculture Research System(CARS-3)the Public Welfare Industry(Agriculture)Scientific Research of China(200903010-06)
文摘Good crop stand establishment and root system development are essential for optimum grain yield of dryland wheat （Triti-cum aestivumL.）. At present, little is known about the effect of tilage and straw mulch on the root system of wheat under dryland areas in southwestern China. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three tilage treatments （no-til, NT; rotary til, RT; conventional til, CT） and two crop residue management practices （straw mulch, ML; non-straw mulch, NML） on stand establishment, root growth and grain yield of wheat. NT resulted in lower soil cover thickness for the wheat seed, higher number of uncovered seeds, lower percentage of seedling-less ridges and lower tiler density compared to RT and CT; ML resulted in higher tiler density compared to NML. Straw mulching resulted in more soil water content and root length density （RLD） at most of the growth stages and soil depths. The maximum RLD, root surface area density and root dry matter density were obtained under NT. In the topmost 10 cm soil layer, higher RLD values were found under NT than those under RT and CT. There were no signiifcant differences in the yield or yield components of wheat among the tilage treatments in 2011–2012, but NT resulted in a signiifcant higher yield compared to RT and CT in 2012–2013. Grain yield was signiifcantly higher in ML compared to in NML. A strong relationship was observed between the water-use efifciency and the grain yield. Both NT and ML proved beneifcial for wheat in term of maintaining higher tiler density, better soil water status and root growth, leading to a higher grain yield and enhanced water-use efifciency, especialy in a low rainfal year.
