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Responses of photosynthesis, dry mass and carbon isotope discrimination in winter wheat to different irrigation depths

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Photosynthetica

Abstract

In order to test the effects of irrigation depth on winter wheat photosynthesis, four treatments were applied in a field experiment using PVC growth tubes (identical amounts of water were applied on the land surface, and at 60, 75, and 90% of the depth for the winter wheat root distribution, denoted as D0, D60, D75, and D90, respectively). Compared to the surface irrigation treatment D0, the leaf area index, chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and intercellular CO2 concentration increased with irrigation depths. The values of these indicators obtained by the underground irrigation treatment D75 were higher than those of D60 and D90, and thus D75 was found to be the optimum irrigation depth. Furthermore, a positive but not significant correlation (r = 0.62) between carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) and grain yield was found. This study improves our understanding of the mechanism of underground water distribution control with depth, and the efficiency of water-saving irrigation for winter wheat.

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Abbreviations

Chl:

chlorophyll

C i :

intercellular CO2 concentration

D0:

water was irrigated on the land surface

D60, D75, and D90:

the same amount of water was irrigated from the surface to 60, 75, and 90% of the depth of the winter wheat root distribution

E :

transpiration rate

gs:

stomatal conductance

GY:

grain yield

LAI:

leaf area index

P N :

net photosynthetic rate

RMD:

root mass density

SWC:

soil water content

WUE:

water-use efficiency

Δ13C:

carbon isotope discrimination

ΔL:

carbon isotope discrimination in leaf

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Resource Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    L. J. Zheng, J. J. Ma, X. H. Sun, X. H. Guo, J. Jiang, R. Ren & X. L. Zhang

  2. Shanxi Conservancy Technical College, Yuncheng, 044004, China

    X. H. Sun

Authors
  1. L. J. Zheng
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  2. J. J. Ma
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  3. X. H. Sun
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  4. X. H. Guo
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  5. J. Jiang
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  6. R. Ren
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  7. X. L. Zhang
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Correspondence to J. J. Ma.

Additional information

Acknowledgements: The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51579168) and the Program for Graduate Student Education and Innovation of Shanxi Province (2016BY065).

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Zheng, L.J., Ma, J.J., Sun, X.H. et al. Responses of photosynthesis, dry mass and carbon isotope discrimination in winter wheat to different irrigation depths. Photosynthetica 56, 1437–1446 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-018-0833-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-018-0833-5

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