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Plastic-soil mulching increases the photosynthetic rate by relieving nutrient limitations in the soil and flag leaves of spring wheat in a semiarid area

  • Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

The stoichiometric characteristics of plants are significantly affected by soil nutrients and moisture, which regulate photosynthesis. In wheat, they can be assessed to determine environmental adaptability.

Methods

The selected spring wheat was investigated in a field experiment conducted from 2015 to 2017 in a semiarid area. The three treatments were (1) plastic-soil mulching (PMS), (2) gravel mulching (SM), and (3) without mulching (CK). The soil chemical properties and the net photosynthetic rate in flag leaves were recorded; the stoichiometric parameters of soil and flag leaves were calculated.

Results

The soil organic carbon (C) of PMS increased significantly in the 0–30-cm profile when compared with SM and CK, respectively. The soil nitrogen (N)/phosphorus (P) ratio of PMS increased in the filling stage when compared with SM and CK, respectively. The C/N ratio in flag leaves of wheat under PMS significantly decreased and increased compared with SM and CK at the filling stage during a wet year, respectively, and significantly decreased compared with CK during a drought year. The C/N and C/P ratios were significantly correlated between soil and wheat flag leaves in SM, and the net photosynthetic rates and the C/N, C/P, and N/P ratios of flag leaves under PMS and SM were also significantly correlated.

Conclusions

The PMS treatment relieved soil nutrient limitations in flag leaves and increased the net photosynthetic rate by optimizing foliar C/N, C/P, and N/P ratios. This resulted in increased photosynthesis under drought conditions and significantly increased the yield and water-use efficiency.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Lesley Benyon, PhD, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31960398, 31560355), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0200403), and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Projects of the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (2020GAAS32).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Dryland Farming, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Huizhi Hou, Xucheng Zhang, Jiade Yin, Yanjie Fang, Xianfeng Yu, Hongli Wang & Yifan Ma

  2. Laboratory of High Water Utilization on Dryland of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Huizhi Hou, Xucheng Zhang, Yanjie Fang, Xianfeng Yu, Hongli Wang & Yifan Ma

  3. College of Agricultural Sciences, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Xucheng Zhang

  4. Dingxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dingxi, 743000, China

    Juan Wang

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  1. Huizhi Hou
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  2. Xucheng Zhang
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Correspondence to Xucheng Zhang.

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Hou, H., Zhang, X., Wang, J. et al. Plastic-soil mulching increases the photosynthetic rate by relieving nutrient limitations in the soil and flag leaves of spring wheat in a semiarid area. J Soils Sediments 20, 3158–3170 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02659-3

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