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Characterizing Differences in Soil Water Content and Wheat Yield in Response to Tillage and Precipitation in the Dry, Normal, and Wet Years at the Loess Plateau

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Abstract

Changes in precipitation and drought are major threats to rainfed wheat production in drylands. Understanding the impacts of precipitation fluctuations on wheat production can provide insight into future crop production under climate change. We conducted an eight-year field experiment to estimate the effect of tillage (no-tillage, NT; deep tillage, DT; subsoiling, SS) system on the soil water consumption and nitrogen translocation to the wheat grains. Furthermore, we accessed the variation in wheat yield according to the wet, dry, and normal precipitation years in the Loess Plateau, China. The tillage improved the soil water content, N remobilization, and grain yield in comparison to NT. The soil water storage was significantly higher in 0–300 cm depth under DT than NT and SS. The changes in soil water content were highest in the years which received higher precipitation. The translocation and accumulation of N were higher in the normal years than the dry and wet years and more under DT and SS than the NT. Furthermore, pre-anthesis N translocation contributed more to grain N, whereas post-anthesis N accumulation did not significantly vary with the years and tillage. Thus, increasing soil moisture or precipitation rate compared to normal does not increase the soil water storage, N accumulation, and grain yield. Therefore, tillage proved beneficial in increasing yield by improving the soil water storage and N availability.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the mediums and sitters who volunteered their time for this study. This work was jointly supported by scientific research programs by the Modern Agriculture Industry Technology System Construction (CARS-03-01-24), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD020040105), the Natural Science Foundation of China, (31771727), the Sanjin Scholar Support Special Funds Projects, Research Project supported by Shanxi Scholarship Council of China (2017-068), the Crop Ecology and Dry Cultivation Physiology Key Laboratory of Shanxi Province (201705D111007), the Shanxi Science and Technology Innovation Team Project (201605D131041), and the Shanxi Collaborative Innovation Center with Featured Crops High-quality and Efficiency Production in Loess Plateau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agriculture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, 030801, Shanxi, China

    Shahbaz Khan, Min Sun & Zhi-qiang Gao

  2. Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Sumera Anwar & Fahad Shafiq

  3. Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

    Razieh Khalilzadeh

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  1. Shahbaz Khan
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  2. Sumera Anwar
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  3. Min Sun
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  6. Zhi-qiang Gao
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Correspondence to Sumera Anwar or Zhi-qiang Gao.

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Khan, S., Anwar, S., Sun, M. et al. Characterizing Differences in Soil Water Content and Wheat Yield in Response to Tillage and Precipitation in the Dry, Normal, and Wet Years at the Loess Plateau. Int. J. Plant Prod. 15, 655–668 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42106-021-00161-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42106-021-00161-5

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