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Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

ISSN 2095-7505

ISSN 2095-977X(Online)

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Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.    2016, Vol. 3 Issue (1) : 55-64    https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2016091
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Effects of irrigation and nitrogen management on hybrid maize seed production in north-west China
Hui RAN1,Shaozhong KANG1,Fusheng LI2,Ling TONG1,Taisheng DU1,*()
1. Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
2. College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530005, China
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Abstract

Scientific irrigation and nitrogen management is important for agricultural production in arid areas. To quantify the effect of water and nitrogen management on yield components, biomass partitioning and harvest index (HI) of maize for seed production with plastic film-mulching, field experiments including different irrigation and N treatments were conducted in arid north-west China in 2013 and 2014. The results indicated that kernel number per plant (KN) was significantly affected by irrigation and N treatments. However, 100-kernel weight was relatively stable. Reducing irrigation quantity significantly increased stem partitioning index (PIstem) and leaf partitioning index (PIleaf), and decreased ear partitioning index (PIear) at harvest, but lowering N rate (from 500 to 100 kg N·hm-2) did not significantly reduce PIstem, PIleaf, and PIear at harvest. HI was significantly reduced by reducing irrigation quantity, but not by reducing N rate. Linear relationships were found between KN, PIstem, PIleaf, PIear at harvest and HI and evapotranspiration (ET).
Keywords yield components      biomass partitioning      harvest index      irrigation      nitrogen      maize for seed production     
Corresponding Author(s): Taisheng DU   
Just Accepted Date: 17 March 2016   Online First Date: 01 April 2016    Issue Date: 07 April 2016
 Cite this article:   
Hui RAN,Shaozhong KANG,Fusheng LI, et al. Effects of irrigation and nitrogen management on hybrid maize seed production in north-west China[J]. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. , 2016, 3(1): 55-64.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/10.15302/J-FASE-2016091
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/Y2016/V3/I1/55
Year Average Rs/(W·m-2) Average T/°C Average RH/% Total P/mm Total ET0/mm
2013 209.2 18.8 52.8 68.2 526.3
2014 216.6 17.4 58.1 203.4 581.6
Tab.1  Meteorological variables over the whole growth period of maize for seed production with film-mulching in 2013/2014
Year Treatment Controlled lower limit /(% FC) I/mm Irrigation number
2013 W1N500 65–70 339 4
W2N500 55–60 238 3
W3N500 45–50 132 1
W1N400 65–70 280 4
W2N400 55–60 230 3
W3N400 45–50 157 1
W1N300 65–70 288 4
W2N300 55–60 243 3
W3N300 45–50 133 1
2014 W1N500 65–70 274 4
W2N500 55–60 179 2
W3N500 45–50 115 1
W1N300 65–70 265 4
W2N300 55–60 227 2
W3N300 45–50 117 1
W1N100 65–70 333 4
W2N100 55–60 242 2
W3N100 45–50 115 1
Tab.2  Controlled lower limit of field capacity over the whole growth period applied to maize for seed production with film-mulching in 2013 and 2014
2013 N level 2014 N level
Irrigation level N500 N400 N300 Mean Irrigation level N500 N300 N100 Mean
KN per plant
W1 156a 157a 144a 152 W1 213a 188ab 188ab 197
W2 92bc 111ab 92bc 98 W2 145cd 167bc 143cd 152
W3 63c 51c 59c 58 W3 113de 96ef 68f 93
Mean 104 106 98 Mean 157 150 133
KW/g
W1 26.93ab 25.69ab 27.76ab 26.79 W1 26.19a 26.54a 26.11a 26.28
W2 26.89ab 28.15a 28.14a 27.73 W2 26.22a 25.69a 25.24a 25.72
W3 24.49ab 24.89ab 23.78b 24.39 W3 25.44a 25.60a 25.28a 25.44
Mean 26.10 26.24 26.56 Mean 25.95 25.94 25.54
HI/%
W1 32.4a 31.5a 34.3a 32.7 W1 30.8a 29.9ab 31.0a 30.6
W2 26.4ab 27.5ab 22.3abc 25.4 W2 26.5ab 30.1a 24.5abc 27.0
W3 16.5bc 12.6c 15.7bc 14.9 W3 23.0bc 18.9cd 14.8d 18.9
Mean 25.1 23.9 24.1 Mean 26.8 26.3 23.4
Significance test
KN KW HI KN KW HI
Irrigation level *** * *** *** NS ***
N level NS NS NS * NS NS
Irrigation level *N level NS NS NS NS NS NS
Tab.3  Effects of different irrigation quantity and N rate on kernel numbers per plant (KN), 100-kernel weight (KW) and harvest index (HI) of maize for seed with film-mulching in 2013 and 2014
Fig.1  Variations of stem partitioning index (PIstem), leaf partitioning index (PIleaf) and ear partitioning index (PIear) of maize for seed production against days after planting (DAP) in 2013 (a–c) and 2014 (d–f)
2013 N rate 2014 N rate
Irrigation level N500 N400 N300 Mean Irrigation level N500 N300 N100 Mean
PIstem
W1 0.321c 0.366bc 0.352bc 0.346 W1 0.364ab 0.360ab 0.325a 0.349
W2 0.399abc 0.392abc 0.344c 0.378 W2 0.396bc 0.354ab 0.346ab 0.365
W3 0.470a 0.422abc 0.451ab 0.448 W3 0.396bc 0.404bc 0.441bc 0.414
Mean 0.397 0.393 0.382 Mean 0.385 0.373 0.371
PIleaf
W1 0.160c 0.175abc 0.175abc 0.170 W1 0.137a 0.139ab 0.145abc 0.141
W2 0.214a 0.176abc 0.173bc 0.188 W2 0.151abc 0.152abc 0.150abc 0.151
W3 0.204ab 0.197abc 0.210ab 0.204 W3 0.160abc 0.163bc 0.165c 0.162
Mean 0.193 0.183 0.186 Mean 0.149 0.151 0.153
PIear
W1 0.519a 0.459abc 0.472ab 0.483 W1 0.499ab 0.501ab 0.530a 0.510
W2 0.388abcd 0.433abcd 0.483ab 0.435 W2 0.453abc 0.494ab 0.504ab 0.484
W3 0.326d 0.381bcd 0.339cd 0.349 W3 0.444bc 0.433bc 0.394c 0.424
Mean 0.411 0.424 0.431 Mean 0.465 0.476 0.476
Significance test
PIstem PIleaf PIear PIstem PIleaf PIear
Irrigation level ** ** ** ** ** **
N rate NS NS NS NS NS NS
Irrigation level *N rate NS NS NS NS NS NS
Tab.4  ?Effect of irrigation quantity and N rate management on stem partitioning index (PIstem), leaf partitioning index (PIleaf) and ear partitioning index (PIear) of maize for seed production with film-mulching at harvest in 2013 and 2014
Fig.2  Regression equations for kernel numbers per plant (KN per plant), biomass partitioning index (PI) at harvest and harvest index (HI, %) of maize for seed with film-mulching response to evapotranspiration (ET, mm) in 2013 and 2014 under different nitrogen rates
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