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Optimizing Wheat Yield, Water, and Nitrogen Use Efficiency With Water and Nitrogen Inputs in China: A Synthesis and Life Cycle Assessment.

ABSTRACT: To meet the demand of the fast increasing population, enhancing the wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield and resource use efficiency by optimizing water and nitrogen (N) management can greatly improve agricultural sustainability and enhance regenerative farming in developing countries such as China. Based on 126 studies conducted in China between 1996 and 2018, using meta-analysis in combination with decision regression tree modeling and life cycle assessment (LCA), this study aimed to (1) quantify the effect of water and N input on wheat yield, water productivity (WP _c ), and N use efficiency (NUE _f ), and evaluate the subsequent environmental impact in different regions using LCA; and (2) evaluate, model, and rank the roles of environmental (e.g., soil nutrient status and climatic factors) and agronomic factors (e.g., water and N management practices) affecting wheat yield, WP _c , and NUE _f . The results showed that irrigation and N addition increased the average yield and WP _c by 40 and 15%, respectively, relative to control treatments with no irrigation or fertilizer application. The mean water saving potential (WSP) and N saving potential (NSP) in China were estimated at 11 and 10%, respectively. Soil nutrient status [e.g., initial soil phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)] and soil organic carbon content affected the wheat yield, WP _c , and NUE _f more significantly than climatic factors [mean annual temperature (MAT)] or water and N management practices. The structural equation-based modeling indicated that initial soil nutrient condition impacted productivity and resource use efficiency more at the below optimal water and N levels than above. The risk-factor-based feature ranking indicated that site-specific environmental and soil condition was highly informative toward model construction but split input of N or water had less impact on yield and input use efficiency. LCA demonstrated that to further mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, water- or N-saving management should be promoted in China. Collectively, our research implies that long-term soil health and nutrient enhancement should be more beneficial for increasing yield and resource use efficiency in wheat production.

SUBMITTER: Li Z

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9244784 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The North China Plain is one of the most important grain production regions in China, but is facing serious water shortages. To achieve a balance between water use and the need for food self-sufficiency, new water efficient irrigation strategies need to be developed that balance water use with farmer net return. The Crop Environment Resource Synthesis Wheat (CERES-Wheat model) was calibrated and evaluated with two years of data which consisted of 3-4 irrigation treatments, and the model was used to investigate long-term winter wheat productivity and water use from irrigation management in the North China Plain. The calibrated model simulated accurately above-ground biomass, grain yield and evapotranspiration of winter wheat in response to irrigation management. The calibrated model was then run using weather data from 1994-2016 in order to evaluate different irrigation strategies. The simulated results using historical weather data showed that grain yield and water use was sensitive to different irrigation strategies including amounts and dates of irrigation applications. The model simulated the highest yield when irrigation was applied at jointing (T9) in normal and dry rainfall years, and gave the highest simulated yields for irrigation at double ridge (T8) in wet years. A single simulated irrigation at jointing (T9) produced yields that were 88% compared to using a double irrigation treatment at T1 and T9 in wet years, 86% of that in normal years, and 91% of that in dry years. A single irrigation at jointing or double ridge produced higher water use efficiency because it obtained higher evapotranspiration. The simulated farmer irrigation practices produced the highest yield and net income. When the cost of water was taken into account, limited irrigation was found to be more profitable based on assumptions about future water costs. In order to increase farmer income, a subsidy will likely be needed to compensate farmers for yield reductions due to water savings. These results showed that there is a cost to the farmer for water conservation, but limiting irrigation to a single irrigation at jointing would minimize impact on farmer net return in North China Plain.

Project description:Improving winter wheat grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE) with minimum irrigation is very important for ensuring agricultural and ecological sustainability in the Northern China Plain (NCP). A three-year field experiment was conducted to determine how single irrigation can improve grain yield and WUE by manipulating the "sink-source" relationships. To achieve this, no-irrigation after sowing (W0) as a control, and five single irrigation treatments after sowing (75 mm of each irrigation) were established. They included irrigation at upstanding (WU), irrigation at jointing (WJ), irrigation at booting (WB), irrigation at anthesis (WA) and irrigation at medium milk (WM). Results showed that compared with no-irrigation after sowing (W0), WU, WJ, WB, WA and WM significantly improved mean grain yield by 14.1%, 19.9%, 17.9%, 11.6%, and 7.5%, respectively. WJ achieved the highest grain yield (8653.1 kg ha-1) and WUE (20.3 kg ha-1 mm-1), and WB observed the same level of grain yield and WUE as WJ. In comparison to WU, WJ and WB coordinated pre- and post-anthesis water use while reducing pre-anthesis and total evapotranspiration (ET). They also retained higher soil water content above 180 cm soil layers at anthesis, increased post-anthesis water use, and ultimately increased WUE. WJ and WB optimized population quantity and individual leaf size, delayed leaf senescence, extended grain-filling duration, improved post-anthesis biomass and biomass remobilization (source supply capacity) as well as post-anthesis biomass per unit anthesis leaf area (PostBA-leaf ratio). WJ also optimized the allocation of assimilation, increased the spike partitioning index (SPI, spike biomass/biomass at anthesis) and grain production efficiency (GPE, the ratio of grain number to biomass at anthesis), thus improved mean sink capacity by 28.1%, 5.7%, 21.9%, and 26.7% in comparison to W0, WU, WA and WM, respectively. Compared with WA and WM, WJ and WB also increased sink capacity, post-anthesis biomass and biomass remobilization. These results demonstrated that single irrigation at jointing or booting could improve grain yield and WUE via coordinating the "source-sink" relationships with the high sink capacity and source supply capacity. Therefore, we propose that under adequate soil moisture conditions before sowing, single irrigation scheme from jointing to booting with 75 mm irrigation amount is the optimal minimum irrigation practice for wheat production in this region.

Project description:Wheat production in southern Australia is reliant on autumn (April-May) rainfall to germinate seeds and allow timely establishment. Reliance on autumn rainfall can be removed by sowing earlier than currently practiced and using late summer and early autumn rainfall to establish crops, but this requires slower developing cultivars to match life-cycle to seasonal conditions. While slow-developing wheat cultivars sown early in the sowing window (long-cycle), have in some cases increased yield in comparison to the more commonly grown fast-developing cultivars sown later (short-cycle), the yield response is variable between environments. In irrigated wheat in the sub-tropics, the variable response has been linked to ability to withstand water stress, but the mechanism behind this is unknown. We compared short- vs. long-cycle cultivars × time of sowing combinations over four seasons (2011, 2012, 2015, and 2016) at Temora, NSW, Australia. Two seasons (2011 and 2012) had above average summer fallow (December-March) rain, and two seasons had below average summer fallow rain (2015 and 2016). Initial plant available water in each season was 104, 91, 28, and 27 mm, respectively. Rainfall in the 30 days prior to flowering (approximating the critical period for yield determination) in each year was 8, 6, 14, and 190 mm, respectively. We only observed a yield benefit in long-cycle treatments in 2011 and 2012 seasons where there was (i) soil water stored at depth (ii) little rain during the critical period. The higher yield of long-cycle treatments could be attributed to greater deep soil water extraction (<1.0 m), dry-matter production and grain number. In 2015, there was little rain during the critical period, no water stored at depth and no difference between treatments. In 2016, high in-crop rainfall filled the soil profile, but high rainfall during the critical period removed crop reliance on deep water, and yields were equivalent. A simulation study extended our findings to demonstrate a median yield benefit in long-cycle treatments when the volume of starting soil water was increased. This work reveals environmental conditions that can be used to quantify the frequency of circumstances where long-cycle wheat will provide a yield advantage over current practice.

Project description:Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) represents one of the main goals to reduce N input in maximizing crop yield for sustainable agriculture. A NUE key strategy is the exploitation of genetic variation in available germplasm together with the understanding of molecular mechanisms governing this complex trait. Thus, NUE, its components, nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE) and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE), and NUE-related traits heritability were evaluated in ancient (Cappelli, Capeiti, Russello, and Mazzancoio) and modern (Messapia, Tiziana, Svevo, and Normanno) wheat genotypes for tackling nitrogen (N) and/or water limitation in both growth chamber and field experiments. Our results exhibited a reduction of NUE, NUpE, and NUtE under water and combined (nitrogen + water) stress in all the genotypes, as expected. The contribution of genetic variability on phenotypic variation was significant for NUtE, harvest index, post-anthesis nitrogen uptake (PANU), and biomass production traits. Moreover, the stress tolerance indexes, calculated and bi-plotted for N and water stresses, exhibited two distinct clusters for many traits as then confirmed by principal component analysis. Although modern varieties showed higher crop yield and NUE under conventional N and water regimes, ancient varieties exhibited best performances to cope with both stresses, mainly under water limitation. Finally, the usage index, which takes into account total biomass increase, underlined that old genotypes were less affected by both stresses during crop cycle. In particular, these genotypes showed the best performances for NUE and its components under both stresses at stem elongation and milk ripening as shown also by PANU. In addition, at these stages, nitrate and ammonium transporter gene expressions in the root were performed, showing the highest activity in ancient varieties. In conclusion, the identification of NUE traits during a specific crop cycle stage, under both N and water limitation, will help in the breeding of more resilient varieties in Mediterranean sustainable agriculture by reducing N supply.

Project description:Simple Summary Adopting deficit irrigation (DI) to improve crop production and safeguard groundwater resources is of great importance in water scarce regions, e.g., the North China Plain (NCP). Under the background of global warming, it is worth investigating whether DI continues to play such a key role under future climate change scenarios. Thus, we studied the effect of DI on wheat yield and water use efficiency under future climate change scenarios. We found that moderate deficit irrigation (DI3, ≤0.4 PAWC at sowing to flowering stage) under the N3 (150 kg N ha−1) condition was identified as the optimum irrigation schedule for the study site under future climate change scenarios. However, the compensation effect of DI3 on yield and water use efficiency (WUE) became weak in the future. To conclude, in water scarce regions of NCP, DI remains an effective strategy to maintain higher yield and enhance water use under future climate scenarios. Abstract Background. Deficit irrigation (DI) is a feasible strategy to enhance crop WUE and also has significant compensation effects on yield. Previous studies have found that DI has great potential to maintain crop production as full irrigation (FI) does. Therefore, adopting DI to improve crop production and safeguard groundwater resources is of great importance in water scarce regions, e.g., the North China Plain (NCP). Under the background of global warming, it is worth investigating whether DI continues to play such a key role under future climate scenarios. Methods. We studied the response of winter wheat yield and WUE to different DI levels at pre-anthesis under two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) scenarios (SSP245 and SSP585) using the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) model driven by 21 general circulation models (GCMs) from the Coupled Model Inter-Comparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6). Additionally, we explored the effects of different nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rates on DI. Results. We found that simulated wheat yield would increase by 3.5–45.0%, with WUE increasing by 8.8–46.4% across all treatments under future climate change. Moderate deficit irrigation (DI3, ≤0.4 PAWC at the sowing to flowering stage) under the N3 (150 kg N ha−1) condition was identified as the optimum irrigation schedule for the study site under future climate change. However, compensation effects of DI3 on yield and WUE became weak in the future, which was mainly due to increased growing season rainfall projected by GCMs. In addition, we found that N fertilizer application could mitigate the effect of DI3. Conclusions. We highlight that in water scarce regions of NCP, DI remains an effective strategy to maintain higher yield and enhance water use under future climate scenarios. Results strongly suggest that moderate deficit irrigation under a 150 kg N ha−1 condition could mitigate the contradiction between production and water consumption and ensure food safety in the NCP.

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Optimizing Wheat Yield, Water, and Nitrogen Use Efficiency With Water and Nitrogen Inputs in China: A Synthesis and Life Cycle Assessment.

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