• Authors:
    • Wang, Y. M.
    • Mahemujiang, A.
    • Su, L. T.
    • Hudan, T.
    • Mu, H. C.
    • Zhang, J. Z.
  • Source: Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering
  • Volume: 27
  • Issue: 7
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Based on measured date in field, the soil salt changes for cotton field with drip irrigation under the plastic mulch were investigated. Through analyzing the salinity changes in cotton field with different irrigation years in four different growing period, it was concluded that salt content in soil depth 0-20 cm was reduced during before planting, seedling stage, and the boll opening period, but increased during the blooming-boiling stage. Salt content in 40-80 cm increased slowly during before sowing and reduced during the blooming period and boll opening period. The accumulation of salt at emitter was less than that at any other position but more at interspace of films in horizontal direction. The accumulation of salt in 0-20 cm of vertical direction reducted, but in the 60-100 cm it was larger. Meanwhile with the drip irrigation time extension, soil salt content would increase, especially in the 60-100 cm, the increasing trend was significant. At the location of emitter, inter-lines and inter-films, the total salt content would increase successively. The zone of 60-100 cm was of largest salt accumulation. In the cotton growth period, the depth of 0-60 cm soil kept desalting state, and the depth of 60-100 cm soil appeared depositing salt state. The results can provide references for management and prevention of drip irrigation water and salt under mulch in arid regions.
  • Authors:
    • ZhiKuan, J.
    • Lei, M.
    • FangQian, G.
    • BaoPing, Y.
    • YaoWei, H.
    • XiaoLong, R.
    • TaiYi, C.
  • Source: Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering
  • Volume: 27
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: A field experiment (2008-2009) was conducted at the Heyang Dryland Farming Experimental Station in Shaanxi Province of China to determine the effects of straw mulch rates on soil moisture and spring maize ( Zea mays L.) yield. Maize straw at rates of 0 (CK), 4 500, 9 000 and 13 500 kg/hm 2 was placed on field plots. The results indicated that the average soil water storage in the 0-200 cm soil layers under the three different rates of straw mulch were 16.52, 25.52 and 34.04 mm, respectively, significantly ( P<0.05) higher than that of CK, and the average field evapotranspiration (ET) in the 0-200 cm soil layers were 4.43, 8.23 and 6.96 mm, respectively, significantly ( P<0.05) lower than that of CK during 0-60 days after sowing. Besides, the average grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of the treatment with 9 000 kg/hm 2 of straw mulch were optimal among the treatments, its grain yield and WUE increased by 11.03% ( P<0.05) and 9.25% ( P<0.05) compared with the CK, while it was medium with the treatment of 13 000 kg/hm 2, and lowest with the treatment with 4 500 kg/hm 2. It is suggested that the treatment with 9 000 kg/hm 2 of straw mulch is preferable for Weibei highland area in China, as the precipitation is below than 390 mm during the maize growing season.
  • Authors:
    • FaQi, W.
    • JinYin, L.
    • LongShan, Z.
    • XiaoLing, Y.
    • WeiPeng, C.
  • Source: Journal of Northwest A & F University - Natural Science Edition
  • Volume: 39
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Objective: The objective of this article was to evaluate the soil quality under different mechanical tillage treatments: no-till with straw-mulching (SM), no-tillage (NT), film-mulching (FM), conventional tillage (CT), in the southern edge of Mu Us desert. Method: Based on results obtained from an experiment of six years, 13 soil fertility indexes were selected and grouped into three common factors using factor analysis method: the potential fertilizer factor F1, organic matter factor F2, biological activity factor F3, and calculated scores of all measures were comprehensive and crop yields were used to verify the evaluation results. Result: The results showed that: (1) The score trend of soil fertility quality under different tillages was film-mulching > no-tillage=conventional tillage > no-till with straw-mulching, which was basically consistent with yield trend film-mulching > conventional tillage > no-tillage > no-till with straw-mulching, indicating evaluation results were reliable and valid. (2) Owing to microbes under straw mulching treatment consuming a large amount of nutrients, three common factors had lower scores and soil fertility quality score was the lowest in the no-till with straw-mulching treatment; The highest soil organic matter factor score in the no-tillage treatment indicated that the no-tillage measure was conducive to the accumulation of soil organic matter; The highest soil potential fertility factor score but lower soil organic matter factor score in the conventional tillage measure indicated that the conventional tillage measure was not conducive to the accumulation of soil organic matter, and cannot be the best treatment for sustainable agricultural development; The highest biological activity score but the lowest soil potential fertility factor score in the film-mulching treatment indicated that the FM treatment was conducive to the effectuate of potential soil nutrient. Conclusion: Factor analysis method could better reflect quality of soil fertility and could be used for soil quality evaluation.
  • Authors:
    • Kuai, D.
    • DianXiong, C.
    • XiaoMing, Z.
    • Yan, W.
    • QuanSheng, Z.
    • DingChen, Z.
    • ZongHui, F.
    • XiaoHong, X.
    • XiaoBin, W.
  • Source: Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering
  • Volume: 27
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: A six-year experiment (2003 to 2008) was conducted in Shouyang Dryland Farming Experimental Station in Shanxi Province to study the effect of different tillage practices (no-tillage, reduced tillage and conventional tillage) with three nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P 2O 5) fertilizer rates (105, 179 and 210 kg/hm2; N:P 2O 5=1:1) on spring corn yield and water use efficiency. The results showed that at the recommended fertilizer rate of 105 kg/hm 2, the average yield and water use efficiency (WUE) were about 5 234 kg/hm 2 and 12.4 kg/(hm 2.mm), respectively, under conventional tillage (CT), and about 5 751 kg/hm 2 and 13.6 kg/(hm 2.mm), respectively, under reduced tillage (RT). The average yield and WUE under RT increased by about 9.9% and 9.7%, respectively, compared to CT. Under no-tillage (NT), the average yield and WUE, at the fertilizer rate of 179 kg/hm 2, were highest, about 5 336 kg/hm 2 and 13.2 kg/(hm 2.mm), respectively, which were about 6.1% and 9.7% higher than those under CT. The NT increased soil water contents, resulting in higher yields in dry years, compared to CT. Among three tillage practices, the average yield and WUE were ranked as RT >NT >CT.
  • Authors:
    • Li, Mei
    • Gao, XingXiang
    • Guo, Xiao
    • Sun, TingLin
    • Zhao, Wei
    • Gao, ZongJun
  • Source: Acta Prataculturae Sinica
  • Volume: 20
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The effects of rotary tillage with no stubble (RT), rotary tillage with straw incorporation (RTS), no-till without stubble (NT), no-till with 6 000 kg/ha (NTS 6000), and no-till with 3 000 kg/ha (NTS 3000), on weed communities structure and species diversity was studied in field experiments using a community ecology method. Compared with RT, the NT, NTS 3000, and NTS 6000 treatments increased perennial weed species, but there was no significant difference in the species richness. NT, NTS 3000 and NTS 6000 significantly reduced the summed dominance ratio (SDR) of Lithospermum arvense, but increased the SDR of Capsella bursa-pastoris. RTS significantly reduced the SDR of L. arvense, but increased the SDR of Descurainia sophia. The species diversity of weed communities varied significantly between different tillage systems. The Bray-Curtis index and hierarchical cluster analysis classified the weed communities of different tillage systems into two categories: Category I (NT, NTS 6000 and NTS 3000) where no-till was implemented, and category II (RTS and RT) where rotary tillage was implemented. The species richness of category I was a little larger than that of category II, but the species diversity and community evenness were much larger than those of category II. However, the community dominance of category I was significantly smaller than that of category II.
  • Authors:
    • He, Jin
    • Li, HongWen
    • Wang, QingJie
    • Zhang, XiRui
    • Li, Hui
    • Zhang, DongYuan
  • Source: Nongye Jixie Xuebao (Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Machinery)
  • Volume: 42
  • Issue: 10
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: According to the problems of few available no-till seeders and residues-blocking and bed-damaging during the seeding of wheat in maize residues cover fields in permanent raised beds (PRB) in northwest oasis farming areas, the new anti-blocking (residue-chopping and throwing by powered L-type hammering blade and residue-cutting by knife type opener) and bed renovation (bed-reshaping by double-wing plough) ideas were put forward. The powered hammering blade no-till wheat seeder for PRB was designed. The key parameters for L-type hammering blade, opener and double-wing plough were determined. The experiment in maize residue cover fields showed that the seeder was effective in solving residues blocking. Compared with 2BMF-5 no-till wheat seeder, the spring wheat yield was similar and bed renovation effect was better with the decreased soil disturbance.
  • Authors:
    • Pan, G.
    • Ogle, S.
    • Siebner, C.
    • McConkey, B.
    • Katterer, T.
    • Grace, P. R.
    • Goidts, E.
    • Etchevers, J.
    • Dodd, M.
    • Cerri, C. E. P.
    • Andren, O.
    • Paustian, K.
    • vanWesemael, B.
  • Source: Plant and Soil
  • Volume: 338
  • Issue: 1-2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: As regional and continental carbon balances of terrestrial ecosystems become available, it becomes clear that the soils are the largest source of uncertainty. Repeated inventories of soil organic carbon (SOC) organized in soil monitoring networks (SMN) are being implemented in a number of countries. This paper reviews the concepts and design of SMNs in ten countries, and discusses the contribution of such networks to reducing the uncertainty of soil carbon balances. Some SMNs are designed to estimate country-specific land use or management effects on SOC stocks, while others collect soil carbon and ancillary data to provide a nationally consistent assessment of soil carbon condition across the major land-use/soil type combinations. The former use a single sampling campaign of paired sites, while for the latter both systematic (usually grid based) and stratified repeated sampling campaigns (5-10 years interval) are used with densities of one site per 10-1,040 km2. For paired sites, multiple samples at each site are taken in order to allow statistical analysis, while for the single sites, composite samples are taken. In both cases, fixed depth increments together with samples for bulk density and stone content are recommended. Samples should be archived to allow for re-measurement purposes using updated techniques. Information on land management, and where possible, land use history should be systematically recorded for each site. A case study of the agricultural frontier in Brazil is presented in which land use effect factors are calculated in order to quantify the CO2 fluxes from national land use/management conversion matrices. Process-based SOC models can be run for the individual points of the SMN, provided detailed land management records are available. These studies are still rare, as most SMNs have been implemented recently or are in progress. Examples from the USA and Belgium show that uncertainties in SOC change range from 1.6-6.5 Mg C ha-1 for the prediction of SOC stock changes on individual sites to 11.72 Mg C ha-1 or 34% of the median SOC change for soil/land use/climate units. For national SOC monitoring, stratified sampling sites appears to be the most straightforward attribution of SOC values to units with similar soil/land use/climate conditions (i. e. a spatially implicit upscaling approach).
  • Authors:
    • Lei, T.
    • Cao, L.
    • Liu, S.
    • Wang, X. S.
    • Jiang, C. L.
    • Chun, C. P.
    • Peng, L. Z.
    • Ling, L.
  • Source: ACTA HORTICULTURAE SINICA
  • Volume: 38
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: A field experiment was conducted during 2002-2007 to evaluate effects of various drip fertigation frequencies (4 times/year, 10 times/year, 16 times/year) on tree growth, fruit yield and quality of Trovita sweet orange ( Citrus sinensis Osbeck) on 'Carrizo' citrange [ Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.] * [ Citrus sinensis Osbeck] rootstock (planted in 2001) in calcareous purple soil in Zhongxian County of Chongqing. The control trees were fertilized (10 times/year) by broadcast application. The results showed that tree trunk circumference, tree height and canopy diameter did not show significant response to fertigation frequency; And no significant difference existed between fertigation treatments and control for tree growth. However, fertigation treatments showed significant effects on increasing fruit yield with 29.4%-36.5% more accumulative yield than the control, but high fertigation frequency did not increase fruit yield. No significant effects was observed for fertigation on fruit quality. It is recommended that citrus growing in calcareous purple soil should be drip fertigated 4 times a year.
  • Authors:
    • Pu, Y. L.
    • Xiao, H. L.
    • Wang, D.
    • Zhang, J. L.
    • Qin, S. H.
  • Source: Acta Agronomica Sinica
  • Volume: 37
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Water supply scarcity is the main limiting factor for sustainable agriculture development in semiarid areas on the Western Loess Plateau. Because of imbalance for rainfall distribution, yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of potato, one of the dominant crops in middle Gansu province, are relatively low. To optimize supplemental irrigation system using limited catchment rainfall for rain-fed potato in the area, field experiments were carried out in 2008-2009 to determine evapotranspiration, WUE, yield, yield traits and quality of rain-fed potato under different supplemental irrigation amounts and timings. The results showed that WUE of potato increased significantly in the supplemental irrigation treatment of 45 mm, and decreased with increasing of irrigation amount. WUE and irrigating water use efficiency (IWUE) of potato were higher with supplemental irrigation at the seedling than the tuber expanding stage. WUE and IWUE were the highest under the 45 mm of irrigation at the seedling stage. Yield, rates of bigger tuber and middle tuber in rain-fed potato were increased, and small tuber rates were decreased by supplemental irrigation. Big tuber rates were increased by supplemental irrigation at the seedling stage, while medium tuber rates were increased by supplemental irrigation at the tuber expanding period. Potato numbers per plant were decreased, but tuber yield per plant was increased by supplemental irrigation. With increasing of irrigation amount, the yield of potato was not increased significantly, but green tuber rate and blet tuber rate were increased significantly. Starch content of potato was reduced, while protein content of tuber was increased by supplemental irrigation. Supplemental irrigation of 45 mm at seedling is optimal irrigation system for rain-fed potato in the area.
  • Authors:
    • Yi, L.
    • Xin, R.
    • Min, L.
    • Lijun, G.
    • Man, F.
  • Source: Nongye Jixie Xuebao = Transactions of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery
  • Volume: 42
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: In order to seek the variations of soil water repellency and its relationship with soil moisture content, soil salt content and pH value, soils samples were collected in two profiles at two grids (intervals were 10 cm * 10 cm and 5 cm * 5 cm, respectively) in a newly cultivated cotton field mulched with plastic film and irrigated with trickle method in Xinjiang. The soil water repellency, soil moisture content, soil salt content and pH value of the profiles were tested and analyzed using the methods of classical statistics, geostatistics and correlation analysis. The results showed that the soil water repellency had moderate variability and the spatial auto-correlation was under the level of the middle class in secondary saline field profiles. The strongest soil water repellency appeared around the depth of 40 cm and the characteristics of soil water repellency were not obvious when the depth was deeper than 80 cm. The soil moisture content and the soil water repellency appeared to be positively related at 0-40 cm depth and negatively related at 40-80 cm depth. Soil salt content and soil water repellency appeared to be positively related to the surface soil layer at 0-10 cm depth but negatively related to the other depth. The pH value and the soil water repellency mostly were generally positively related.