Yuwei Chai , Yawei Li , Rui Li , Lei Chang , Hongbo Cheng , Jiantao Ma , Yuqing Qin , Fanxiang Han , Changgang Yang , Yuzhang Chen , Qian Chen , Yao Zhang , Caixia Huang , Shouxi Chai
{"title":"Increased spike density and enhanced vegetative growth as primary contributors to improvement of dryland wheat yield via surface mulching","authors":"Yuwei Chai , Yawei Li , Rui Li , Lei Chang , Hongbo Cheng , Jiantao Ma , Yuqing Qin , Fanxiang Han , Changgang Yang , Yuzhang Chen , Qian Chen , Yao Zhang , Caixia Huang , Shouxi Chai","doi":"10.1016/j.fcr.2025.109853","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context or Problem</h3><div>Plastic film mulching and straw mulching are the primary cropping practices for increasing wheat yield and water use efficiency in water-deficient regions. Nevertheless, there remains a deficit in comprehensive and clear understanding of how mulching-induced alterations in yield components contribute to increased grain yield of wheat.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study aimed to dissect the causal mechanisms connecting yield increase of wheat with alterations in yield components under mulching.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>From 2012–2020, a total of 56 field experiments of winter wheat with different sites and tested cultivars were conducted in the semiarid rainfed region of Northwest China, using three treatments for each experiment: (1) straw strip mulch (SM), a partial ground mulching; (2) whole-ground plastic film mulching (PM); and (3) no mulching with wheat sown in rows, as a control (CK).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Meta-analysis revealed that PM enhanced grain yield and its components to a greater extent than SM. Compared with CK, on average across the 56 experiments, SM and PM increased (<em>p</em> < 0.05) grain yield by 13.4 and 21.2 %, spike density (spikes ha<sup>−1</sup>) by 7.0 and 12.9 %, thousand-grain weight by 1.8 (<em>p</em> > 0.05) and 5.5 %, total grains ha<sup>−1</sup> by 10.3 and 16.7 %, straw yield by 15.1 and 29.9 %, biomass by 14.6 and 26.2 %, net income by 774 and 68 <em>¥</em> ha<sup>−1</sup>, respectively. However, Grains per spike and harvest indices did not differ among treatments (<em>p</em> > 0.05). The translocation contribution, translocation amount, translocation efficiency of pre-anthesis assimilate from whole plant to grains in SM and PM were 8.5 and 19.5 %, 24.2 and 72.7 %, 3.6 and 7.1 % higher than those in CK, respectively. A significant positive correlation (<em>p</em> < 0.01) was observed between grain yield and straw yield, as well as between each of them and spike density, the translocation contribution rate, respectively. Grain yield of SM increased with an increase in mulched area, and the grain yield in SM with 59 % of mulched area was similar to that in PM (<em>p</em> > 0.05).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The increased spike density was identified as the first component leading to higher grain yield in SM and PM over CK, while the enhanced vegetative growth (straw yield) provided photosynthetic product support for increasing spike density and transferring more pre-anthesis assimilate to grains. The economics of PM were not as attractive as those of the appropriate SM system despite the higher yield merits.</div></div><div><h3>Implications</h3><div>The findings potentially contribute to innovation, improvement and implementation of mulching practices for wheat cultivation in water-deficient regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12143,"journal":{"name":"Field Crops Research","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 109853"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Field Crops Research","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378429025001182","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRONOMY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Context or Problem
Plastic film mulching and straw mulching are the primary cropping practices for increasing wheat yield and water use efficiency in water-deficient regions. Nevertheless, there remains a deficit in comprehensive and clear understanding of how mulching-induced alterations in yield components contribute to increased grain yield of wheat.
Objective
This study aimed to dissect the causal mechanisms connecting yield increase of wheat with alterations in yield components under mulching.
Methods
From 2012–2020, a total of 56 field experiments of winter wheat with different sites and tested cultivars were conducted in the semiarid rainfed region of Northwest China, using three treatments for each experiment: (1) straw strip mulch (SM), a partial ground mulching; (2) whole-ground plastic film mulching (PM); and (3) no mulching with wheat sown in rows, as a control (CK).
Results
Meta-analysis revealed that PM enhanced grain yield and its components to a greater extent than SM. Compared with CK, on average across the 56 experiments, SM and PM increased (p < 0.05) grain yield by 13.4 and 21.2 %, spike density (spikes ha−1) by 7.0 and 12.9 %, thousand-grain weight by 1.8 (p > 0.05) and 5.5 %, total grains ha−1 by 10.3 and 16.7 %, straw yield by 15.1 and 29.9 %, biomass by 14.6 and 26.2 %, net income by 774 and 68 ¥ ha−1, respectively. However, Grains per spike and harvest indices did not differ among treatments (p > 0.05). The translocation contribution, translocation amount, translocation efficiency of pre-anthesis assimilate from whole plant to grains in SM and PM were 8.5 and 19.5 %, 24.2 and 72.7 %, 3.6 and 7.1 % higher than those in CK, respectively. A significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) was observed between grain yield and straw yield, as well as between each of them and spike density, the translocation contribution rate, respectively. Grain yield of SM increased with an increase in mulched area, and the grain yield in SM with 59 % of mulched area was similar to that in PM (p > 0.05).
Conclusion
The increased spike density was identified as the first component leading to higher grain yield in SM and PM over CK, while the enhanced vegetative growth (straw yield) provided photosynthetic product support for increasing spike density and transferring more pre-anthesis assimilate to grains. The economics of PM were not as attractive as those of the appropriate SM system despite the higher yield merits.
Implications
The findings potentially contribute to innovation, improvement and implementation of mulching practices for wheat cultivation in water-deficient regions.
期刊介绍:
Field Crops Research is an international journal publishing scientific articles on:
√ experimental and modelling research at field, farm and landscape levels
on temperate and tropical crops and cropping systems,
with a focus on crop ecology and physiology, agronomy, and plant genetics and breeding.