Both reasonable soil tillage and fertilization management play critical roles in improving the yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of forage maize in the semi-arid area of Loess Plateau. A field experiment was conducted at Dingxi experimental station of Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences between 2017 and 2019. We explored the effects of tillage method and fertilization type on yields and WUE of forage maize, as well as the economic benefits. There were four treatments in the experiment, including traditional rotary tillage + organic-inorganic fertilization (TOF), deep rotary tillage + organic-inorganic fertilization (DOF), and vertical rotary subsoiling + organic-inorganic fertilization (VROF), and the traditional rotary tillage + inorganic fertilization as the control (TF). Our results showed that, compared with DOF, TOF, TF, and VROF all decreased soil water storage in 0-300 cm soil layer at flowering stage, ranging from 16.9 mm to 79.9 mm, but they all increased soil water consumption by 9.7-22.4 mm during vegetative growing stages, 11.0-19.8 mm during reproductive stage in the dry years. Due to significant improvement in water absorption, VROF increased dry matter weight at maturity by 3.9%-13.4% compared to other treatments. Similarly, plant height, ear length, grain number per ear, 100-grain weight, and double ear rate under VROF were significantly increased, while bald head length was decreased significantly, when compared with other treatments. As a result, over the three experimental seasons, VROF increased the grain and biological yield by 4.3%-51.5% and 4.3%-25.7% compared to other treatments, respectively. Accordingly, WUE calculated by grain and biomass yields were increased by 2.7%-36.9% and 3.6%-13.5% under VROF, compared to other treatments. VROF increased the unit gross total output value and the net income by 5.1%-32.9% and 6.9%-80.5% respectively, compared to other treatments. These results demonstrated that VROF is a drought-resistant and yield-increasing farming technology for sustainable forage maize production in the semi-arid area of the Loess Plateau, Northwest China.
合理的耕作和施肥管理措施是提高黄土高原半干旱区饲用玉米产量和水分利用效率的关键。本研究于2017—2019年在甘肃省农业科学院定西试验站开展大田试验,设置了传统旋耕+有机无机肥配施(TOF)、深旋耕+有机无机肥配施(DOF)和立式深旋耕+有机无机肥配施(VROF)3个处理,并以传统旋耕+单施无机肥(TF)为对照,测定了饲用玉米干物质量、土壤含水量、产量,计算了土壤耗水量、水分利用效率和经济效益等指标,探究不同处理对饲用玉米产量、水分利用效率和经济效益的影响。结果表明: 与其他处理相比,VROF花期0～300 cm土层土壤贮水量降低了16.9～79.9 mm,干旱年份花前耗水量增加了9.7～22.4 mm、花后耗水量增加了11.0～19.8 mm,总土壤耗水量提高了8.6%～12.4%;立式深旋耕+有机无机肥配施能够促进饲用玉米生育期耗水,使得成熟期干物质量增加3.9%～13.4%,株高、穗长、穗粒数、百粒重和双穗率也明显增加,秃顶长显著降低,籽粒产量增加4.3%～51.5%、生物产量增加4.3%～25.7%,籽粒和生物量水分利用效率分别提高2.7%～36.9%和3.6%～13.5%,单位总产值增加5.1%～32.9%、纯收益提高6.9%～80.5%。可知,立式深旋耕结合有机无机肥配施能够调控饲用玉米生育期耗水,使饲用玉米干物质积累、株高、百粒重等农艺和经济性状指标明显增加,显著提升产量和水分利用效率,并提高总产值和纯收益,是适宜于西北黄土高原半干旱区饲用玉米种植的抗旱增产增效技术。.
Keywords: combined organic and inorganic fertilization; forage maize; vertical rotary sub-soiling; water use efficiency; yield.