Effects of different tillage systems and mowing time on nutrient accumulation and forage nutritive value of Cyperus esculentus

Yi Du; Yulin Zhang; Xutian Chai; Xiangyi Li; Abd Ullah; Waqar Islam; Zhihao Zhang; Fanjiang Zeng

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1162572

Effects of different tillage systems and mowing time on nutrient accumulation and forage nutritive value of Cyperus esculentus

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Apr 14:14:1162572. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1162572. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yi Du^{1

2

3

4}, Yulin Zhang^{1

2

3

5}, Xutian Chai^{1

2

3

4}, Xiangyi Li^{1

2

3}, Abd Ullah^{1

2

3

4}, Waqar Islam^{1

2

3}, Zhihao Zhang^{1

2

3}, Fanjiang Zeng^{1

2

3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China.
² Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Desert Plant Roots Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China.
³ Cele National Station of Observation and Research for Desert-Grassland Ecosystems, Cele, China.
⁴ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵ College of Ecology and Environmental, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, China.

Abstract

Revealing the complex relationships between management practices, crop growth, forage nutritive value and soil quality will facilitate the development of more sustainable agricultural and livestock production systems. Cyperus esculentus is known as the king of oil crops and high-quality forage. However, there is little information about the effects of different planting modes {continuous cropping (CC)/rotation cropping (RC)} and initial mowing time on the plant nutrient accumulation and forage nutritive value. Here, in a field experiment, we designed two planting patterns, C. esculentus CC and C. esculentus - wheat RC. The leaves, tubers, roots, and soil samples were collected at three mowing time (on the 78^th, 101^th, and 124^th days after seed sowing). Results revealed that RC significantly increased the total nitrogen (TN) and potassium (TK) content of the tuber (p<0.05), while significantly decreased the TN, total phosphorus (TP), crude protein (CP), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents of the leaves. Under the CC pattern, the TN, TP, and TK content of roots increased significantly on the 78^th days after seed sowing, and the TK content of tubers increased significantly. Under the RC pattern, the ether extract (EE) content of tubers increased significantly on the 124^th days after seed sowing, while the CP and TN content of leaves decreased significantly. Correlation analysis showed that soil pH was negatively correlated with TN content in leaves, tubers, and roots. The structural equation model showed that the soil pH directly affected the plant nutrient accumulation and forage nutritive value (β=0.68) via regulating these properties by changing soil available nutrients, anions, cations, and total nutrients. Overall, we propose that RC for C. esculentus-wheat is should not be recommended to maximize tubers and forage yield.

Keywords: continuous/rotation cropping; mowing time; nutrient content; relative abundance; structural equation model.

Grants and funding

Key Research and Development Project of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (No. 2022B02040-1) and National Key Research and Development Project of China (No. 2019YFC0507603).