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Brackish water has been utilized extensively in agriculture around the world to cope with the global water deficit, but soil salt accumulation caused by brackish water irrigation cannot be ignored. Straw incorporation has been confirmed an effective sustainable means to inhibit soil salt accumulation. An experiment was conducted in growth tanks over two consecutive growing seasons to investigate the effects of wheat straw incorporation on soil moisture and salinity under brackish water irrigation (5g NaCl L−1). Furthermore, the trial investigated the effects of three wheat straw cutting lengths (CK = 0 cm; L1 = 5 cm, L2 = 10 cm, and L3 = 20 cm) on soil water-salt dynamics and summer maize growth. The results showed that soil properties and maize yields were favorably and significantly affected by the shorter straw segments incorporated into the cultivated field (p < 0.05), as indicated in the decrease in soil bulk density (7.47%–7.79%) and the rise of soil organic matter (SOM) content (2.4–4.5g kg−1) and soil total porosity (4.34%–4.72%) under treatment L1. Meanwhile, treatment L1 produced the greatest dry above-ground biomass (14447 ± 571 kg ha−1), 100-grain weight (34.52 ± 1.20 g) and grain yield (7251 ± 204 kg ha−1) of summer maize. Soil water content in the cultivated layer increased 4.79%–25.44%, and the soil salt accumulation rate decreased significantly due to the straw incorporation and the highest value of soil moisture content (19.10%–21.84%), as well as the lowest value of soil salt accumulation rates (2.12–9.06) obtained at treatment L1. Straw incorporation with cutting length in 5 cm is the optimal choice for alleviating the adverse effects due to brackish water irrigation and improving soil properties, which could be helpful for agricultural mechanization and straw field-returning practices.
Zemin Zhang; Zhanyu Zhang; Peirong Lu; Genxiang Feng; Wei Qi. Soil Water-Salt Dynamics and Maize Growth as Affected by Cutting Length of Topsoil Incorporation Straw under Brackish Water Irrigation. Agronomy 2020, 10, 246 .
AMA StyleZemin Zhang, Zhanyu Zhang, Peirong Lu, Genxiang Feng, Wei Qi. Soil Water-Salt Dynamics and Maize Growth as Affected by Cutting Length of Topsoil Incorporation Straw under Brackish Water Irrigation. Agronomy. 2020; 10 (2):246.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZemin Zhang; Zhanyu Zhang; Peirong Lu; Genxiang Feng; Wei Qi. 2020. "Soil Water-Salt Dynamics and Maize Growth as Affected by Cutting Length of Topsoil Incorporation Straw under Brackish Water Irrigation." Agronomy 10, no. 2: 246.
A sustainable irrigation system is known to improve the farmland soil water-salt environment and increase crop yields. However, the sustainable use of saline irrigation water under proper drainage measures still needs further study. In this study, a two-year experiment was performed to assess the sustainable effects of saline water irrigation under subsurface drainage condition. A coupled model consisting of the HYDRUS-2D model and EPIC module was used to investigate the effects of irrigation water salinity (IWS) and subsurface drainage depth (SDD) on soil water-salt content and summer maize yield when saline water was adopted for irrigation under different subsurface drainage measures. Summer maize in the two-year experiments were irrigated with saline water of three different salinity levels (0.78, 3.75, and 6.25 dS m−1) under three different drainage conditions (no subsurface drainage, drain depth of 80 cm, and drain depth of 120 cm). The field observed data such as soil water content, soil salinity within root zone, ET and grain yield in 2016 and 2017 were used for calibration and validation, respectively. The calibration and validation results indicated that there was good correlation between the field measured data and the HYDRUS-EPIC model simulated data, where RMSE, NSE (> 0.50), and R2 (> 0.70) satisfied the requirements of model accuracy. Based on a seven × seven (IWS × SDD) scenario simulation, the effects of IWS and SDD on summer maize relative grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE) were evaluated in the form of a contour map; the relative grain yield and WUE obtained peak values when drain depth was around 100 cm, where the relative yield of summer maize was about 0.82 and 0.53 at IWS of 8 and 12 dS m−1, and the mean WUE was 1.66 kg m−3. The proper IWS under subsurface drainage systems was also optimized by the scenario simulation results; the summer maize relative yield was still about 0.80 even when the IWS was as high as 8.61 dS m−1. In summary, subsurface drainage measures may provide important support for the sustainable utilization of saline water in irrigation. Moreover, the coupled HYDRUS-EPIC model should be a beneficial tool to evaluate future sustainability of the irrigation system.
Genxiang Feng; Zhanyu Zhang; Zemin Zhang. Evaluating the Sustainable Use of Saline Water Irrigation on Soil Water-Salt Content and Grain Yield under Subsurface Drainage Condition. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6431 .
AMA StyleGenxiang Feng, Zhanyu Zhang, Zemin Zhang. Evaluating the Sustainable Use of Saline Water Irrigation on Soil Water-Salt Content and Grain Yield under Subsurface Drainage Condition. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (22):6431.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGenxiang Feng; Zhanyu Zhang; Zemin Zhang. 2019. "Evaluating the Sustainable Use of Saline Water Irrigation on Soil Water-Salt Content and Grain Yield under Subsurface Drainage Condition." Sustainability 11, no. 22: 6431.
Secondary salinization induced by brackish water irrigation has forced agricultural development to increasingly rely on soil management. A two-year field experiment was conducted to explore the effects of different straw incorporation rates (SIRs) within 0 to 20 cm topsoil on the soil water–salt balance, maize yield production, and water use efficiency (WUE) under brackish water irrigation in a naturally non-saline area. Air-dried wheat straw was applied at the rates of 0, 4.5, 9.0, 13.5, and 18.0 t ha−1 (R0–R4) and two salinity levels of irrigation water with the salt content of 1.92 dS m−1 (SL) and 3.20 dS m−1 (SH) were applied for simulating the scenarios of secondary salinization. Results demonstrated that straw incorporation markedly increased the soil water content during two growing seasons, and SIR was directly correlated to the deep percolation, but inversely correlated to the soil water depletion, under both the SL and SH condition. Meanwhile, straw incorporation led to the increase in salt content within the straw incorporation zone, but the total mass of salt deposited in the 0–100 cm soil profile was comparatively reduced as SIR increased due to the increased deep percolation for salt leaching, and such relative alleviation was more pronounced under the SH condition. The significantly increased maize yield and its corresponding WUE were obtained in treatments with high SIR levels. Additionally, an exponential function was used to describe the trend of the yield-increasing rate as SIR increased, and the theoretical maximum of grain and biomass yield calculated from the fitting results were 6483 in 17,282 kg ha−1 under SL, and 5440 and 14,501 kg ha−1 under SH, respectively. Results in this study would be helpful in the adoption of straw incorporation and brackish water irrigation in ways that facilitate soil water availability and reduce the risk of soil salinization.
Peirong Lu; Zhanyu Zhang; Zhuping Sheng; Mingyi Huang; Zemin Zhang. Effect of Surface Straw Incorporation Rate on Water–Salt Balance and Maize Yield in Soil Subject to Secondary Salinization with Brackish Water Irrigation. Agronomy 2019, 9, 341 .
AMA StylePeirong Lu, Zhanyu Zhang, Zhuping Sheng, Mingyi Huang, Zemin Zhang. Effect of Surface Straw Incorporation Rate on Water–Salt Balance and Maize Yield in Soil Subject to Secondary Salinization with Brackish Water Irrigation. Agronomy. 2019; 9 (7):341.
Chicago/Turabian StylePeirong Lu; Zhanyu Zhang; Zhuping Sheng; Mingyi Huang; Zemin Zhang. 2019. "Effect of Surface Straw Incorporation Rate on Water–Salt Balance and Maize Yield in Soil Subject to Secondary Salinization with Brackish Water Irrigation." Agronomy 9, no. 7: 341.
The low permeability of soil and high investment of salt management pose great challenges for implementation of land reclamation in coastal areas. In this study, a temporary soil leaching system was tested in which bundled maize straw (straw drainage module, SDM) was operated as a subsurface drainage tube and diluted seawater was used for leaching. A preliminary field experiment was conducted in coastal soil-filled lysimeters to examine the system’s feasibility and a numerical model (HYDRUS-3D) based on field measured data was designed to simulate the entire leaching process. The simulation results showed that the soil water velocity and the non-uniformity of salt distribution were apparently enhanced in the region approaching the drain outlet. The mass balance information indicated that the amount of water drained with SDM accounts for 37.9–66.0% of the total amount of leaching water, and the mass of salt removal was about 1.7 times that of the salt input from the diluted seawater. Additional simulations were conducted to explore the impacts of the design parameters, including leaching amount, the salinity of leaching water, and the number of leaching events on the desalination performance of the leaching system. Such simulations showed that the salt removal efficiency and soil desalination rate both were negatively related to the seawater mixture rate but were positively associated with the amount of leaching water. Increasing the leaching times, the salt removal efficiency was gradually decreased in all treatments, but the soil desalination rate was decreased only in the treatments leached with less diluted seawater. Our results confirmed the feasibility of the SDM leaching system in soil desalination and lay a good foundation for this system application in initial reclamation of saline coastal land.
Peirong Lu; Zhanyu Zhang; Zhuping Sheng; Mingyi Huang; Zemin Zhang. Assess Effectiveness of Salt Removal by a Subsurface Drainage with Bundled Crop Straws in Coastal Saline Soil Using HYDRUS-3D. Water 2019, 11, 943 .
AMA StylePeirong Lu, Zhanyu Zhang, Zhuping Sheng, Mingyi Huang, Zemin Zhang. Assess Effectiveness of Salt Removal by a Subsurface Drainage with Bundled Crop Straws in Coastal Saline Soil Using HYDRUS-3D. Water. 2019; 11 (5):943.
Chicago/Turabian StylePeirong Lu; Zhanyu Zhang; Zhuping Sheng; Mingyi Huang; Zemin Zhang. 2019. "Assess Effectiveness of Salt Removal by a Subsurface Drainage with Bundled Crop Straws in Coastal Saline Soil Using HYDRUS-3D." Water 11, no. 5: 943.