Water productivity and its allometric mechanism in mulching cultivated maize (Zea mays L.) in semiarid Kenya
| Autor: | David M. Mburu, Levis Kavagi, Chong-Liang Luo, Aggrey Bernard Nyende, Xiao-Feng Zhang, You-Cai Xiong, Hong-Xu Ren, Bao-Zhong Wang, Kiprotich Wesly |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Field experiment
0208 environmental biotechnology Soil Science Biomass Sowing Growing season 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences 02 engineering and technology Straw Biology 020801 environmental engineering Agronomy Soil water 040103 agronomy & agriculture 0401 agriculture forestry and fisheries Agronomy and Crop Science Mulch Water content Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology |
| Zdroj: | Agricultural Water Management. 246:106647 |
| ISSN: | 0378-3774 |
| Popis: | Allometry is extensively used to describe the scaling relationship between individual size and metabolite allocation. Micro-field rain-harvesting system can improve soil water availability and thus alter the allocation of individual biomass among organs. Yet the eco-physiological mechanism based on allometric scaling theory has been little investigated under various mulching conditions. A field experiment was conducted using maize variety Yuyuan7879 in Juja, Kenya for two growing seasons (cross-year) from 2015 to 2016, and from 2016 to 2017 respectively. Four treatments were designed as ridge-furrow mulching (RFM) with black plastic mulching (RFMB), transparent plastic mulching (RFMT), grass straw mulching (RFMG) and conventional flat planting (CK). We found that RFMB, RFMT and RFMG significantly increased grain yield by 106%, 109% and 32% in 2015, and 101%, 96% and 30% in 2016 respectively, in comparison with CK. Mulching treatments improved soil temperature and moisture and significantly increased crop water productivity (CWP). Mulching treatments drastically changed the allometric relationship between metabolic rate (leaf biomass) and individual size (lgy = αlgx + lgβ), and optimized the size-dependent reproductive allocation. In the relationship between leaf biomass (y-axis) vs aboveground biomass (x-axis), mulching treatments significantly declined the value of α (α |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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