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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 46(8)

Spring wheat performance and water use efficiency on permanent raised beds in arid northwest China

Jin He A , Hongwen Li A E , A. D. McHugh B , Zhongmin Ma C , Xinhui Cao D , Qingjie Wang A , Xuemin Zhang A and Xirui Zhang A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Agricultural Engineering, China Agricultural University, PO Box 46, Beijing 100083, China.

B National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture, University of Southern Queensland, Z2 West Street, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia.

C Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China.

D Gansu Agricultural Mechanization Bureau, Lanzhou, China.

E Corresponding author. Email: lhwen@cau.edu.cn

Australian Journal of Soil Research 46(8) 659-666 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07229
Submitted: 7 December 2007  Accepted: 12 June 2008   Published: 2 December 2008

Abstract

Permanent raised beds have been proposed as a more productive and water-efficient alternative to the conventional system of flat, flood-irrigated bays for planting narrow-spaced crops in arid north-west China. Data from a field experiment (2005–2007) conducted in the Hexi Corridor at Zhangye, Gansu Province, China, were used to compared the effects of traditional tillage (TT), zero tillage (ZT), and permanent raised beds (PRB) on crop growth, yield, and water use in a spring wheat monoculture. The results show that PRB significantly (P < 0.05) increased soil water content to 0.30 m depth by 7.2–10.7% and soil temperature to 0.05 m depth by 0.2–0.9°C during the wheat-growing period relative to TT and ZT treatments. Bulk density in 0–0.10 m soil layer under PRB was also 5.8% less than for flat planting treatments. Mean wheat yields over 3 years on PRB plots were slightly greater and furrow irrigation in permanent beds was particularly effective in increasing irrigation water use efficiency (~18%), compared with TT and ZT treatments. This increase in water use efficiency is of considerable importance for these arid areas where irrigation water resources are scarce.

Additional keywords: bed planting, yield, water content, soil temperature, irrigation, arid areas.


Acknowledgements

This work was financed by Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and China Agricultural University. We are grateful to the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Science for their support. Also thanks to all the postgraduate students working in Conservation Tillage Research Centre, MOA, who provided their input to this study.


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