Effects of tridimensional uniform sowing on water consumption, nitrogen use, and yield in winter wheat

Wheat is a staple crop worldwide, but yields may diminish as climate change causes increasingly unpredictable patterns of precipitation and soil nutrient availability. Farmers are thus challenged to maximize planting efficiency to increase yield, while also improving their resource use efficiency. In this study the effectiveness of tridimensional uniform sowing was tested across a range of planting densities for winter wheat crops on the North China Plain. Tridimensional uniform sowing was tested against conventional drilling at three planting densities (180 × 104, 270 × 104, and 360 × 104 plants ha 1) and assessed for water consumption, biomass, nitrogen uptake and allocation, and aspects of yield. The tridimensional uniform sowing treatment outperformed the conventional drilling treatment in most metrics and at most planting densities, while performing markedly better at higher planting densities. Water consumption decreased and nitrogen efficiency increased. Tiller number and percentage of productive tillers, leaf area index, dry weight, and yield increased without a significant decline in grain protein. Nitrogen allocation was more efficient under tridimensional uniform sowing than with conventional drilling, and also varied according to annual precipitation and planting density. Both yield and grain protein contents were significantly correlated with the amount of pre-anthesis accumu- lated nitrogen translocated from vegetative organs to kernels after anthesis. Overall, a density of 270 × 104 plants ha 1 provided the highest water use efficiency and grain yield. Tridimensional uniform sowing will benefit farmers by forming stronger overall crops, promoting the coordinated improvement of yield, nitrogen uptake and efficiency, and increasing grain protein content at higher planting densities.

Effects of sulfur fertilization and short-term high temperature on wheat grain production and wheat flour proteins

The content of wheat flour proteins affects the quality of wheat flour. Sulfur nutrition in wheat can change the protein content of the flour. The inconsistency and instability of wheat grain quality during grain filling under high temperature stress(HTS) are a major challenge to the production of high-quality wheat. The effects of sulfur fertilization and HTS on wheat flour protein and its components are unknown. In this study, treatments varying two factors: sulfur fertilization and exposure to short-term HTS, at 20 days postanthesis, were applied to two wheat cultivars with differing gluten types. Plants of a stronggluten wheat(Gaoyou 2018) and a medium-gluten wheat(Zhongmai 8) were grown in pots in Beijing in 2015–2017. HTS significantly increased the contents of total protein, albumin,gliadin, glutenin, Cys, and Met in wheat kernels, but reduced grain yield, grain weight,protein yield, globulin content, and total starch accumulation. The HTS-induced increase in total protein amount was closely associated with nitrate reductase(NR) and glutamine synthetase(GS) activities in flag leaves. Sulfur fertilization increased grain and protein yields; grain weight; total protein, albumin, gliadin, glutenin, and globulin contents; protein yield; total starch; Cys, Met; and NR and GS activities. HTS and sulfur fertilization had larger effects on the strong-than on the medium-gluten cultivar. Sulfur fertilization also alleviated the negative effects of HTS on grain yield, protein yield, and starch content.Thus, growing wheat with additional soil sulfur can improve the quality of the flour.