Physiological response of flag leaf and yield formation of winter wheat under different spring restrictive irrigation regimes in the Haihe Plain,China

In order to identify the optimum period of spring water-restrictive irrigation for winter wheat(Triticum aestivum L.)in the Haihe Plain,China and elucidate its effects on flag leaf senescence and yield formation,field experiments were conducted at the Xinji Experimental Station of Hebei Agricultural University from 2016 to 2019 by using different irrigation regimes in spring,including the conventional regime involving two irrigation periods(control(CK),the 3-leaf unfolding stage and the anthesis stage)and a series of single,restrictive irrigation regimes(SRI)comprising irrigation at the 3-leaf unfolding stage(3 LI),4 LI,5 LI,and 6 LI.There are five major findings:(1)The senescence(determined by the green leaf area,GLA)in the 4 LI treatment occurred moderately earlier than that in CK,showed no significant difference with that in 5 LI and 6 LI,and occurred significantly later than that in 3 LI.(2)Compared with other SRI treatments,the GLA value and photosynthetic rate in 4 LI were 14.82 and 20.1%higher,respectively.Microstructural analysis of flag leaf also revealed that the mesophyll cells and chloroplasts were irregularly arranged under drought stress in 3 LI and 6 LI;however,drought stress had minimal negative effects on the microstructure in 4 LI and 5 LI.(3)Postponed irrigation in spring could significantly increase superoxide dismutase(SOD)and catalase(CAT)activities in the early stage of grain filling;however,these activities would subsequently decrease.Among the four SRI treatments,the overall enzyme activities were the highest in 4 LI,and the combined malondialdehyde(MDA)content in flag leaves in 4 LI and 5 LI was 14.5%lower on average than that in 3 LI and 6 LI.(4)The soluble sugar(SS)and proline(Pro)contents in 4 LI were the highest among the four SRI treatments;however,they were lower than those in CK.The abscisic acid(ABA)hormone content in 4 LI and 5 LI was lower than that in 3 LI and 6 LI,respectively,suggesting a smaller drought stress effect in 4 LI and 5 LI.(5)In two growing seasons,there was a larger number of spikes per unit area in 4 LI(i.e.,13.4%higher than that in 5 LI and 6 LI)and the 1000-grain weight in 4 LI was the highest among the four SRI treatments(i.e.,6.0%higher than that in the other three SRI treatments).Therefore,a single restrictive irrigation regime at the 4-leaf unfolding stage is recommended to be effective in slowing down the senescence process of flag leaves and achieving high yield.