Yield and water use responses of winter wheat to irrigation and nitrogen application in the North China Plain

With increasing water shortage resources and extravagant nitrogen application, there is an urgent need to optimize irrigation regimes and nitrogen management for winter wheat（Triticum aestivum L.） in the North China Plain（NCP）. A 4-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of three irrigation levels（W1, irrigation once at jointing stage; W2, irrigation once at jointing and once at heading stage; W3, irrigation once at jointing, once at heading, and once at filling stage; 60 mm each irrigation） and four N fertilizer rates（N0, 0; N1, 100 kg N ha-（-1）; N2, 200 kg N ha-（-1）; N3, 300 kg N ha-（-1）） on wheat yield, water use efficiency, fertilizer agronomic efficiency, and economic benefits. The results showed that wheat yield under W2 condition was similar to that under W3, and greater than that under W1 at the same nitrogen level. Yield with the N1 treatment was higher than that with the N0 treatment, but not significantly different from that obtained with the N2 and N3 treatments. The W2 N1 treatment resulted in the highest water use and fertilizer agronomic efficiencies. Compared with local traditional practice（W3 N3）, the net income and output-input ratio of W2 N1 were greater by 12.3 and 19.5%, respectively. These findings suggest that two irrigation events of 60 mm each coupled with application of 100 kg N ha-（–1） is sufficient to provide a high wheat yield during drought growing seasons in the NCP.

Effects of Different Irrigation and Nitrogen Application Regimes on Cook-ing Quality of Chinese Noodle in Winter Wheat

Two wheat cultivars, strong-gluten Yumai66 and medium-strong-gluten Yumai49, were usedto test the effects of irrigation and nitrogen application regimes on cooking quality ofChinese noodle in 2001-2002. The results showed that both in Yumai49 and Yumai66, valueof total organic matter (TOM) of noodle and noodle cooking loss rate ranked the firstwhile noodle score (NS) ranked the lowest in treatments without any nitrogen application.As nitrogen application rate increased, TOM value decreased but NS increased. The lowestTOM and the highest NS existed for treatments with 225 and 150 kg N ha-1 in Yumai49 andYumai66, respectively. Increasing irrigation resulted in greater TOM and NS, but lessbroken noodles. However, no significant difference was found in NS among differentirrigation treatments. Significant difference was found in TOM, NS, breaking rate andwater absorption rate of noodle between these two cultivars. Yumai49, with an average TOMvalue of 1.19 g and NS of 88.5, was better than Yumai66, with an average TOM value of1.55 and NS of 85.7. Interaction in TOM value was found between irrigation and nitrogenapplication. Effects of nitrogen fertilization were greater than that of irrigation inYumai49, while in Yumai66 the other way round. It is suggested, therefore, thosedifferent irrigation and nitrogen application regimes be chosen in production practicebased upon cultivar quality traits.

Advanced Irrigation Engineering： Precision and Precise

Irrigation advances in precision irrigation （PI） or site specific irrigation （SSI） have been considerable in research; however, commercialization lags. SSI/PI has applications when soil texture variability affects soil water holding capacity or when crop yield or biotic stresses （insects or diseases） are spatially variable. SSI/PI uses variable rate application technologies, mainly with center-pivots or lateral-move or linear irrigation machines, to match crop needs or soil water holding constraints. Variable rate applications are achieved by variable nozzle flow rates, pulsing nozzle flows, or multiple nozzles on separate submains. Newer center pivot and linear machines are controlled by on-board microprocessor systems that can be integrated with supervisory control and data acquisition controllers for both communication and control of the variable rate application for specific sets of nozzles or individual nozzles for management zones. Communication for center pivot or linear controllers typically uses radio telemetry, wireless interact links, or cellular telephones. Precision irrigation has limited utility without precise irrigation scheduling （temporally and spatially）. Plant or soil sensors are used to initiate or complete an irrigation event. Automated weather stations provide site information for determining the irrigation requirement using crop models or simpler reference evapotranspiration （ET）, data to be used with crop coefficients. Remote sensing is being used to measure crop water status or crop development from spectral reflectance. Near-surface remote sensing with sensors mounted on moving irrigation systems provide critical spatial integration from point weather networks and feedback on crop ET and irrigation controls in advanced automated systems for SSI/PI.

Evaluation of a model recommended for N fertilizer application in irrigated rice

The response of rice to N fertilizer applicationhas shown that high rates of N application donot always ensure a proportional increase inyield due to high N losses. A model, ORYZA-0 was developed by ten Berge for designingoptimum N fertilizer management strategy inrice. We evaluated the performance ofORYZA-0 in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province. ORYZA-0 includes N uptakes, partition-ing of N among the organs, and utilization ofleaf N in converting solar energy to dry mat-ter. It can predict the amount and time of Nfertilizer application to achieve a maximumbiomass or yield combining with Price algo-rithm optimization procedure.