Effects of Irrigation Amount on Soil Water Content of Gentiana macrophylla

[Objectives]This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different irrigation quotas and irrigation times on soil physical and chemical properties and water content in the planting areas of Gentiana macrophylla in dry farming areas of southern Ningxia.[Methods]G.macrophylla planted for three years was selected as the experimental material,and the water content,nutrients,bulk density and total porosity of the soil at different depths(0-20 and 20-40 cm)were measured under different irrigation quotas and irrigation times.[Results]Compared with the CK,different irrigation quotas and irrigation times could significantly improve the water contents of the 0-20 and 20-40 cm layers in the planting areas of G.macrophylla.The change trend of water content at the 0-20 cm soil depth was 3 times of irrigation>2 times of irrigation>1 time of irrigation>CK,and that at the 20-40 cm soil depth was 2 times of irrigation>3 times of irrigation>1 time of irrigation>CK.With the increase of irrigation times,soil urease in the 0-20 cm soil showed a trend of decreasing at first and then increasing,reaching a maximum value of 0.415 mg/g·24 h with 1 time of irrigation,which increased by 84.44%compared with the CK,and the value with two times of irrigation was basically the same as that of the CK,but 3 times of irrigation resulted in a value 57.33%higher than the CK.However,the changes of 20-40 cm were the opposite.The change trends of alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen in the 0-20 and 20-40 cm soil layers with irrigation times was smaller,and the contents of soil organic carbon,available phosphorus and available potassium increased first and then decreased with the increase of irrigation times,and were generally higher than those in the CK.[Conclusions]This study provides a theoretical and technical basis for the artificial cultivation of G.macrophylla in dry farming areas of Ningxia.

Effects of timing and duration under brackish water mulch drip irrigation on cotton yield in northern Xinjiang,China

The brackish water is an important potential water source and has frequently been utilized to drip-irrigate cotton due to the water shortage in the arid region of Xinjiang,northwestern of China.The brackish water is usually saline water with salinity ranging from 1 g/L to 5 g/L,which is widely distributed in this area,so the reasonable use of that brackish water may not only play a vital role in the local agricultural production,but also save plenty of freshwater.However,irrigation with brackish water usually causes the reduction of crop yield and soil salinization which can negatively impact plants through three major components:osmotic,nutritious and toxic stresses.Therefore,a field experiment,with eight different time-series irrigation modes using brackish water(3.5±0.2)g/L and freshwater(<1 g/L),beneath a combined film and drip-irrigation system was carried out to study the changes of soil salt content and cotton yield aiming to search for a balanced method during the 2 cotton growing seasons in 2012 and 2013.The results indicated that the time-series irrigation modes determined the soil salinity and moisture distribution based on observed spatio-temporal distribution of water content and electric conductivity,and soil salinity generally gathered at the depth of 0-10 cm and 60 cm of soil with the increase of irrigation quota.Moreover,the results demonstrated that the yields of cotton which was grown using brackish water and freshwater were better than those only using freshwater and the soil salinity with reasonable irrigation timing was not accumulated obviously.