Soil moisture is the most critical limiting factor impacting yields of dryland winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and it is strongly affected by tillage practice and sowing methods. This study was to assess the link between sowing method and tillage practice during summer fallow and their subsequent effect on soil moisture and grain yield. Furthermore, we sought to identify a more appropriate farming management practice for winter wheat production in China's Loess Plateau region. The experiment was conducted from 2011 to 2013, using a two-factor split plot design, including subsoiling (SS) or no tillage (NT) during summer fallow for main plots, and conventional drill sowing (DS) or plastic film drill sowing (FM) for subplots. Results showed that the maximum soil water storage (SWS) was under SS×FM treatment with values of 649.1 mm (2011-2012) and 499.4 mm (2012-2013). The SWS during the 2011-2012 growing season were 149.7 mm higher than that in the 2012-2013 growing season. And adoption of SS×FM significantly increased precipitation use efficiency (PUE) and water use efficiency (WUE) compared to other treatments for both seasons. Moreover, adoption of SS×FM significantly increased yield by 13.1, 14.4, 47.3% and 25.9, 39.1, 35.7% than other three treatments during the two growing seasons, respectively. In summary, combining subsoiling during summer fallow with plastic film drill sowing (SS×FM) increased SWS at sowing and effectively improved WUE, thus representing a feasible technology to improve grain yield of dryland winter wheat in the Loess Plateau of China.

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of foliar application of different concentrations of Se fertilization (37.50, 56.25, 75.00, 93.75, and 112.50 g ha -1 of Se) at the early grain filling stage on nutritional quality of colored-grain wheat. The results showed that Se plays a role in influencing the nutrients concentration of colored-grain wheat. When it was more than 75.00 g ha -1 , the Se concentration in the common wheat was excessive. However, when it was more than 37.50 g ha -1 , the Se concentration in the colored-grain wheat was excessive, indicating that colored-grain wheat was likely to be more sensitive to Se accumulation. Se concentration of colored-grain wheat was significantly increased under the optimal foliar application of Se concentration at 37.5 g ha -1 , decreased starch concentration, without affecting the yield. Particularly, the concentrations of gliadin and glutenin were significantly increased while both albumin and globulin were reduced with the increased Se concentration. Additionally, our research showed that foliar application Se increased the concentration of iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), but decreased the concentration of copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn). More importantly, the intake of Se promoted the production of amino acids and anthocyanins. This indicates the potential roles Se plays on regulating nutrition value in colored-grain wheat.

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