Carbon emission and water use efficiency response to tillage methods and planting patterns of winter wheat in the North China Plain

Abstract

Background Implementing sustainable farming practices for winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the North China Plain may be a way to reduce carbon emissions. No tillage generally results in less net CO2 loss from farmland, but no tillage also reduces the grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of winter wheat. Wide-precision planting of winter wheat may enhance the grain yield and WUE; however, it is not known precisely how tillage and planting patterns affect CO2 exchange, grain yield and WUE. Methods In this study, two tillage methods (conventional tillage, T and no tillage, NT) and two planting patterns (conventional planting, C and wide-precision planting, W) were used in two consecutive winter wheat growing seasons. Results Compared with the T treatments, the NT treatments had significantly lower cumulative net CO2 emissions in 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 (30.8 and 21.3%, respectively), and had lower grain yields (9.0 and 9.4%, respectively) and WUE (6.0 and 7.2%, respectively). The W treatments had a compensating effect on grain yield failure and reduced cumulative net CO2 emissions more than C treatments, thereby increasing WUE, reducing carbon emissions per unit water consumption, and increasing the yield carbon utilization efficiency (YCUE). The lowest cumulative CO2 emissions and highest YCUE were observed for NT with W treatment. Results from this analogous tillage experiment indicated that NT and W farming practices provide an option for reducing carbon emissions and enhancing WUE and YCUE for sustainable winter wheat development.

Wide belt sowing improves the grain yield of bread wheat by maintaining grain weight at the backdrop of increases in spike number

“…Wide belt sowing (WB) increases the seedling belt to 8–10 cm, compared with the 2–3 cm distance used in conventional drilling sowing (CD). Expansion of the seedling belt increases the distance between neighboring plants, which reduces intraspecific competition within belts and enhances grain yield ( Li et al, 2015 ; Fan et al, 2019 ; Liu X. et al, 2020 ; Ma and Li, 2020 ). Moreover, in comparison with CD, WB only requires an increase in the width of the moldboard of the furrow opener and does not increase other costs.…”

Conservation Tillage in Medicinal Plant Cultivation in China: What, Why, and How

“…In the North China Plain, when compared to CT, NT significantly reduced the net CO 2 cumulative emissions and water consumption [183,184] but reduced the grain yield. NT decreased the N 2 O emission by 22.6% in winter wheat seasons [185] but did not alter it in summer maize seasons.…”