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Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops II

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant–Soil Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2024 | Viewed by 5592

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shicheng Yan

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Guest Editor

College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
Interests: forage crops; fertigation; plant–water relations; irrigation science; grazing management; intercropping; sustainable agricultural; soil health; water use
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Junliang Fan

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Guest Editor

College of Water Recourses and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: drip irrigation; evapotranspiration; water balance; crop–water relations; water resources management; soil fertility
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Zhou Zhang

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Guest Editor

Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 230 Agricultural Engineering Building, 460 Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Interests: crop yield prediction and phenotyping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Chao Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Hydraulic Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Interests: deficit irrigation; irrigation scheduling; crop water model; monitoring in agriculture; remote sensing in agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the global rise in population and climate change, food security and production have become major concerns at a global scale. Water and fertilizers are some of the main limited resources and vital elements for agricultural production, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, there have been few studies on water–fertilizer coupling effects on plant-soil relationships, crop growth monitoring and yield prediction. Therefore, a well-coordinated water and fertilizer supply promotes the plants’ growth, leaf photosynthetic capacity, grain and forage yield, quality, and water and fertilizer use efficiency, as well as production benefits.

This Special Issue invites original research, technology reports, modelling approaches and methods, opinion articles, perspectives, reviews, and mini reviews on water and fertilizer management in the plant–soil system. Topics include—but are not limited to—the following: (1) understandings of how plants efficiently perceive and take up water and fertilizers in the soil; (2) diagnosis of water and nutrient deficiencies; (3) the effects of different water and fertilizer management practices on plant growth, dry matter accumulation and translocation, nutrient uptake, forage quality, yield, and water and fertilizer use efficiencies; (4) optimized irrigation and fertilizer practices, cropping systems, and agronomic strategies for improving water-fertilizer use efficiency and crop productivity; (5) modern fertigation technologies for field crops; and (6) sensing techniques and multiple scales of phenotyping platforms (e.g., ground vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellites) for vegetation health monitoring and yield prediction.

Dr. Shicheng Yan
Prof. Dr. Junliang Fan
Dr. Zhou Zhang
Dr. Chao Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

precision agriculture
crop system
grain and forage crops
crop yield
irrigation scheduling
water use efficiency
fertilization management
nutritional diagnosis
plant–soil relationships
plant phenotypes
monitoring in agriculture
plant growth
forage quality

Related Special Issue

Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops in Plants (11 articles)

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2839 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Water and Nitrogen Control on the Growth Physiology, Yields, and Economic Benefits of Lycium barbarum Plants in a Lycium barbarum + Alfalfa System

by Chen Wang, Guangping Qi, Yanlin Ma, Minhua Yin, Jinghai Wang, Yanxia Kang, Qiong Jia, Yalin Gao, Rongrong Tian, Rong Zhang, Qiang Lu and Feng Xiao

Plants 2024, 13(8), 1095; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants13081095 - 13 Apr 2024

Viewed by 477

Abstract

In the production of economic forests, there are common issues such as excessive application of water and fertilizer, redundant plant growth, and low economic benefits. Reasonable water and fertilizer management can not only help address these problems but also improve the absorption and use efficiency of water and fertilizer resources by plants, promoting the green and efficient development of the fruit and forestry industry. In order to explore a suitable water and nitrogen management mode for Lycium barbarum, field experiments were conducted in this study from 2021 to 2022. Specifically, four irrigation modes (according to the proportion ratio of soil moisture content to field moisture capacity θ_f, 45–55% θ_f (W1, severe water deficiency), 55–65% θ_f (W2, moderate water deficiency), 65–75% θ_f (W3, mild water deficiency), and 75–85% θ_f (W4, sufficient irrigation)) and four nitrogen application levels (0 kg·ha⁻¹ (N0, no nitrogen application), 150 kg·ha⁻¹ (N1, low nitrogen application level), 300 kg·ha⁻¹ (N2, medium nitrogen application level), and 450 kg·ha⁻¹ (N3, high nitrogen application level)) were set up to analyze the influences of water and nitrogen control on the plant height, stem diameter, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic characteristics and yield, and economic benefits of Lycium barbarum in the Lycium barbarum + Alfalfa system. The study results show that the plant height and stem diameter increment of Lycium barbarum increase with the irrigation amount, increasing first and then decreasing with the increase in the nitrogen application level. Meanwhile, the chlorophyll contents in Lycium barbarum continuously increase throughout their growth periods, with Lycium barbarum treated with W4N2 during all growth periods presenting the highest contents of chlorophyll. In a Lycium barbarum + Alfalfa system, the daily variation curve of the Lycium barbarum net photosynthetic rate presents a unimodal pattern, with maximum values of the daily average net photosynthetic rate and daily carboxylation rate appearing among W4N2-treated plants (19.56 μmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹ and 157.06 mmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹). Meanwhile, the transpiration rates of Lycium barbarum plants continuously decrease with the increased degree of water deficiency and decreased nitrogen application level. W1N2-treated plants exhibit the highest leaf daily average water use efficiency (3.31 μmol·s⁻¹), presenting an increase of 0.50–10.47% in efficiency compared with plants under other treatments. The coupling of water and nitrogen has significantly improved the yields and economic benefits of Lycium barbarum plants, with W4N2-treated and W3N2-treated plants presenting the highest dried fruit yield (2623.07 kg·ha⁻¹) and net income (50,700 CNY·ha⁻¹), respectively. Furthermore, compared with other treatment methods, these two treatment methods (W4N2 and W3N2) exhibit increases of 4.04–84.08% and 3.89–123.35% in dried fruit yield and net income indexes, respectively. Regression analysis shows that, in a Lycium barbarum + Alfalfa system, both high yields and economic benefits of Lycium barbarum plants can be achieved using an irrigation amount of 4367.33–4415.07 m³·ha⁻¹ and a nitrogen application level of 339.80–367.35 kg·ha⁻¹. This study can provide a reference for improving the productivity of Lycium barbarum plants and achieving a rational supply of water and nitrogen in Lyciun barbarum + Alfalfa systems in the Yellow River Irrigation Area of Gansu, China, and other similar ecological areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops II)

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15 pages, 2802 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Does Bio-Organic Fertilizer Combined with Biochar Affect Chinese Small Cabbage’s Growth and Quality on Newly Reclaimed Land?

by Juan Wang, Biyu Zhai, Danyi Shi, Anquan Chen and Chuncheng Liu

Plants 2024, 13(5), 598; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants13050598 - 22 Feb 2024

Viewed by 603

Abstract

The cultivated land area in China is approaching the red line for farmland protection. Newly reclaimed land possesses a large exploratory potential to become a reserved land resource. Identifying a fertilization strategy is vital for improving the poor properties and weak fertility of newly reclaimed land. An experiment was conducted to study the effects of traditional compound fertilizer (Fc) or bio-organic fertilizer (Ft), alone or in combination with biochar addition (6.85 t·ha⁻¹ and 13.7 t·ha⁻¹) on the growth, photosynthesis, yield and quality of Chinese small cabbage (CSC) plant. The results showed that compared to single compound fertilizer application, bio-organic fertilizer application promoted the plant’s growth, indicated by the plant height, stem diameter and leaf area index (LAI), and significantly enhanced the yield and dry matter accumulation of CSC. In terms of the combination with biochar, the promoting effects were positively related to the biochar addition rate in the compound fertilizer group, while it was better to apply bio-organic fertilizer alone or in combination with biochar at a low rate of 6.85 t·ha⁻¹. The highest yield was obtained under B2Fc and B1Ft with 29.41 and 37.93 t·ha⁻¹, respectively, and the yield under B1Ft was significantly higher than that under B2Fc. The water productivity (WP) significantly improved in response to both kinds of fertilizer combined with biochar at 6.85 t·ha⁻¹. There was a significant difference between the photosynthetic characteristics of plants treated with single-compound fertilizer and those treated with bio-organic fertilizer. The photosynthetic characteristics increased under compound fertilizer combined with biochar, while they regressed under bio-organic fertilizer combined with biochar. The quality of CSC, especially that of soluble sugars and total phenolics, improved under single bio-organic fertilizer application compared with that under single-compound fertilizer. The nitrite content of the plants increased with increasing biochar addition rate in both fertilizer groups. In conclusion, there is a significant promoting effect of applying bio-organic fertilizer to replace chemical fertilizer alone or combining compound fertilizer with low-rate biochar addition on newly reclaimed land. It is a recommended fertilization strategy to substitute or partially substitute chemical fertilizer with bio-organic fertilizer combined with biochar in newly reclaimed land, and it is of great significance to achieve fertilizer reduction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops II)

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15 pages, 4106 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Partitioning and Latent Heat Flux Driving Factors of the CAM Plant Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merril) Grown in the South Subtropical China

by Zhigang Liu, Baoshan Zhao, Haofang Yan and Junbo Su

Plants 2024, 13(1), 21; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants13010021 - 20 Dec 2023

Viewed by 719

Abstract

Elucidation of different vegetation energy partitioning and environmental control factors at the agro-ecosystem levels is critical for better understanding and scientific management of farmland. Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merril) is a tropical plant widely cultivated in the southern subtropical region of China; however, the energy partitioning of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants like pineapple and their interactions with the environment remain not well understood. In this study, we investigated the energy partitioning patterns of pineapple fields and latent heat flux (LET) response to environmental factors using the Bowen ratio energy balance system and meteorological observation field data. The results showed that the CAM plant pineapple energy partitioning was significantly different from the common C₃ and C₄ crops during the study period, which was mainly attributed to the complex interactions between CAM plant transpiration and the environment. Specifically, sensible heat flux was the main component of net radiation (R_n), followed by the LET, accounting for 65.0% and 30.8% of the R_n, respectively. Soil heat flux accounts for a very small fraction (4.2%). The mean values of the Bowen ratio were 2.09 and 1.41 for sunny and cloudy days during the daytime and 0.74 and 0.46 at night, respectively. LET is a key factor in responding to crop growth status and agricultural water management, and the path analysis indicates that its variation is mainly influenced directly by R_n with a direct path coefficient of 0.94 on sunny days, followed by vapor pressure deficit, air temperature and relative humidity, which indirectly affect LET through the R_n pathway, whereas soil moisture and wind speed have a low effect on LET. On cloudy days, the effect of R_n on LET was overwhelmingly dominant, with a direct path coefficient of 0.91. The direct path coefficients of the remaining factors on LET were very small and negative. Overall, this study is an important reference for enhancing the impact of pineapple as well as CAM plants on the surface energy balance and regional climate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops II)

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18 pages, 3693 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Salt Tolerance Training on Multidimensional Root Distribution and Root-Shoot Characteristics of Summer Maize under Brackish Water Irrigation

by Suhan Peng, Tao Ma, Teng Ma, Kaiwen Chen, Yan Dai, Jihui Ding, Pingru He and Shuang’en Yu

Plants 2023, 12(18), 3329; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants12183329 - 20 Sep 2023

Viewed by 812

Abstract

To investigate the impact of brackish water irrigation on the multidimensional root distribution and root-shoot characteristics of summer maize under different salt-tolerance-training modes, a micro-plot experiment was conducted from June to October in 2022 at the experimental station in Hohai University, China. Freshwater irrigation was used as the control (CK), and different concentrations of brackish water (S0: 0.08 g·L⁻¹, S1: 2.0 g·L⁻¹, S2: 4.0 g·L⁻¹, S3: 6.0 g·L⁻¹) were irrigated at six-leaf stage, ten-leaf stage, and tasseling stage, constituting different salt tolerance training modes, referred to as S_0-2-3, S_0-3-3, S_1-2-3, S_1-3-3, S_2-2-3, and S_2-3-3. The results showed that although their fine root length density (FRLD) increased, the S_0-2-3 and S_0-3-3 treatments reduced the limit of root extension in the horizontal direction, causing the roots to be mainly distributed near the plants. This resulted in decreased leaf area and biomass accumulation, ultimately leading to significant yield reduction. Additionally, the S_2-2-3 and S_2-3-3 treatments stimulated the adaptive mechanism of maize roots, resulting in boosted fine root growth to increase the FRLD and develop into deeper soil layers. However, due to the prolonged exposure to a high level of salinity, their roots below 30 cm depth senesced prematurely, leading to an inhibition in shoot growth and also resulting in yield reduction of 10.99% and 11.75%, compared to CK, respectively. Furthermore, the S_1-2-3 and S_1-3-3 treatments produced more reasonable distributions of FRLD, which did not boost fine root growth but established fewer weak areas (FLRD < 0.66 cm⁻³) in their root systems. Moreover, the S_1-2-3 treatment contributed to increasing leaf development and biomass accumulation, compared to CK, whereas it allowed for minimizing yield reduction. Therefore, our study proposed the S_1-2-3 treatment as the recommended training mode for summer maize while utilizing brackish water resources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops II)

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16 pages, 3152 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Common Biochar and Acid-Modified Biochar on Growth and Quality of Spinach in Coastal Saline Soils

by Juan Wang, Danyi Shi, Chengzhen Huang, Biyu Zhai and Shaoyuan Feng

Plants 2023, 12(18), 3232; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants12183232 - 11 Sep 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1060

Abstract

The rational development and efficient utilization of saline soils can alleviate the problem of insufficient arable land faced by agricultural production in China. A prominent problem is improving soil salt and water conditions for promoting land resources’ productivity in coastal areas. Biochar is widely used for soil improvement, as it has remarkable properties. A pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of two kinds of biochar (common biochar and acid-modified biochar) with three addition rates (2%, 4%, and 8%) on the growth, yield, photosynthetic characteristics, and quality of spinach. The results revealed that 2% and 4% common biochar increased the plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area index, effectively improving the yield of spinach and water productivity, while 8% common biochar was detrimental to the growth of spinach to some extent. Acid-modified biochar significantly benefited the growth and increased the water productivity of spinach, ensuring high yields, while also improved quality. Similarly, acid-modified biochar was less effective at high additions than at low-to-medium additions. The integrated biological response version 2 (IBRV2) values under acid-modified biochar treatments were all significantly higher than those under common biochar, but there is no significant difference among three treatments in the same biochar group, which suggested a pronounced amelioration in spinach growth within saline-alkali soil upon the incorporation of acid-modified biochar. Overall, applying acid-modified biochar at the rate of 4% exhibited enormous potential for increasing the yield and quality of spinach in saline soils. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops II)

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17 pages, 20072 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combination of Biochar and Trichoderma harzianum Can Improve the Phytoremediation Efficiency of Brassica juncea and the Rhizosphere Micro-Ecology in Cadmium and Arsenic Contaminated Soil

by Shaoxiong Yao, Beibei Zhou, Manli Duan, Tao Cao, Zhaoquan Wen, Xiaopeng Chen, Hui Wang, Min Wang, Wen Cheng, Hongyan Zhu, Qiang Yang and Yujin Li

Plants 2023, 12(16), 2939; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants12162939 - 14 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1247

Abstract

Phytoremediation is an environment-friendly method for toxic elements remediation. The aim of this study was to improve the phytoremediation efficiency of Brassica juncea and the rhizosphere soil micro-ecology in cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) contaminated soil. A field experiment was conducted with six treatments, including a control treatment (CK), two treatments with two contents of Trichoderma harzianum (T1: 4.5 g m⁻²; T2: 9 g m⁻²), one biochar treatment (B: 750 g m⁻²), and two combined treatments of T1B and T2B. The results showed Trichoderma harzianum promoted the total chlorophyll and translocation factor of Brassica juncea, while biochar promoted plant biomass compared to CK. T2B treatment showed the best results, which significantly increased Cd accumulation by 187.49–308.92%, and As accumulation by 125.74–221.43%. As a result, the soil’s total Cd content was reduced by 19.04% to 49.64% and total As contents by 38.76% to 53.77%. The combined amendment increased the contents of soil available potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, and organic matter. Meanwhile, both the activity of glutathione and peroxidase enzymes in plants, together with urease and sucrase enzymes in soil, were increased. Firmicutes (dominant bacterial phylum) and Ascomycota (dominant fungal phylum) showed positive and close correlation with soil nutrients and plant potentially toxic elements contents. This study demonstrated that phytoremediation assisted by biochar and Trichoderma harzianum is an effective method of soil remediation and provides a new strategy for enhancing plant remediation efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops II)

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