Response of yield, quality and water use efficiency of wheat to different combinations of organic manures and chemical fertilizers under different yearly precipitations

Objectives The influences of manure and chemical fertilizer combinations on the grain yield, quality and water use efficiency (WUE) of rain-fed wheat were studied to provide efficient combinations suitable for different rainfall years in the hilly rain-fed area of southern Shanxi Province.

Methods The field experiments were carried out in Linfen, Shanxi Province from 2013 to 2016 with the following treatments: sheep manure 22.5 t/hm² with N 150 kg/hm² and P₂O₅ 105 kg/hm² (M_sN₁₅₀P₁₀₅), pig manure 22.5 t/hm² with N 150 kg/hm² and P₂O₅ 105 kg/hm² (M_pN₁₅₀P₁₀₅), sheep manure 22.5 t/hm² with N 105 kg/hm² and P₂O₅ 75 kg/hm² (M_sN₁₀₅P₇₅), pig manure 22.5 t/hm² with N 105 kg/hm² and P₂O₅ 75 kg/hm² (M_pN₁₀₅P₇₅) and blank control (CK). A high gluten winter wheat cultivar of ‘Jinmai 92’ was employed as the testing materials. The grain yield was recorded, and the wet gluten content, sediment value, stability time and development time of wheat flour were determined. The water storage within 200 cm depth of soil was measured before sowing and after harvesting, and the water use efficiency (WUE) was calculated according to the soil water storage and annual precipitation.

Results The precipitation, manure type, chemical fertilizer application rate and their interactions significantly affected the grain yield and WUE of wheat. The distribution of precipitation also affected the grain yield in rainy year. In the rainy years, all the combination treatments increased the grain yields significantly, with an increasing range of 6.14%–18.45%, and the higher increments were in treatments of M_sN₁₅₀P₁₀₅ and M_pN₁₀₅P₇₅. In the dry year, yield was increased significantly only in the two treatments containing M_P, with an increment of 14.18%–19.15%. The dry year induced a lower WUE, compared with the rainy year. The M_p-containing treatments promoted 7.68% and 15.76% of WUE in dry and rainy years, respectively. Compared with CK, the wet gluten contents, sediment values, stability and development time of wheat flour were increased in all the four treatments in both the dry and rainy years.

Conclusions In the three years' experiment, treatments containing sheep manure gained relative high wheat yield only in rainy years, while those containing pig manure did that in both dry and rainy years. Considering from the dour qualities and the point of fertilizer saving, combination of pig manure 22.5 t/hm² with N 105 kg/hm² and P₂O₅ 75 kg/hm² is recommended for the wheat production in Southern Shanxi Province.