TY - JOUR
T1 - Partial root-zone irrigation enhanced soil enzyme activities and water use of maize under different ratios of inorganic to organic nitrogen fertilizers
AU - Li, Fusheng
AU - Yu, Jiangmin
AU - Nong, Mengling
AU - Kang, Shaozhong
AU - ZHANG, Jianhua
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 50869001 ), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2006CB403406 ) and Hong Kong Research Grants Council ( HKBU 262708 ).
PY - 2010/2
Y1 - 2010/2
N2 - Partial root-zone irrigation (PRI) is an effective water-saving irrigation method but the heterogeneous soil moisture distribution that may affect soil enzymatic activities and crop water use. With pot-grown maize, we investigated the dry mass accumulation, crop water-use efficiency and the activities of four major soil enzymes from jointing to grain filling stages of maize plants subjected to PRI and also different ratios of inorganic to organic N fertilizers. Three irrigation methods, i.e. conventional irrigation (CI), alternate PRI (APRI) and fixed PRI (FPRI) and three ratios of inorganic to organic N, i.e. 100% inorganic (F1), 70% inorganic + 30% organic (F2) and 40% inorganic + 60% organic (F3), were applied. Compared to CI, PRI reduced total dry mass and water consumption of maize by 9.5 and 15.7%, respectively, which led to an increase of canopy water-use efficiency by 7.4%. Within the same irrigation method (CI, APRI or FPRI), added organic N increased total dry mass and canopy WUE. During the whole period, maximal soil catalase, urease and acid-phosphatase activities occurred in the wet root-zone of PRI, but maximal invertase activity occurred in the dry root-zone of PRI. When organic N was the most (F3), APRI increased soil catalase, urease and invertase activities at jointing stage if compared to CI, but PRI reduced the acid-phosphatase activity from jointing to filling stages. Soil catalase, urease and invertase activities generally increased with more organic manure, but the maximal acid-phosphatase activities occurred under moderate amount of organic N (F2). Our results indicate that APRI increases canopy WUE and the catalase, urease and invertase activities in its wet zone and organic N plays a major role in enhancing canopy WUE and soil enzymatic activities.
AB - Partial root-zone irrigation (PRI) is an effective water-saving irrigation method but the heterogeneous soil moisture distribution that may affect soil enzymatic activities and crop water use. With pot-grown maize, we investigated the dry mass accumulation, crop water-use efficiency and the activities of four major soil enzymes from jointing to grain filling stages of maize plants subjected to PRI and also different ratios of inorganic to organic N fertilizers. Three irrigation methods, i.e. conventional irrigation (CI), alternate PRI (APRI) and fixed PRI (FPRI) and three ratios of inorganic to organic N, i.e. 100% inorganic (F1), 70% inorganic + 30% organic (F2) and 40% inorganic + 60% organic (F3), were applied. Compared to CI, PRI reduced total dry mass and water consumption of maize by 9.5 and 15.7%, respectively, which led to an increase of canopy water-use efficiency by 7.4%. Within the same irrigation method (CI, APRI or FPRI), added organic N increased total dry mass and canopy WUE. During the whole period, maximal soil catalase, urease and acid-phosphatase activities occurred in the wet root-zone of PRI, but maximal invertase activity occurred in the dry root-zone of PRI. When organic N was the most (F3), APRI increased soil catalase, urease and invertase activities at jointing stage if compared to CI, but PRI reduced the acid-phosphatase activity from jointing to filling stages. Soil catalase, urease and invertase activities generally increased with more organic manure, but the maximal acid-phosphatase activities occurred under moderate amount of organic N (F2). Our results indicate that APRI increases canopy WUE and the catalase, urease and invertase activities in its wet zone and organic N plays a major role in enhancing canopy WUE and soil enzymatic activities.
KW - Maize (Zea mays)
KW - N fertilizer
KW - Partial root-zone irrigation
KW - Soil enzymes
KW - Water stress
KW - Water-use efficiency
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70449646181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agwat.2009.09.014
DO - 10.1016/j.agwat.2009.09.014
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:70449646181
SN - 0378-3774
VL - 97
SP - 231
EP - 239
JO - Agricultural Water Management
JF - Agricultural Water Management
IS - 2
ER -