IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v252y2021ics037837742100144x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stable oxygen isotope analysis of the water uptake mechanism via the roots in spring maize under the ridge–furrow rainwater harvesting system in a semi-arid region

Author

Listed:
  • Xu, Jing
  • Guo, Ziyan
  • Li, Zhimin
  • Li, Fangjian
  • Xue, Xuanke
  • Wu, Xiaorong
  • Zhang, Xuemei
  • Li, Hui
  • Zhang, Xudong
  • Han, Qingfang

Abstract

Root water uptake plays an important role in plant growth and the water cycle in ecosystems, and it is greatly affected by the morphology and spatial distribution of the roots. The ridge–furrow rainwater harvesting system (RFRH) is an effective strategy in semi-arid regions, but the mechanism of spring maize root water uptake remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted a two-year experiment in a semi-arid region of northwestern China to study the soil water content (SWC), spring maize root morphology and spatial distribution, and water uptake in different root zones using the 18-oxygen stable isotope (δ18O) under RFRH. The root zones were investigated in three locations around a maize plant: (1) ridge (RF-R), (2) border of the ridge and furrow (RF-B), and (3) furrow (RF-F). The results showed that RFRH changed the symmetrical soil water distribution in the maize rows and significantly increased the SWC in RF-F, especially in the shallow soil profile (0–60 cm), which where the enhanced root growth in the shallower soil layers (0–40 cm) under RF-F and the roots reached deeper into the soil under RF-R. The roots reached deeper to absorb water as they developed vertically in the advanced of growth stage. The contributions of different soil layers to the total soil water uptake in the root zone exhibited a similar trend to the root proportion according to δ18O analysis. In the filling stage, the maize roots under RF-R and RF-B acquired 64.1% and 65.8% of the water from the 40–60 cm layer in 2018, respectively, and 74.5% and 65.5% in 2019, whereas the amounts under RF-F were 49.9% and 27.6% from the 40–60 cm layer, and 30% and 53.9% from the 20–40 cm layer in 2018 and 2019. Thus, spring maize root water uptake was positively correlated with the root distribution, and the roots under the furrow absorbed more water from the shallower soil layers than the ridge, and less from the deeper soil layers than the ridge.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Jing & Guo, Ziyan & Li, Zhimin & Li, Fangjian & Xue, Xuanke & Wu, Xiaorong & Zhang, Xuemei & Li, Hui & Zhang, Xudong & Han, Qingfang, 2021. "Stable oxygen isotope analysis of the water uptake mechanism via the roots in spring maize under the ridge–furrow rainwater harvesting system in a semi-arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:252:y:2021:i:c:s037837742100144x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106879
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037837742100144X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106879?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jha, Shiva K. & Gao, Yang & Liu, Hao & Huang, Zhongdong & Wang, Guangshuai & Liang, Yueping & Duan, Aiwang, 2017. "Root development and water uptake in winter wheat under different irrigation methods and scheduling for North China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 139-150.
    2. Li, Caixia & Sun, Jingsheng & Li, Fusheng & Zhou, Xinguo & Li, Zhongyang & Qiang, Xiaoman & Guo, Dongdong, 2011. "Response of root morphology and distribution in maize to alternate furrow irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(12), pages 1789-1798, October.
    3. Wang, Peng & Song, Xianfang & Han, Dongmei & Zhang, Yinhua & Zhang, Bing, 2012. "Determination of evaporation, transpiration and deep percolation of summer corn and winter wheat after irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 32-37.
    4. Wu, Youjie & Du, Taisheng & Ding, Risheng & Yuan, Yusen & Li, Sien & Tong, Ling, 2017. "An isotope method to quantify soil evaporation and evaluate water vapor movement under plastic film mulch," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 59-66.
    5. Wang, Peng & Song, Xianfang & Han, Dongmei & Zhang, Yinghua & Liu, Xin, 2010. "A study of root water uptake of crops indicated by hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes: A case in Shanxi Province, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 475-482, March.
    6. Daniel R. Hirmas & Daniel Giménez & Attila Nemes & Ruth Kerry & Nathaniel A. Brunsell & Cassandra J. Wilson, 2018. "Climate-induced changes in continental-scale soil macroporosity may intensify water cycle," Nature, Nature, vol. 561(7721), pages 100-103, September.
    7. Wu, Youjie & Du, Taisheng & Li, Fusheng & Li, Sien & Ding, Risheng & Tong, Ling, 2016. "Quantification of maize water uptake from different layers and root zones under alternate furrow irrigation using stable oxygen isotope," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 35-44.
    8. Qi Wang & Enhe Zhang & Fengmin Li & Fengrui Li, 2008. "Runoff Efficiency and the Technique of Micro-water Harvesting with Ridges and Furrows, for Potato Production in Semi-arid Areas," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(10), pages 1431-1443, October.
    9. Wang, Yin & Zhang, Xinyue & Chen, Jian & Chen, Anji & Wang, Liying & Guo, Xiaoying & Niu, Yali & Liu, Shuoran & Mi, Guohua & Gao, Qiang, 2019. "Reducing basal nitrogen rate to improve maize seedling growth, water and nitrogen use efficiencies under drought stress by optimizing root morphology and distribution," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 328-337.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Zhongdong & Zhang, Xiaoxian & Ashton, Rhys W. & Hawkesford, Malcom J. & Richard Whalley, W., 2023. "Root phenotyping and root water uptake calculation using soil water contents measured in a winter wheat field," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    2. Haibiao Dong & Jing Hao & Zongyu Chen & Guanghui Zhang & Mingjiang Yan & Jinzhe Wang, 2022. "Root Water Uptake Patterns for Nitraria during the Growth Period Differing in Time Interval from a Precipitation Event in Arid Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-9, July.
    3. Wu, Yali & Ma, Ying & Niu, Yuan & Song, Xianfang & Yu, Hui & Lan, Wei & Kang, Xiaoqi, 2021. "Warming changed seasonal water uptake patterns of summer maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    4. Liu, Yingbo & Yuan, Yusen & Zhang, Liang & Du, Taisheng, 2024. "Exploring the differences of moisture traceability methods based on MixSIAR model under different nitrogen applications of wheat in the Arid Region of Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    5. Zhang, Rui & Zhu, Miyuan & Mady, Ahmed Yehia & Huang, Mingbin & Yan, Xiaoying & Guo, Tianqi, 2024. "Effects of different long-term fertilization and cropping systems on crop yield, water balance components and water productivity in dryland farming," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    6. Zhang, Yuehong & Li, Xianyue & Šimůnek, Jiří & Shi, Haibin & Chen, Ning & Hu, Qi, 2023. "Quantifying water and salt movement in a soil-plant system of a corn field using HYDRUS (2D/3D) and the stable isotope method," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    7. Wang, Weiyan & Guo, Wenjia & Dong, Jiangyao & Zhang, Houping & Liao, Yuncheng & Wen, Xiaoxia, 2024. "Ridge-furrow planting patterns with film mulching improve water use efficiency by enhancing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere and endophyte of summer maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    8. Wang, Jiaxin & He, Xinlin & Gong, Ping & Heng, Tong & Zhao, Danqi & Wang, Chunxia & Chen, Quan & Wei, Jie & Lin, Ping & Yang, Guang, 2024. "Response of fragrant pear quality and water productivity to lateral depth and irrigation amount," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    9. Zhang, Xuemei & Wang, Rui & Liu, Bo & Wang, Youcai & Yang, Linchuan & Zhao, Ji & Xu, Jing & Li, Zhimin & Zhang, Xudong & Han, Qingfang, 2023. "Optimization of ridge–furrow mulching ratio enhances precipitation collection before silking to improve maize yield in a semi–arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liao, Renkuan & Yang, Peiling & Zhu, Yuanhao & Wu, Wenyong & Ren, Shumei, 2018. "Modeling soil water flow and quantification of root water extraction from different soil layers under multi-chemicals application in dry land field," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 75-86.
    2. Wu, Yali & Ma, Ying & Niu, Yuan & Song, Xianfang & Yu, Hui & Lan, Wei & Kang, Xiaoqi, 2021. "Warming changed seasonal water uptake patterns of summer maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    3. Zhang, Yongyong & Wu, Shaoxiong & Kang, Wenrong & Tian, Zihan, 2022. "Multiple sources characteristics of root water uptake of crop under oasis farmlands in hyper-arid regions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    4. Hou, Chenli & Tian, Delong & Xu, Bing & Ren, Jie & Hao, Lei & Chen, Ning & Li, Xianyue, 2021. "Use of the stable oxygen isotope method to evaluate the difference in water consumption and utilization strategy between alfalfa and maize fields in an arid shallow groundwater area," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    5. Zhang, Guangxin & Meng, Wenhui & Pan, Wenhui & Han, Juan & Liao, Yuncheng, 2022. "Effect of soil water content changes caused by ridge-furrow plastic film mulching on the root distribution and water use pattern of spring maize in the Loess Plateau," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    6. Aouade, G. & Ezzahar, J. & Amenzou, N. & Er-Raki, S. & Benkaddour, A. & Khabba, S. & Jarlan, L., 2016. "Combining stable isotopes, Eddy Covariance system and meteorological measurements for partitioning evapotranspiration, of winter wheat, into soil evaporation and plant transpiration in a semi-arid reg," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 181-192.
    7. Li, Pingfeng & Cao, Xiaoqing & Tan, Huang & Wang, Jiahang & Ren, Shumei & Yang, Peiling, 2020. "Studies on water uptake and heat status of cherry root under water-saving measures," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    8. Liu, Zhen & Ma, Feng-yun & Hu, Tong-xi & Zhao, Kai-guang & Gao, Tian-ping & Zhao, Hong-xiang & Ning, Tang-yuan, 2020. "Using stable isotopes to quantify water uptake from different soil layers and water use efficiency of wheat under long-term tillage and straw return practices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    9. Ye, Tianyang & Ma, Jifeng & Zhang, Pei & Shan, Song & Liu, Leilei & Tang, Liang & Cao, Weixing & Liu, Bing & Zhu, Yan, 2022. "Interaction effects of irrigation and nitrogen on the coordination between crop water productivity and nitrogen use efficiency in wheat production on the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    10. Wu, Youjie & Du, Taisheng & Li, Fusheng & Li, Sien & Ding, Risheng & Tong, Ling, 2016. "Quantification of maize water uptake from different layers and root zones under alternate furrow irrigation using stable oxygen isotope," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 35-44.
    11. Yong-zong Lu & Peng-fei Liu & Aliasghar Montazar & Kyaw-Tha Paw U & Yong-guang Hu, 2019. "Soil Water Infiltration Model for Sprinkler Irrigation Control Strategy: A Case for Tea Plantation in Yangtze River Region," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-11, September.
    12. Cao, Xiaoqing & Yang, Peiling & Engel, Bernard A. & Li, Pingfeng, 2018. "The effects of rainfall and irrigation on cherry root water uptake under drip irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 9-18.
    13. Yang, Danni & Li, Sien & Kang, Shaozhong & Du, Taisheng & Guo, Ping & Mao, Xiaomin & Tong, Ling & Hao, Xinmei & Ding, Risheng & Niu, Jun, 2020. "Effect of drip irrigation on wheat evapotranspiration, soil evaporation and transpiration in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    14. Chen, Rui & Wang, Zhenhua & Dhital, Yam Prasad & Zhang, Xinyu, 2022. "A comparative evaluation of soil preferential flow of mulched drip irrigation cotton field in Xinjiang based on dyed image variability versus fractal characteristic parameter," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    15. Wu, Youjie & Du, Taisheng & Ding, Risheng & Yuan, Yusen & Li, Sien & Tong, Ling, 2017. "An isotope method to quantify soil evaporation and evaluate water vapor movement under plastic film mulch," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 59-66.
    16. Ma, Shou-tian & Wang, Tong-chao & Ma, Shou-Chen, 2022. "Effects of drip irrigation on root activity pattern, root-sourced signal characteristics and yield stability of winter wheat," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    17. Lu, Junsheng & Geng, Chenming & Cui, Xiaolu & Li, Mengyue & Chen, Shuaihong & Hu, Tiantian, 2021. "Response of drip fertigated wheat-maize rotation system on grain yield, water productivity and economic benefits using different water and nitrogen amounts," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    18. Duan, Chenxiao & Chen, Guangjie & Hu, Yajin & Wu, Shufang & Feng, Hao & Dong, Qin’ge, 2021. "Alternating wide ridges and narrow furrows with film mulching improves soil hydrothermal conditions and maize water use efficiency in dry sub-humid regions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    19. Muhammad Zain & Zhuanyun Si & Sen Li & Yang Gao & Faisal Mehmood & Shafeeq-Ur Rahman & Abdoul Kader Mounkaila Hamani & Aiwang Duan, 2021. "The Coupled Effects of Irrigation Scheduling and Nitrogen Fertilization Mode on Growth, Yield and Water Use Efficiency in Drip-Irrigated Winter Wheat," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, March.
    20. Daniel G. Gómez & Carlos G. Ochoa & Derek Godwin & Abigail A. Tomasek & María I. Zamora Re, 2022. "Soil Moisture and Water Transport through the Vadose Zone and into the Shallow Aquifer: Field Observations in Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Pasture Fields," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:252:y:2021:i:c:s037837742100144x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.