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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (3): 147-156.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2019254

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Effects of infiltration irrigation on growth characters and water use efficiency of alfalfa in the Ningxia Yellow River diversion irrigation area

QIAN Zhi-hao1, HAN Bing-fang2,*, LIU Zi-ting2, CAI Wei1, FU Bing-zhe1, MA Hong-bin1   

  1. 1.State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Land Degradation and Ecological Restoration of North-western China, Agricultural College, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China;
    2.Center of Engineering Research on Efficient Utilization of Water Research in Modern Agricultural in Arid Regions, College of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
  • Received:2019-05-05 Online:2020-03-20 Published:2020-03-20

Abstract: It is important to study the effects of infiltration irrigation on soil water content, production performance and water use efficiency of alfalfa for scientific evaluation of infiltration irrigation. This study evaluated the performance of alfalfa in the Ningxia Yellow River diversion irrigation area under a range of irrigation treatments. Specifically, infiltration irrigation application rates of 350 (S35), 400 (S40), 450 (S45) and 500 (S50) m3·667 m-2 were compared with a flood irrigation allocation of 800 m3·667 m-2 (CK). We measured soil moisture content, growth characters, feed quality and irrigation water use efficiency. The results can be summarized as follows: 1) Over the whole growth period, CK had the highest soil water content and water consumption, while S45 had lower soil water content, and infiltration irrigation was used soil water more efficiently than traditional flooding irrigation. The coefficient of variation for soil water content of the CK treatment was the largest in the 0-20 cm soil layer, while the coefficient of variation for soil water content for each infiltration irrigation rate in the 0-40 cm soil layer was smaller. Under infiltration irrigation the soil water content decreased with the depth within the soil profile, and its coefficient of variation was lower than that of flood irrigation. 2) Infiltration irrigation resulted in an increase in leaf-stem ratio, branch number, leaf area index, root biomass and crude protein content, and a decrease the content of acid detergent fiber of alfalfa. This was more obvious under the S45 and S50 treatments. 3) Except for the S35 treatment, the alfalfa herbage and crude protein yields under infiltration irrigation were higher than in the CK treatment. An appropriate irrigation rate improved the alfalfa herbage and crude protein yield, and irrigation water use efficiency, with a resulting economic benefit. Based on results from this study, the irrigation allocation of 450 m3·667 m-2 is the suitable irrigation quantity of alfalfa infiltration irrigation in Ningxia Yellow River diversion irrigation area.

Key words: infiltration irrigation, alfalfa, irrigation water use efficiency, growth performance, feed nutrients