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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (3): 13-29.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2022136

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Effects of irrigation modes on forage yield, quality and water use of corn-legume intercropping systems in the Hexi irrigation area

Mao-jian WANG(), Wei SHI, Sheng-hua CHANG, Cheng ZHANG, Qian-min JIA(), Fu-jiang HOU   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems,Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation,Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry,Ministry of Education,College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730020,China
  • Received:2022-03-26 Revised:2022-05-05 Online:2023-03-20 Published:2022-12-30
  • Contact: Qian-min JIA

Abstract:

In 2019 and 2020 growing seasons a field experiment was set up in the Hexi region of Gansu with three crop planting configurations: Corn (Zea mays) monocropping (C), Corn-forage soybean (Glycine max) intercropping (CM) and Corn-laba bean (Dolichos lablab) intercropping (CL). In addition, to study their effects in combination with corn-legume intercropping on the yield, quality and crop water use, six irrigation regimes were imposed: severe water deficit (T1), late water deficit (T2), alternate water deficit (T3), late mild water deficit (T4), early mild water deficit (T5), and full irrigation (T6). The total hay yields of CM and CL treatments were, respectively, 6.48% and 9.47% higher than the yield of C in 2019 and 9.09% and 13.11% higher than C (P<0.05) in 2020, respectively. The acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contents of CM and CL treatments were significantly lower than those of the C treatment in both years, while the crude protein content, crude ash content and relative feeding value (RFV) of CM and CL treatments were significantly higher than those of the C treatment in both years. Compared with C, the RFVs of CM and CL treatments were increased, respectively, by 10.73% and 13.06% in 2019, and by 7.39% and 10.59% in 2020 (P<0.05). Compared with C, the water use efficiency (WUE) and irrigation production efficiency (IPE) of CL were increased, respectively, by 7.77% and 11.41% in 2019 and by 8.76% and 15.11% in 2020 (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the total hay yield of T5 and T6 treatments in the two years. Compared with other treatments, the contents of crude protein and ether extract in treatment T5 were higher, while the contents of ADF and NDF were lower. In both years, the WUE and IPE of treatment T5 were significantly higher than those of T6, with increases of 22.14% and 48.34%, respectively, in 2019 and of 25.18% and 45.51% in 2020, compared with T6. Corn-laba bean intercropping can improve forage yield, quality and water use efficiency under mild water deficit conditions during the early crop growth stages. It can be recommended as a suitable management regime for cultivation of high-yield and high-quality forage crops and to achieve water use efficiency in the Hexi area.

Key words: forage soybean, laba bean, maize-legume intercropping, hay yield, water use efficiency