Welcome to Acta Prataculturae Sinica ! Today is Share:

Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (10): 145-153.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2022128

Previous Articles    

Effects of intercropping ratio and regulated deficit irrigation on flag leaf traits of spring wheat at the grain filling stage in spring wheat-alfalfa intercropping

Tao ZHOU(), Le MU, Kai-qi SU, Jun-yu ZHANG, Hui-min YANG()   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems,College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730020,China
  • Received:2022-03-25 Revised:2022-05-05 Online:2022-10-20 Published:2022-09-14
  • Contact: Hui-min YANG

Abstract:

In order to elucidate the advantages of legume-grass intercropping and provide reference data for development of appropriate grain and forage production practice in the Hexi Corridor area of China, this research investigated the effects of intercropping ratio and regulated deficit irrigation on flag leaf traits of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) at the grain filling stage. Two spring wheat-alfalfa (Medicago sativa) strip intercropping configurations were evaluated: 12 rows of spring wheat and 4 rows of alfalfa (12W4A) per strip and 8 rows of spring wheat and 4 rows of alfalfa (8W4A) per strip. Sole spring wheat was used as control. There were four irrigation treatments: 450 (I450), 360 (I360), 270 (I270) and 180 mm (I180). Flag leaf traits were measured at the grain filling stage to define the effects of intercropping ratio and regulated deficit irrigation on the flag leaf morphology and physiology of spring wheat. It was found that: 1) With the successive decreases in irrigation amount, flag leaf area of spring wheat tended to initially increase and then decrease, reaching a maximum at I360. The specific leaf weight, leaf nitrogen concentration and chlorophyll content showed an upward trend, while leaf length∶width and leaf dry matter content did not change significantly. 2) In general, flag leaf area of spring wheat ranked 8W4A>12W4A; Specific leaf weight, leaf nitrogen concentration and chlorophyll content ranked 12W4A>8W4A. The canopy structure under 12W4A provided a suitable spatial ratio for the growth of spring wheat plants, and was conducive to the photosynthetic assimilation of flag leaves.

Key words: spring wheat (Triticum aestivum), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), intercropping ratio, regulated deficit irrigation, flag leaf, leaf trait