Nutritional responses to soil drying and rewetting cycles under partial root-zone drying irrigation

TY - JOUR

T1 - Nutritional responses to soil drying and rewetting cycles under partial root-zone drying irrigation

AU - Wang, Yaosheng

AU - Jensen, Christian Richardt

AU - Liu, Fulai

N1 - Special Issue on Improving Agricultural Water Productivity to Ensure Food Security under Changing Environments Overseen by: Brent Clothier

PY - 2017/1/1

Y1 - 2017/1/1

N2 - Repeated soil drying and rewetting (DRW) cycles occur in rainfed and irrigated agriculture. The intensity and frequency of DRW cycles regulate both microbial physiology and soil physical processes, hereby affecting the mineralization and immobilization of soil nutrients and their bioavailability. Partial root-zone drying irrigation (PRI) irrigates half of the soil zone, while the other half is allowed to dry, and the two halves is alternately irrigated. PRI outweighs conventional deficit irrigation in further improving water use efficiency (WUE) by enhancing the root-to-shoot chemical signaling that regulates stomatal aperture. PRI induced soil DRW cycles and more soil water dynamics in the root zone enhance soil nutrient mineralization process and thus increase the bioavailability of soil nutrients, resulting in improved nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) uptake, in which soil microbial processes play a key role. Studies investigating how soil DRW cycles and water dynamics under PRI on nutrient transport in soil solution, soil microbe mediated P transformation, interactions between phytohormones and nutrient uptake, root morphological and architectural traits for nutrient acquisition, and PRI-integrated fertigation are still lacking. In addition, the positive nutritional effect may be varied in terms of climatic conditions and intensity and frequency of precipitation or irrigation, and these merit further in-depth studies.

AB - Repeated soil drying and rewetting (DRW) cycles occur in rainfed and irrigated agriculture. The intensity and frequency of DRW cycles regulate both microbial physiology and soil physical processes, hereby affecting the mineralization and immobilization of soil nutrients and their bioavailability. Partial root-zone drying irrigation (PRI) irrigates half of the soil zone, while the other half is allowed to dry, and the two halves is alternately irrigated. PRI outweighs conventional deficit irrigation in further improving water use efficiency (WUE) by enhancing the root-to-shoot chemical signaling that regulates stomatal aperture. PRI induced soil DRW cycles and more soil water dynamics in the root zone enhance soil nutrient mineralization process and thus increase the bioavailability of soil nutrients, resulting in improved nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) uptake, in which soil microbial processes play a key role. Studies investigating how soil DRW cycles and water dynamics under PRI on nutrient transport in soil solution, soil microbe mediated P transformation, interactions between phytohormones and nutrient uptake, root morphological and architectural traits for nutrient acquisition, and PRI-integrated fertigation are still lacking. In addition, the positive nutritional effect may be varied in terms of climatic conditions and intensity and frequency of precipitation or irrigation, and these merit further in-depth studies.

KW - Deficit irrigation

KW - Mineralization

KW - Nitrogen

KW - Phosphorus

KW - Water-saving agriculture

U2 - 10.1016/j.agwat.2016.04.015

DO - 10.1016/j.agwat.2016.04.015

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0378-3774

VL - 179

SP - 254

EP - 259

JO - Agricultural Water Management

JF - Agricultural Water Management

ER -