The dynamic change of soil water content in root zones of maize under localized supplies of water and nitrogen fertilizer
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DOI:10.7606/j.issn.1000-7601.2011.01.01
Key Words: partial root-zone irrigation  partial root-zone fertilization of nitrogen  soil water content  different root zones  maize
Author NameAffiliation
HU Tiantian Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China 
ZHANG Meiling Institute of Survey and Design of Water Conservancy and Hydropower in Inner Mongolia, Hohhot 010020, China 
KANG Shaozhong Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China 
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Abstract:
      The soil water content in different root zones under localized supplies of water and nitrogen fertilizer was studied with maize grown in split-root containers. Maize was irrigated in both halves of the pot (C) or water was alternatively supplied to two halves of the pot (alternative partial root-zone irrigation treatment, A). Urea was applied to both halves of the pot (J) or was fertilized to one half of the pot while the other half was kept without N fertilizer (partial root-zone fertilization treatment, P), all with four levels of fertilization, i.e. zero, low, medium and high. For J-fertilization, the soil water content (SWC) was the same for two root zones under C-irrigation while SWC of two root zones changed alternatively and SWC of the irrigated zone was always larger than that of the non-irrigated zone under A-irrigation, and this was more obvious after irrigation. For both C-irrigation and A-irrigation, N fertilization increased the residual SWC before irrigation. Moreover, both the increment and duration rose with N rates. For C irrigation, the residual SW C in two root zones was equal under J-fertilization while the residual SWC of the fertilized zone was significantly larger than that of the non-fertilized zone under P-fertilization. Under A-irrigation and P-fertilization, both partial root-zone irrigation and partial root-zone fertilization caused the asymmetry of SWC in two root zones. Moreover, the effect of partial root-zone irrigation was larger than that of partial root-zone fertilization for low N rate and the early time after fertilization, and the effect of partial root-zone fertilization was larger than that of partial root-zone irrigation for medium and high N rates and the late time after fertilization. Higher N fertilization could increase the capacity of soil water conservation for both two irrigation and two fertilization methods.