Effects of Irrigation Stage and Amount on Water Consumption Characteristics, Grain Yield and Content of Protein Components of Wheat

【Objective】 The objective of this experiment was to study the effects of irrigation stage and amount on water consumption characteristics and grain protein components of wheat under high-yield conditions, and to provide scientific basis for water-saving, high-yield and good-quality cultivation of wheat. 【Method】 Water consumption amount, water use efficiency, grain yield, grain quality and content of protein components of wheat were analyzed using different irrigation stage and amount treatments, and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) technique was used to separate protein components of wheat grain. 【Result】 The results showed that the ratio of irrigation amount to water consumption amount increased significantly with increasing irrigation amount, while the ratio of precipitation to water consumption amount and the ratio of soil water amount to water consumption amount decreased. It was the effective way to achieve water-saving, high-yield and good-quality cultivation of wheat by decreasing water consumption amount and increasing water use efficiency by decreasing irrigation amount, improving the utilization of soil water and increasing the soil water consumption amount in 0-100 cm soil layers. The treatment which irrigated 60mm water at jointing stage and anthesis stage respectively had the highest water use efficiency in two wheat growing seasons. There was no significant difference between treatment W1 and W2 in grain yield, while treatment W1 was significantly higher than W0 in 2004–2005 growing season. There was no significant difference between treatment W'2 and W'3 in grain yield, while treatment W'2 was significantly higher than W'0 and W'1 in 2005-2006 growing season. Water had a key regulation effect on the content of protein components of wheat grain. In 2004-2005 growing season, the treatment W1's grain had lower gliadin content, higher HMW-GS content, glutenin content, grain protein content, wet gluten content, and longer dough development time and dough stability time than treatment W2's grain. It was beneficial to improve the grain quality of Jimai20 (a winter wheat cultivar with strong gluten). In 2005-2006 growing season, the treatment W'2 had the highest content of HMW-GS and glutenin of wheat grain, and it was in accordance with the change tendency of grain protein content, dough development time and dough stability time of wheat grain. 【Conclusion】 As far as water-saving, high-yield and good-quality were concerned in the experiment, the most appropriate irrigation treatment for recommendation was the one which irrigated 60 mm water at jointing stage and anthesis stage respectively.