PLASTIC FILM-MULCHING WITH APPROPRIATE SEEDING RATE ENHANCES YIELD AND WATER USE EFFICIENCY OF DRYLAND WINTER WHEAT IN LOESS PLATEAU, CHINA

The arid and semi-arid regions of Loess Plateau in China are major winter wheat producing areas where water shortage is limiting wheat production.Present study was designed to analyzed the water consumption characteristics of plastic film-mulched wheat under different seeding rates in order to attain a high yield of dryland wheat.Wheat was sown in dryland areas of Shanxi province, China during the 2014-2016 growing seasons at different seeding rates (60, 75, 90, 105 and 120 kg h -1 ) under ridged plastic film mulching and flat sowing without mulching.The results showed that the plastic film mulching had increased the total water consumption (7.8-11%), water use efficiency (7.6%-11.3%),number of tillers (8-16%), and grain yield (15.9-23.6%).Water use efficiency, water consumption, and yield were highest at 90 kg h -1 under film mulching and 105 kg h -1 under no mulching.Increasing seeding rate had increased the number of tillers per unit area and leaf area index, while reduced the number of grains per panicle and 1000 grains weight whereas, yield was increased first and then decreased.Therefore, film-mulching with appropriate seeding rate is an effective approach to enhance yield and water use efficiency of dryland wheat.