Watering Frequency and Total Water Input Influence Wheat Growth,Soil Microbial Biomass and Nutrient Availability in a Silt Loam |
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| Authors: | Ran Xue Yuying Shen |
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| Affiliation: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China;2. Soils, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Two experiments with different watering regimes were conducted. In the first experiment, wheat was grown for four days at 50% of maximum water holding capacity (WHC), then 4-day cycles with three watering regimes were implemented, percentages refer to water lost over 4 days: in TW1 pots were watered on day 1 of each cycle adding 100%, TW2 pots were watered on day 1 and day 3 each time adding 50%, TW4, pots were watered daily, each time 25%. In the second experiment, the soil was rewetted to 50% WHC when soil water content reached 40, 30, 20 and 10% WHC. In the first experiment, shoot and root biomass were higher in 4TW than 1TW and 2TW, whereas microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in 2TW was higher than in 1TW and 4TW. In Experiment 2, shoot and root biomass and MBC decreased with soil water content at which the pots were watered. Watering treatments had a stronger effect on plant biomass than MBC. |
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| Keywords: | Microbial biomass nutrient availability soil water content watering frequency |
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