A field experiment was conducted during the 2002/2003 cropping season of winter wheat （Triticum aestivum） and spring maize （Zea mays） to evaluate the effect of limited single drip irrigation on the yield and water use of both crops under relay intercropping in a semi-arid area of northwestern China. A controlled 35 mm single irrigation, either early or late, was applied to each crop at a certain growth stage. Soil water, leaf area, final grain yield and yield components such as the thousand-grain weight, length of spike, fertile spikelet number, number of grains per spike, and grain weight per spike were measured, and water use efficiency and leaf area index were calculated for the irrigated and non-irrigated relay intercropping treatments and sole cropping controls. The results showed that yield, yield components, water use efficiency, and leaf area index in the relay intercropping treatments were affected by limited single drip irrigation during various growth stages of wheat and maize. The total yields in the relay intercropping treatment irrigated during the heading stage of wheat and the heading and anthesis stage of maize were the highest among all the treatments, followed by that irrigated during the anthesis stage of wheat and silking stage of maize; so was the water use efficiency. Significant differences occurred in most yield components between the irrigated and non-irrigated relay-intercropping treatments. The dynamics of the leaf area index in the relay-intercropped or solely cropped wheat and maize showed a type of single-peak pattern, whereas that of the relay intercropping treatments showed a type of double-peak pattern. Appropriately, limited single irrigation and controlled soil water content level could result in higher total yield, water use efficiency, and leaf area index, and improved yield components in relay intercropping. This practice saved the amount of water used for irrigation and also increased the yield. Therefore, heading stage of wheat and heading and anthesis stage of mai
对水分胁迫下不同根系大小的春小麦籽粒产量与水分利用效率、相对生长速度和根系功能效率之间的关系进行了研究.实验分为3个水分处理和3个根系大小处理,3个水分处理分别是土壤含水量保持在田间持水量的80%～90% H ,50%～60% M 和30%～40% L .根系大小的处理是 1 大根系处理 B , 2 中根系处理 M 和 3 小根系处理 S .实验结果表明,在中度和重度干旱条件下小根系处理 MS和LS 的作物具有较高的WEUg、WUEdm、相对生长速度、根系功能效率和籽粒产量;在高水分处理中,上述参数的数值在大根系处理中相对较高.根呼吸耗C量在作物的整个生育期中都占有十分重要的地位,尽管根呼吸耗C比例随作物的生长而呈同步增加的趋势,但实际耗C量却呈逐步下降的趋势,同一时期作物的根呼吸速率与土壤含水量之间存在正相关关系,说明适当降低土壤含水量可以有效地减少根呼吸耗C量,有利于提高作物的存活率.在干旱半干旱地区,春小麦的根功能效率尚未达到最高值,作物产量仍有潜力可挖,通过适时补灌和减少同化物向根系分配的比例和根系对同化产物的消耗量来达到提高春小麦籽粒产量的方法是可行的,但不是长久之计.
