The North China Plain （NCP） is one of the most important agricultural re- gions in China, but it is experiencing a serious water-resource crisis due to exces- sive exploitation of groundwater reserves. Improving water-use efficiency （WUE） of crops is thought to have good potential for conserving groundwater and in maintain- ing high crop production in the region, In this paper, firstly, strategies for improving WUE of crop cultivars in the NCP were discussed. According to studies on key factors affecting cultivar WUE, stomatal conductance, which has large genotypic variability and differs among cultivars in response to drought, is an important physio- logical trait associating closely with the performance of cultivars in WUE and yield. Higher WUE and higher yield may be obtained through strategies of cultivar adop- tion with appropriate stomatal characteristics suitable to different conditions of water availability. Secondly, irrigation scheduling in the North China Plain was further dis- cussed. The irrigation frequency currently employed in this area could be reduced by at least one application （from four to three applications） to obtain higher produc- tion and also higher WUE. Finally, straw mulching and the use of early vigor culti- vats were suggested as two practices that had the potential to be effective in in- creasing crop WUE.
The study aims at exploring the possibility of using the recovery ability af- ter drought stress-rewatering at vegetative growth stage as the evaluating index in water use efficiency （WUE） of winter wheat varieties. ＇Jing 411 ＇, ＇Jinmai 47＇ and their 34 near isogenic lines （NILs） were used as test materials. Semi-automatic rainproof shelter and the percolating pools were used for simulating drought treat- ment. After suffering severe drought stress, winter wheat crops were rewatered at early jointing stage. The biomass accumulation after rewatering was determined as recovery ability index. In the meanwhile, plant height in the end of vegetative growth stage was measured, and WUE of varieties/lines was also determined. Thereafter, the differences in recovery ability, plant height and the population WUE, together with the correlation between recovery ability and population WUE were analyzed, respectively. The results showed that there were significant differences in recovery ability among some varieties/lines. The recovery ability was affected by both geno- type and environment, and the interaction existed in these two factors. Significant differences existed in plant height and population WUE among the 34 NILs along with their parents. There was a significantly positive correlation between recovery ability and plant height of varieties/lines. Recovery ability and plant height were very significantly and positively correlated with population yield WUE respectively. The re- sults indicated that recovery ability after drought stress-rewatering could be used as an evaluating index of population WUE under drought condition.
