Effects Of Fertilization Systems On Maizegrowth And Water Relations In A Red Soil

The water retention capacity of the red soil is poor, the effective reservoir capacity is small and the seasonal drought is frequent. These lead to a serious influence on the crop growth and water relations. Soil moisture is one of the most important factors in crop growth, and the improvement of soil water retention ability can be realized through reasonable fertilization. In this paper, a field experiment is conducted to study the influence of fertilization systems on maize growth and water relations and the physical and chemical properties and the reservoir capacity of soil is improved by fertilization for effecting crop growth and water relations. The exploration of the influence of Fertilization on “soil-crop” water relations is available for a feasible theory to mitigate the effect of seasonal drought for crops.Field experiments were conducted in July to September in 2014, 4 different fertilization systems were set up: 1) CK: no fertilizer, 2) NPK: application of chemical fertilizer, 3) OM: single application of manure, 4) NPKM: application of chemical fertilizer with straw returning. Corn variety is Zheng Dan 958. In a continuous no rainy period(during growing period of maize: jointing stage to booting stage) simultaneous determination of canopy temperature of maize, root water potential, leaf water potential, leaf relative water content index and get the following results:1. Single application of manure(OM) fertilization system effects on physical and chemical properties of soil is better than other fertilization systems. The content of organic matter of OM fertilization system is significantly higher than that of the other three fertilization systems, and the soil bulk density is lowest, and the composition of 0.05~002mm is the highest. The effect of total N, total P, available K and the nutrient contents in soil order from high to low is OM>NPKM>NPK>CK.2. The effect of fertilization system on soil water characteristic curve is obvious, but the slope of soil characteristic curve of each fertilization system is consistent. The water retention capacity of soil by the OM system is the best. The difference of water holding performance of different fertilization systems is mainly determined by soil texture(0.05~0.002 mm diameter)(low suction section) and organic matter content(high suction section). The soil moisture constants of the OM fertilization system were significantly higher than other systems, the effective reservoir capacity of soil of it were 4%,10.4%,14.2% higher than NPKM, NPK and CK respectively, the soil to the capacity of water best and it has the best water retention capacity.3. Fertilization system effects on soil water content and soil penetration resistance is significant, the soil water content order from high to low is OM > NPKM > NPK > CK, the order of soil penetration resistance level is consistent with this, which is extremely significant negative correlation and the correlation coefficient is-0.998(P < 0.01). OM Fertilization system on soil water content and soil penetration resistance is the most significant impact, which it water content of soil is higher relatively and the soil penetration resistance is significantly lower than the other Fertilization systems.4. Fertilization systems significantly changed the water potential and water stress of maize. Under the same atmospheric saturation difference, OM fertilization system on crop canopy temperature difference is the smallest, and with the variation of soil water supply capacity, the difference among the fertilization system is becoming more and more significant. Fertilization on maize root water potential, leaf water potential and leaf relative water content had significant effect(P < 0.05), in the continuous no rainy period(jointing stage to booting stage),all the fertilization systems of crop root water potential, leaf water potential and leaf relative water content order from high to low is OM > NPKM > NPK > CK. The water content of 0-20 cm soil layer is significantly negatively correlated with the crop water stress index(CWSI), and the correlation between CWSI and 10-20 cm is better than that of 0-10 cm. Significant effect of fertilization on CWSI values, especially the single application of manure(OM) fertilization system which the CWSI values compared with the other fertilization, the value of it is minimum and the effect by water stress of the crop is less. The results indicate that the OM Fertilization system effect on the crop water relations is the best on red soil.5. Fertilization on maize growth parameters has significant influence, in a continuous no rainy period, the fertilization system on crop growth effects on overall performance of maize is OM > NPKM > NPK > CK. Soil moisture content influence on maize growth parameters were greater than those soil properties of soil penetration resistance, bulk density, and organic matter content. Indicators of OM fertilization system of crop growth is the best. OM fertilization system effects on maize grain yield and biological yield is higher than other fertilization systems(NPKM, NPK and CK) 5% and 9.4%, 19.5% and 25.7%, 80.5% and 75.3%. The results suggest that the fertilization system could improve the crop yield by improving soil and crop water relationship.