Impact of water deficit and irrigation management on winter wheat yield in China

摘要: Increasing scarcity of irrigation water is threatening global winter wheat production and food security. As a major world food crop, irrigation has been pivotal in enhancing the sustainable production of wheat. To ensure food and water security, it is vital to better understand wheat irrigation demands during key growth periods to improve water productivity (WP). Here we combined precipitation and crop water requirements to analyze the impacts of crop water deficit (CWDI) on winter wheat growth periods in the main wheat planting belt of China. The results showed that wheat often had unbalanced water budgets, leading to serious and frequent CWDI in North China Plain (NCP) and Northwestern China (NW), especially during the pre-anthesis periods from greening to jointing and jointing to anthesis. Water deficit during these two phenological periods caused considerable yield reductions of 60% and 55 …