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Winter wheat productivity in relation to water availability and growing intensity.

2010; Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry; Volume: 97; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

2335-8947

Virmantas Povilaitis, S. Lazauskas,

Crop Yield and Soil Fertility

The study was aimed at water availability effects on productivity of winter wheat in relation to growing intensity, including preliminary testing of the DSSAT v4.0.2.0 model. For this purpose we analysed research material on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) performance in the field experiments carried out at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture in Dotnuva, Kėdainiai, Central Lithuania during the periods 1989–1991 and 2007–2009. The soil of the experimental site is light loam, Endocalcari-Epihypogleyic Cambisol (CMg-p-w-can). Comparison of simulated and measured grain yield values in three cropping seasons 1989, 1990 and 1991, involving the results from the treatments where winter wheat cv. ‘Sirvinta 1’ had been applied with N60 in spring, showed a good match judging from the correlation (R 2 = 0.81) and data scatter according to 1:1 line. However, on the plots without N fertilisation the grain yield was underestimated. A series of experiments carried out on the winter wheat cv. ‘Ada’ during 2007–2009 involved three levels of growing intensity – traditional, integrated and organic. Soil moisture availability was measured with “Watermark” sensors and water stress was simulated by the DSSAT v4.0.2.0 model. The DSSAT model and soil moisture sensors produced comparable estimations of water shortage and can be considered as useful tools for monitoring water availability status in winter wheat crops. Winter wheat biomass accumulation and grain yield in field experiments were influenced by the growing intensity and water availability during the growing season, and likely, by the interaction between these two factors. Winter wheat yield was well predicted by the DSSAT v4.0.2.0 model in the treatments applied with N fertilisers in the years devoid of severe water stress. However, the accuracy of estimations declined in the seasons with longer droughty periods and in the treatments without N application.