Influences Of Different Manure Application Rates On Soil Quality And Response Of The Maize Growth Under Dryland Farming

Water and nutrient is the imperative material base for crop growth and the main limitingfactors in improving dryland crop yield. There is lower rainfall and infertile soil in Weibeiarea and the nutrient stress is the main factor limiting a high rainfall use efficiency. Manureapplication increase the capacity of storing soil water and make important significance inachieving the sustainable growth of dryland agriculture. The research was conducted inWeibei dry land in five years and the influences of different rates of organic fertilizerapplication on soil moisture, bulk density, soil enzymes, soil nutrients and maize growth wereanalyzed in this article. The purpose of this research was to provide theoretical and practicalbasis for agricultural sustainable development of dryland and expansion of soil storagecapacity. The main conclusions were as follows:The manure treatments significantly increased the soil water storage over the0-60cmlayer by4.71%-21.63%compared with control and the high manure treatment significantlyincreased it by4.94%-9.09%compared with low manure treatment in big trumpet stage ofmaize after the fourth fertilization year (P<0.05). The high manure treatment significantlyincreased the soil water storage over the0-60cm layer compared with other treatments ingrain filling stage of maize. Organic manure application could increase the average soil waterstorage over the0-200cm layer during the whole growth period of maize. The high manuretreatment significantly increased the average soil water storage over the0-200cm layer by4.43%-7.65%compared with control (P<0.05). The manure treatments significantlydecreased evapotranspiration in jointing–big trumpet stage of maize with the number of themanure application years increasing. Organic manure application decreasedevapotranspiration in tasseling–grain filling stage of maize. The manure treatmentssignificantly increased evapotranspiration in grain filling–maturity stage of maize. Organicmanure application improved water-use efficiency at different growth stages of maize andmade rational use of limited soil water. Manure application or increasing the manure application rates could significantly increase water-use efficiency in jointing–big trumpetstage of maize. High manure treatment significantly increased water-use efficiency by6.81~18.63%compared with control in big trumpet–tasseling stage of maize (P<0.05).Manure treatments significantly increased water-use efficiency in tasseling–grain filling stageof maize. With the number of the manure application years increasing, increasing the manureapplication rates could significantly increased water-use efficiency in tasseling–grain fillingstage of maize, and medium and high manure treatments significantly increased water-useefficiency in grain filling–maturity stage of maize. Manure application significantly increasedwater-use efficiency by7.82%-36.58%compared with control in whole growth period ofmaize (P<0.05). Medium and high manure treatments could significantly increased water-useefficiency by8.48%-15.07%and13.52%-20.19%repectively in whole growth period ofmaize (P<0.05). With the number of the manure application years increasing, soil nutrientcondition was no longer the main factor limiting the increasing of water-use efficiency inwhole growth period of maize.High manure treatment significantly decreased soil bulk density by4.80%-5.60%compared with contro after the fourth fertilization year (P<0.05). High manure treatmentsignificantly increased soil urease, alkaline phosphatase and invertase activity by8.23%-21.65%(P<0.05)15.71%-42.03%(P<0.05)和5.32%-13.46%(P<0.05). Medium manuretreatment significantly increased soil alkaline phosphatase activity by7.14%-30.43%compared with control (P<0.05), and significantly increased urease activity by6.88%-15.46%after the second fertilization year (P<0.05), and significantly increased invertaseactivity by6.01%-7.28%(P<0.05).With the number of the manure application years increasing, manure treatmentssignificantly increased soil organic matter, total N, total P and toal K contents. Medium andhigh manure treatments could significantly increase soil available N content by7.85%-15.05%(P<0.05) and13.86%-23.55%(P<0.05), respectively. Manure treatmentssignificantly increased soil available P and available K contents compared with control. Soilavailable N, available P and available K contents significantly increased with the manureapplication rates increasing.Manure application could significantly increase maize height at big trumpet, tasselingstages of maize. Increasing the manure application rates could significantly increase maizeheight at big trumpet stage of maize. High and medium manure treatments could significantlyincrease maize height by7.1-10.2%(p<0.05) and5.0%-6.1%(p<0.05) at tasseling stage ofmaize. High manure treatment significantly increased maize height by5.1%-5.5%comparedwith control at grain filling stage of maize (P<0.05). Manure application significantly increased maize dry matter compared with control at big trumpet, tasseling, grain filling andmaturity stages of maize. Increasing manure application rates could significantly increasemaize dry matter compared with control at big trumpet and tasseling stages of maize. With thenumber of the manure application years increasing, soil nutrient condition was no longer themain factor limiting maize dry matter accumulation increasing.Manure application could significantly increase maize yield. Low, medium and highmanure treatments increased average yield of five years by12.6%,24.2%and27.8%respectively compared with control (p<0.05). Increasing manure application rates couldincrease maize yield. High manur treatment increased average yield of five years by13.5%compared with low manure treatment. Medium manur treatment increased average yield offive years by10.4%compared with low manure treatment. With the number of the manureapplication years increasing, the difference between high manure treatment and mediummanure treatment dramatically decrease and the soil nutrient condition was no longer themain factor limiting maize yield increasing. In the fifth fertilization year (2011), low, mediumand high manure treatments significantly increased the weight per1000grains by6.1%7.6%7.7%(P<0.05). Manure application could achieve well economic returns in the second andthird fertilization years. Long-term application of low or medium manure could achieve welleconomic returns, which had advantages on agricultural productivity, and had goodpopularization meanings for developing sustainable agriculture.