Water productivity and its allometric mechanism in mulching cultivated maize (Zea mays L.) in semiarid Kenya

Allometry is extensively used to describe the scaling relationship between individual size and metabolite allocation. Micro-field rain-harvesting system can improve soil water availability and thus alter the allocation of individual biomass among organs. Yet the eco-physiological mechanism based on allometric scaling theory has been little investigated under various mulching conditions. A field experiment was conducted using maize variety Yuyuan7879 in Juja, Kenya for two growing seasons (cross-year) from 2015 to 2016, and from 2016 to 2017 respectively. Four treatments were designed as ridge-furrow mulching (RFM) with black plastic mulching (RFMB), transparent plastic mulching (RFMT), grass straw mulching (RFMG) and conventional flat planting (CK). We found that RFMB, RFMT and RFMG significantly increased grain yield by 106%, 109% and 32% in 2015, and 101%, 96% and 30% in 2016 respectively, in comparison with CK. Mulching treatments improved soil temperature and moisture and significantly increased crop water productivity (CWP). Mulching treatments drastically changed the allometric relationship between metabolic rate (leaf biomass) and individual size (lgy = alpha lgx + lg beta), and optimized the size-dependent reproductive allocation. In the relationship between leaf biomass (y-axis) vs aboveground biomass (x-axis), mulching treatments significantly declined the value of alpha (alpha < 1; P < 0.01), suggesting that less photosynthetic product was allocated in leaves in mulching treatments than in CK. As for the allometric relationship between grain yield and aboveground biomass, the alpha was generally significantly more than 1 in RFMB and RFMT, and significantly less than 1 in RFMG and CK, demonstrating that more photosynthates were allocated to reproductive growth under plastic mulching. Also, the variation of allometric relationship between reproductive and vegetative biomass provided further evidence that plastic mulching facilitated substance transportation from vegetative to reproductive organs. In conclusion, plastic mulching significantly improved soil hydrothermal condition, increased individual reproductive allocation and ultimately improved grain yield and CWP at population level.

Automated summary

A field experiment conducted in Kenya over two growing seasons showed that mulching significantly increased grain yield and crop water productivity, while also altering the biomass allocation between plant organs.