Effects of different planting patterns on water use and yield performance of winter wheat in the Huang-Huai-Hai plain of China

Field experiments were conducted at an experimental station of Farmland Irrigation Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the Huang-Huai-Hai plain of China (HPC) during 2005–2006. The experiment comprised planting winter wheat in three patterns, namely, furrow irrigated raised bed-planting (FIRB), mulched ridge and furrow planting (MRFP) and conventional flat planting (FP). The study indicated that the FIRB and MRFP patterns had lower water consumption than the FP pattern due to decrease of irrigation amount and control of evaporation from topsoil. The water consumption was 354.5 mm for FIRB and 323.6 mm for MRFP, which were 12.3 and 20.0% lower than that in FP, respectively. The yield of FIRB and MRFP were respectively, 5.2% higher and 7.8% lower than FP. The water use efficiency (WUE) for FIRB and MRFP was 2.26 and 2.16 kg m−3, which was 20.2 and 14.9% higher over FP, respectively. Combining water consumption yield and WUE, it could be concluded that the FIRB system had higher yield than WUE, MRFP and FP, which will offer a sound opportunity for sustainable farming in HPC.