Abstract
Water scarcity is one of the significant constraints on sustainable agricultural development in arid and semi-arid regions. The challenges faced in forage production are even more severe than those encountered with general crops. The industry still struggles to achieve water-efficient, high-yield quality forage in water-scarce pastoral areas. This study focuses on alfalfa, a high-quality forage crop, employing a combination of “subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) + alternate partial root-zone irrigation (APRI)” and establishing three water supply gradients (full irrigation, 75% deficit, 50% deficit), in comparison with the widely used subsurface drip irrigation, to study the effects of two irrigation methods and three moisture gradients on alfalfa. The aim is to provide some theoretical basis and data support for achieving water-saving and high-yield quality forage in water-scarce pastoral areas. The main findings are as follows: First, compared with SDI, the two-year alternate dry and wet environment provided by alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation (ARDI) significantly increased the specific root length, specific surface area, and root length density of alfalfa at 20~40 cm depth, increasing by 33.3~76.8%, 6.4~32.97%, and 15.2~93.9%, respectively, compared to SDI. Under ARDI irrigation, the alfalfa root system has a greater contact area with the soil, which lays a solid foundation for the water and nutrient supply needed for the accumulation of its above-ground biomass. Secondly, over the two-year production process, the plant height of alfalfa under ARDI treatment was 12~14.5% higher than that under SDI, the total fresh forage yield was 43.5~64% higher, and the total dry forage yield was 23.2~33.8% higher than SDI. Under ARDI, the 75% water deficit treatment could still maintain the plant height and stem thickness of alfalfa compared to full irrigation with SDI and increased the dry forage yield by 6.6% without significantly reducing the quality, significantly enhancing the productive performance of alfalfa. Moreover, during the two years of production and utilization, the nutritional quality of alfalfa under the ARDI irrigation mode did not significantly decrease compared to SDI, maintaining the stable nutritional quality of alfalfa over multiple years of production. Lastly, thanks to the improved root system and increased yield of alfalfa under ARDI irrigation, and based on this, its water evapotranspiration did not significantly increase compared to SDI; the annual average Alfalfa Water Productivity Index (AWPI) and Alfalfa Water Productivity of Crop (AWPC) under ARDI irrigation increased by 28.8% and 37.2%, respectively, improving the water use efficiency of alfalfa production. In summary, in the production of alfalfa in water-scarce pastoral areas, ARDI and its water deficit treatment have more potential for water-saving than SDI as a water-saving irrigation strategy.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 14
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI increased specific root length by 33.3~76.8%.
- Taxon
- alfalfa
Medicago sativae1 - Organ / stage
- 20~40 cm depthe1
- Treatment
- alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation (ARDI)e1
- Outcome
- specific root lengthe1
- Direction
- increasede1
- Value
- 33.3~76.8%e1
- Comparator
- SDIe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation (ARDI) significantly increased the specific root length, specific surface area, and root length density of alfalfa at 20~40 cm depth, increasing by 33.3~76.8%, 6.4~32.97%, and 15.2~93.9%, respectively, compared to SDI.”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI increased specific surface area by 6.4~32.97%.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation (ARDI)e0
- Outcome
- specific surface areae0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 6.4~32.97%e0
- Comparator
- SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation (ARDI) significantly increased the specific root length, specific surface area, and root length density of alfalfa at 20~40 cm depth, increasing by 33.3~76.8%, 6.4~32.97%, and 15.2~93.9%, respectively, compared to SDI.”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI increased root length density by 15.2~93.9%.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation (ARDI)e0
- Outcome
- root length densitye0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 15.2~93.9%e0
- Comparator
- SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation (ARDI) significantly increased the specific root length, specific surface area, and root length density of alfalfa at 20~40 cm depth, increasing by 33.3~76.8%, 6.4~32.97%, and 15.2~93.9%, respectively, compared to SDI.”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI plant height was 12~14.5% higher than SDI.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- ARDI treatmente0
- Outcome
- plant heighte0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 12~14.5%e0
- Comparator
- SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the plant height of alfalfa under ARDI treatment was 12~14.5% higher than that under SDI”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI fresh forage yield was 43.5~64% higher than SDI.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- ARDI treatmente1
- Outcome
- total fresh forage yielde0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 43.5~64%e0
- Comparator
- SDIe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the total fresh forage yield was 43.5~64% higher”
e1“the plant height of alfalfa under ARDI treatment was 12~14.5% higher than that under SDI”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI dry forage yield was 23.2~33.8% higher than SDI.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- ARDI treatmente1
- Outcome
- total dry forage yielde0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 23.2~33.8%e0
- Comparator
- SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the total dry forage yield was 23.2~33.8% higher than SDI.”
e1“the plant height of alfalfa under ARDI treatment”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI with 75% water deficit maintained plant height and stem thickness relative to full SDI irrigation.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- 75% water deficit treatmente0
- Outcome
- plant height and stem thicknesse0
- Direction
- maintaine0
- Comparator
- full irrigation with SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Under ARDI, the 75% water deficit treatment could still maintain the plant height and stem thickness of alfalfa compared to full irrigation with SDI”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI with 75% deficit increased dry forage yield by 6.6%.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- 75% water deficit treatmente0
- Outcome
- dry forage yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 6.6%e0
- Comparator
- full irrigation with SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Under ARDI, the 75% water deficit treatment could still maintain the plant height and stem thickness of alfalfa compared to full irrigation with SDI and increased the dry forage yield by 6.6%”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI with 75% deficit did not significantly reduce quality.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- 75% water deficit treatmente0
- Outcome
- qualitye0
- Direction
- without significantly reducinge0
- Comparator
- full irrigation with SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Under ARDI, the 75% water deficit treatment could still maintain the plant height and stem thickness of alfalfa compared to full irrigation with SDI and increased the dry forage yield by 6.6% without significantly reducing the quality”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI nutritional quality did not significantly decrease relative to SDI over two years.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- ARDI irrigation modee0
- Outcome
- nutritional qualitye0
- Direction
- did not significantly decreasee0
- Comparator
- SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the nutritional quality of alfalfa under the ARDI irrigation mode did not significantly decrease compared to SDI”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI evapotranspiration did not significantly increase relative to SDI.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- ARDI irrigatione1
- Outcome
- water evapotranspiratione0
- Direction
- did not significantly increasee0
- Comparator
- SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“its water evapotranspiration did not significantly increase compared to SDI”
e1“alfalfa under ARDI irrigation”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI increased AWPI by 28.8%.
- Taxon
- AlfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- ARDI irrigatione0
- Outcome
- Alfalfa Water Productivity Index (AWPI)e0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 28.8%e0
- Comparator
- SDIe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the annual average Alfalfa Water Productivity Index (AWPI) and Alfalfa Water Productivity of Crop (AWPC) under ARDI irrigation increased by 28.8% and 37.2%, respectively”
e1“its water evapotranspiration did not significantly increase compared to SDI”
Claim · model-written summary
ARDI increased AWPC by 37.2%.
- Taxon
- AlfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- ARDI irrigatione0
- Outcome
- Alfalfa Water Productivity of Crop (AWPC)e0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 37.2%e0
- Comparator
- SDIe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the annual average Alfalfa Water Productivity Index (AWPI) and Alfalfa Water Productivity of Crop (AWPC) under ARDI irrigation increased by 28.8% and 37.2%, respectively”
e1“its water evapotranspiration did not significantly increase compared to SDI”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors consider ARDI and deficit treatment promising for water saving.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Outcome
- ARDI and its water deficit treatment have more potential for water-saving than SDIe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the production of alfalfa in water-scarce pastoral areas, ARDI and its water deficit treatment have more potential for water-saving than SDI as a water-saving irrigation strategy.”
The same questions in other papers
drought · growth · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Results differ
19 papers in the same direction as this paper · 52 in the opposite direction
- negative
- negative
- negative
68 papers more in this group
See all 72 papers →irrigation · yield · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Results differ
65 papers in the same direction as this paper · 25 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- positive
- negative
88 papers more in this group
See all 92 papers →irrigation · quality: grain · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Positive and negative results
7 papers in the same direction as this paper · 6 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- positive
- positive
10 papers more in this group
See all 14 papers →drought · yield · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Positive and negative results
3 papers in the same direction as this paper · 20 in the opposite direction
- negative
- negative
- negative
20 papers more in this group
See all 24 papers →irrigation · physiology: water · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Positive and negative results
24 papers in the same direction as this paper · 8 in the opposite direction
- negative
- positive
- negative
29 papers more in this group
See all 33 papers →irrigation · growth · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Positive and negative results
21 papers in the same direction as this paper · 15 in the opposite direction
- negative
- negative
- negative
33 papers more in this group
See all 37 papers →drought · quality: general · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- negative
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.