Alternative Furrow Irrigation Combined with Topdressing Nitrogen at Jointing Help Yield Formation and Water Use of Winter Wheat under No-Till Ridge Furrow Planting System in Semi-Humid Drought-Prone Areas of China

Benefiting from the high–farmland construction program in China, one–off irrigation can be guaranteed in most fields in semi–humid drought–prone areas in China. However, little information is available on water and nitrogen (N) management in wheat production under this condition. This study aimed to explore the effects of alternative furrow irrigation (AFI) and topdressing N fertilizer (TN) on wheat productivity under a no–till ridge–furrow planting system in semi–humid drought–prone areas. The experimental design was as follows: two furrow irrigation (FI) methods, namely, EFI (every furrow irrigation) and AFI (alternative furrow irrigation) with 75 mm at the jointing stage were set as the main treatments. Two topdressing N (TN) patterns, namely, NTN (0 kg ha−1 of N) and TN (60 kg ha−1 of N) along with irrigation were set as the secondary treatments. Moreover, a traditional planting practice with no irrigation and no topdressing N (NINTN) was set as control. In 2018–2020, a field experiment was carried out to investigate the effects on soil water, leaf chlorophyll relative content (SPAD) and net photosynthetic rate (Pn), aboveground dry matter assimilates, grain yield, water use efficiency (WUE) and economic benefit. We found that both FI methods and TN patterns significantly influenced soil water content. Compared with NINTN, the soil water content in each combination of the FI method and TN pattern was effectively improved at the booting and anthesis stages, leading to the significant increase in SPAD and Pn in leaves, post–anthesis dry matter accumulation (POA), grain yield, WUE and economic benefit of winter wheat. Compared with the EFI, averaged across years and TN patterns, the AFI technique increased the soil water storage at booting and anthesis stages and significantly improved the Pn at early milk (4.9%) and early dough (7.5%) stages, POA (40.6%) and its contribution to grain (CRPOA, 27.6%), the grain yield (10.2%), WUE (9.1%) and economic benefit (9.1%). In addition, compared with the NTN, the TN pattern significantly increased the water computation by wheat from booting to maturity, enhanced leaf Pn after anthesis and POA, and finally resulted in the increase in grain yield (14.7–21.9%) and WUE (9.6–21.1%). Thus, the greatest improvement in the leaf photosynthetic characteristics, aboveground dry matter assimilates, grain yield, WUE and economic benefit was achieved under AFITN treatment. Above all, it can be concluded that the AFITN with AFI of 75 mm and TN of 60 kg ha−1 at jointing was an alternative management strategy for optimizing yield formation and water use of winter wheat. This study provided new insights into improving wheat productivity in drought–prone areas where one–off irrigation can be guaranteed.