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Article

The Combined Effects of Irrigation, Tillage and N Management on Wheat Grain Yield and Quality in a Drought-Prone Region of China

by
Ming Huang
1,
Ninglu Xu
1,
Kainan Zhao
2,
Xiuli Huang
1,
Kaiming Ren
1,
Yulin Jia
1,
Shanwei Wu
1,
Chunxia Li
1,
Hezheng Wang
1,
Guozhan Fu
1,
Youjun Li
1,
Jinzhi Wu
1,* and
Guoqiang Li
3,*
1
College of Agriculture, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471002, China
2
Crop Research Institute, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan 250100, China
3
China Key Laboratory of Huang–Huai–Hai Smart Agricultural Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Regions, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450008, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Agronomy 2025, 15(7), 1727; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071727
Submission received: 11 May 2025 / Revised: 15 June 2025 / Accepted: 24 June 2025 / Published: 17 July 2025
(This article belongs to the Topic High-Efficiency Utilization of Water-Fertilizer Resources and Green Production of Crops)
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Abstract

With the swift progression of the High-Standard Farmland Construction Program in China and worldwide, many dryland wheat fields can be irrigated once during the wheat growth stage (one-off irrigation). However, the combined strategies of one-off irrigation, tillage, and N management for augmenting wheat grain yield and quality are still undeveloped in drought regions. Two-site split–split field experiments were conducted to study the impacts of irrigation, tillage, and N management and their combined effects on grain yield; the contents of protein and protein components; processing quality; and the characteristics of N accumulation and translocation in wheat from a typical dryland wheat production area in China from 2020 to 2022. The irrigation practices (I0, zero irrigation and I1, one-off irrigation), tillage methods (RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; and SS, subsoiling) and N management (N0, N120, N180, and N240) were applied to the main plots, subplots and sub-subplots, respectively. The experimental sites, experimental years, irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management methods and their interaction significantly affected the yield, quality, and plant N characteristics of wheat in most cases. Compared to zero irrigation, one-off irrigation significantly increased the plant N accumulation, enhancing grain yield by 33.7% while decreasing the contents of total protein, albumin, globulin, gliadin, and glutenin by 4.4%, 6.4%, 8.0%, 12.2%, and 10.0%, respectively. It also decreased the wet gluten content, stability time, sedimentation value, extensibility by 4.1%, 10.7%, 9.7%, and 5.5%, respectively, averaged across sites and years. Subsoiling simultaneously enhanced the aforementioned indicators compared to rotary tillage and plowing in most sites and years. With the increase in N rates, wheat yield firstly increased and then decreased under zero irrigation combined with rotary tillage, while it gradually increased when one-off irrigation was combined with subsoiling; however, the contents of total protein and protein components and the quality tended to increase firstly and then stabilize regardless of irrigation practices and tillage methods. The correlations of yield and quality indicators with plant N characteristics were negative when using distinct irrigation practices and tillage methods, while they were positive under varying N management. The decrease in wheat quality induced by one-off irrigation could be alleviated by optimizing N management. I1STN180 exhibited higher yield, plant N accumulation and translocation, and better quality in most cases; thus, all metrics of wheat quality were significantly increased, with a yield enhancement of 50.3% compared to I0RTN180. Therefore, one-off irrigation with subsoiling and an N rate of 180 kg ha−1 is an optimal strategy for high yield, high protein, and high quality in dryland wheat production systems where one-off irrigation is assured.

1. Introduction

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major food crops, providing starch, energy, and proteins for the human diet and playing a pivotal role in addressing global food crises and nourishing populations [1,2,3]. Considering food security and the value of food nutrition and processing, “three-high wheat” (high yield, high protein, and high quality) is an important production goal for most countries [4]. Thus, targets for wheat production have gradually shifted from focusing on high yield to high quality in recent years [5]. In fact, grain quality has received much less attention and has even been overlooked in efforts to improve wheat productivity [6]. Therefore, it is important that we consider how to increase both yield and quality in wheat production.
Many studies have demonstrated that the quality of wheat grains controls the end-use of dough, bread, noodles, pasta, extracted gluten, and stockfeed [5,7]. The grains’ protein content is an important index of wheat quality not only affecting nutritional quality but also controlling processing properties [6]. A growing number of studies have shown that mature wheat grains contain 8–20% protein [4,5,8,9,10,11,12], primarily comprising albumins and globulins that affect wheat’s nutritional quality, gliadins contributing to dough viscosity, and glutenins influencing dough elasticity [8]. In particular, the structure of storage proteins (gliadin and glutenin) is regarded as key criterion for assessing wheat quality [9,10,11,12] due to its multi-functional role of providing nutrition and affecting the processing of ingredients in wheat flour [2,11]. In China, the total protein content, wet gluten content, dough stability time, and sedimentation value are important parameters through which to measure the quality of wheat [13]. Ma et al. [14] also found that dough extensibility is an important parameter that reflects wheat quality.
In fact, 75% of wheat is planted in dryland regions, which are characterized by arid, semi-arid, and semi-humid drought-prone climates [15,16]. In these regions, wheat productivity mainly depends on natural precipitation. Thus, limited, seasonally uneven, and unpredictable precipitation results in grain production potential decreasing by up to 60–70% [17]. Recently, the swift progression of the High-Standard Farmland Construction Program has cemented the provision of one-off irrigation (irrigation just once during the whole growth stage) for wheat growth across numerous dryland regions [16,18], resulting in a comfortable yield increase for wheat [16,18,19,20]; improvement in yield has exceeded 50% in the study region [16]. However, there is always a negative correlation between the yield and quality of wheat [5,21]. Thus, it is important that we study the effects of one-off irrigation on wheat quality and seek multiple strategies to simultaneously improve wheat yield and quality in drylands where one-off irrigation is ensured.
Scientific nitrogen (N) management could promote above-ground N accumulation; increase N distribution to wheat grains [22,23]; and simultaneously improve the grain yield and quality of wheat [5,19,24,25,26]. Furthermore, many studies have indicated that N management and irrigation practices have coupling effects on growth and yield, N accumulation, and grain quality of wheat [5,16,24,26]. However, N management strategies that combine one-off irrigation in dryland wheat production regions are still underdeveloped. Therefore, further studies on exact N management in combination with one-off irrigation are critical to ensuring high yield and high quality in dryland regions.
In addition to N management, tillage methods have great effects on crops’ yield and quality. Due to the different depths and positions of influence used by various tillage methods (rotary tillage typically disturbs all soils of the top 10–15 cm; plowing generally turns over all soils of 0–25 or 35 cm depth; and subsoiling only disturbs the designated deep loosening layer), there are significant differences in their regulatory effects on soil properties, wheat growth and development, water and nutrient uptake, and yield and quality [27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41]. In the Loess Pleatau, Sun et al. [27] reported that compared to plowing, subsoiling increased wheat grain protein and its component content/protein yield in wet years; Huang et al. [28] and Wu et al. [29] also demonstrated that subsoiling improved plant N characteristics and thus improved wheat yield and quality compared to plowing. In the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China, Wang et al. [30] and He et al. [31] reported that subsoiling improved soil’s physical and microbial properties and plant N accumulation and translocation, and it increased the yield of winter wheat compared to plowing and rotary tillage; Chen et al. [32] also found that plowing increased winter wheat yield compared to rotary tillage. A three-year field experiment in south-eastern Poland found that mixed-use rotary tillage and plowing helped to increase wheat yield and quality [33]. A study in the tidal soil regions of China also showed that subsoiling significantly increased wheat protein content by 2.99–4.90% [37]. However, Xue et al. [38] and Cociu and Alionte [39] demonstrated that subsoiling decreased the protein content in wheat grains. In addition, a study by Sun et al. [40] reported that subsoiling decreased the contents of albumin, gliadin, and total protein, while increasing the contents of globulin, glutelin, wet gluten, and sedimentation values in wheat. Campiglia et al. [41] concluded that subsoiling did not influence wheat gluten content in central Italy. However, few studies have focused on how tillage methods combined with N management affect wheat quality under one-off irrigation.
In a word, most studies have indicated that optimized irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management can influence wheat yield and quality, which provides an excellent reference for combining one-off irrigation with subsoiling and N management to address the contradiction between yield and quality; however, results on their combined effects remain limited, particularly in dryland regions with scarce water resources. Therefore, a three-factor (irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management) split–split plot field experiment was conducted at two sites in a typical dryland region in China. The objectives were to (1) investigate the individual and combined effects of irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management on the grain yield, the contents of protein and protein components, and quality of wheat and (2) clarify their correlations with the characteristics of N accumulation and translocation in the presence of different environmental factors. We hypothesized that one-off irrigation combined with subsoiling and proper N management would increase grain yield, thus addressing the contradiction between yield and quality. If this combination performs well in this region, it could be extended to similar dryland regions where one-off irrigation is assured.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Site Description

The field experiment was carried out onset October 2019 at two sites in Yichuan (34°44′ N, 112°40′ E) and Luoning (34°48′ N, 111°56′ E), which are located in the Yichuan county and Luoning county, Luoyang city, China, respectively. The two experimental sites are located in a typical semi-humid drought-prone region in China and are characterized by a temperate continental monsoon climate with more than 60% of rainfall concentrated from June to September (Figure 1). The annual average temperature and precipitation is 14.5 °C and 633 mm in Yichuan, and 13.7 °C and 606 mm in Luoning. Winter wheat–summer maize and winter wheat–summer fallow are the typical cropping modes in Yichuan and Luoning, respectively. The soils at the experimental sites are all classified as calcareous Eum-Orthic Anthrosol (Udic Haplustalf in the USDA system). The main basic properties of the soils in October 2019 are listed in Table 1.

2.2. Experimental Design and Field Managements

The experiments were implemented using a split–split plot design with three replications at the two sites. The main plot, subplot, and re-split subplot were tested with two irrigation practices, three tillage methods, and four N management, respectively. The two irrigation practices were zero irrigation (I0) and one-off irrigation (I1). The three tillage methods were rotary tillage (RT), plowing (PT), and subsoiling (ST). The four N management methods were N0 (0 kg hm−2), N120 (120 kg hm−2), N180 (180 kg hm−2), and N240 (240 kg hm−2), where all N fertilizers were applied at sowing for I0, 50% was basal, and the other 50% was applied along with irrigation for I1. The area of each plot was 32 m2 (4 m × 8 m) at Yichuan and 25 m2 (5 m × 5 m) at Luoning.
For I1, the irrigation was implemented after wheat regreening when the soil water content in the 0–40 cm soil depth was lower than 60% of the first-time MFC. The irrigation amount was recommended based on the water content at 0–40 cm soil depth using the following equation, according to Ekren et al. [42]:
IA = SBD × H × (βi − βj) × 10;
where IA is the irrigation amount; SBD is the average soil bulk density (g cm−3) at the 0–40 cm depth; H is the planned wetting depth (0–40 cm); βi and βj are the target water content (85% of MFC) and the actual soil water content before irrigation (%), respectively, at the planned wetting depth (0–40 cm). The soils in the 0–40 cm layer were sampled every three days after regreening. Fresh soil samples weighing 50 g ± 5 g were oven-dried at 105 °C for 24 h to measure soil water content. Surface irrigation was applied at the two sites, and the detailed irrigation date and amount for I1 are listed in Table 2. A water meter was used to control the irrigation amount.
Tillage methods were carried out 3–5 days before wheat sowing. For RT, the soil was prepared using a rotavator to a depth of 10–15 cm. For PT, the soil was plowed using a moldboard plow to a depth of 30–35 cm, and then the rotary tillage (10–15 cm in depth) was implemented to tidy up the seedbed. For ST, the soil was loosened using a subsoiling chisel (with a distance of 35 cm) to a depth of 35–40 cm. We then tidied up for the seedbed using a rotavator to a depth of 10–15 cm as RT. Rotary tillage in RT and plowing in PT were conducted in each year; subsoiling in ST was conducted once every two years, where subsoiling was carried out in 2019 and 2021, and rotary tillage was implemented in 2020.
The N management methods were used differently according to irrigation practices. For I0, all N was manually evenly spread to the corresponding plot and thoroughly incorporated into the soil by rotary tillage. For I1, 50% N fertilizer was manually evenly spread to the corresponding plot after primary tillage and thoroughly incorporated into the soil through rotary tillage; the other 50% N fertilizer was manually evenly spread in the corresponding plot along with the irrigation practice. At the two sites in the two years, the phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) fertilizer were the same for all treatments and were recommended by local agricultural experts as a rate of 90 kg P2O5 ha−1 and 60 kg K2O ha−1, respectively.
The N, P, and K fertilizers were urea (N, 46%), triple superphosphate (P2O5, 12%), and potassium sulfate (K2O, 52%), respectively. The tested cultivar was winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) ‘Luohan 22’. The sowing date, seeding rate and harvest date information is listed in Table 2. Weeds, pests, and diseases were controlled with herbicides and pesticides according to local practices.

2.3. Measurements and Methods

2.3.1. Grain Yield

At maturity, four 1 m × 1 m areas of wheat (which were undisturbed during the whole growing stage) in each plot were randomly selected and harvested by hand for measuring grain yield (kg ha−1). The samples were threshed after natural air-drying. In the lab, the air-dried grains were weighed. After that, 50 ± 5 g grains were oven-dried at 70 °C until constant weight, and the grain yield was converted to kilograms per hectare at a grain moisture content of 12.5%.

2.3.2. Plant N Characteristics

At the anthesis and mature stages of wheat, 50 representative plants were sampled randomly in each plot. The above-ground parts of the sampled plants were manually separated into stems + sheathes + leaves and spikes at anthesis and stems + sheathes + leaves, rachides + glumes, and grains at maturity. All samples were oven-dried at 105 °C for 30 min and then kept at 80 °C to a constant weight, and the dry weights of each part (kg ha−1) were weighed. The oven-dried samples were ground with a miller (MM400, RETSCH, Haan, Germany) and passed through a 1 mm sieve and stored in plastic bags for preventing the absorption of air moisture. Samples of 0.20 g for grains and 0.30 g for other parts were digested with H2SO4−H2O2 to determine N content [16]. The N content (g kg−1) was determined using an AutoAnalyzer 3 (AA3, Seal Company, Norderstedt, Germany). The N accumulation in each organ was obtained by multiplying its dry weight by the N content. The above-ground N accumulation (kg ha−1) was the sum of N accumulation in the distinct organs [4]. The characteristics of N accumulation and translocation were calculated according to the following formulas [2,30].
Pre-anthesis N translocation (kg ha−1) = above-ground N accumulation at anthesis − N accumulation in vegetative organs at maturity
Contribution rate of pre-anthesis N translocation to grain N (%) = pre-anthesis N translocation/grain N accumulation at maturity × 100
Post-anthesis N accumulation (kg ha−1) = above-ground N accumulation at maturity − above-ground N accumulation at anthesis
Contribution rate of post-anthesis N accumulation to grain N (%) = post-anthesis N accumulation/grain N accumulation at maturity × 100

2.3.3. Contents of Total Protein and Protein Components

The total protein content (%) was the value found by multiplying the N content in grains (mg g−1) by the wheat conversion coefficient, i.e., 0.57 [12,30].
Protein components from whole flour were determined using a sequential extraction procedure according to [12]. A 0.50 g sample was used to extract the albumin with 5 mL pure water using the oscillation (20 min) and centrifugation (4000 r, 7 min) method; this was repeated four times. The extracts of all four oscillations and centrifugations were collected as albumin. Similarly, the residue in the tube was extracted with another solution to obtain the fractions of globulin, gliadin, and glutenin using 2.0% NaCl, 75% ethanol and 0.2% NaOH solution, respectively, using the same procedure as for the albumin and repeating it four times. Afterward, the concentration of each protein component was measured by the Kjeldahl method using a semi-automatic nitrogen distillation instrument (H8750, Haineng company, Qiangdao, China).

2.3.4. Processing Quality

After the wheat grain had ripened post-harvest for one month, the metrics of processing quality including wet gluten content (%), stability time (min), sedimentation value (mL), and extensibility (mm) were determined using a near-infrared analyzer (DA7250, Perten, Stockholm, Sweden) according to Zhao et al. [43] and Zhong et al. [44]. The moisture content in samples was adjusted to 13% to reduce errors caused by moisture variations.

2.4. Statistical Analysis

Data collation was carried out using Microsoft Excel 2016 software. Means of the data were calculated by averaging the values for each plot or plots, sites, and years. Analysis of the source of variance was performed using a linear mixed-effects model using the least significant difference test in SPSS26 statistical software package (IBM Corp., Chicago, IL, USA). The differences among treatments were determined using Duncan’s multiple range test at p < 0.05. The graphs and the correlation analysis were prepared using Origin2024 software (Origin Co. Ltd., Northampton, MA, USA). Further refinement was carried out using Powerpoint2016 (Microsoft, Inc., Washington, DC, USA) to ensure clarity and readability.

3. Results

3.1. Grain Yield

The experimental sites, irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management methods all significantly affected wheat yield (Figure 2, Table 3). The average yield at Luoning was higher than at Yichuan. Averaged across sites and years, compared to zero irrigation, one-off irrigation significantly increased wheat yield by 6.9–115.0%, with the average of 33.7%. Likewise, subsoiling increased wheat yield by 15.0% and 7.9%, respectively, compared to rotary tillage and plowing. The effects of N management on wheat yield varied depending on irrigation practices and tillage methods. With the increase in N rates, the grain yield firstly increased and then reduced with the break point at N180 under rotary tillage and under the combination of zero irrigation and plowing; however, it gradually increased under subsoiling and the combination of one-off irrigation and plowing.
The muti-factor interaction effects on grain yield were significant in most cases (Table 3). One-off irrigation and N240 or N180 produced a better grain yield relative to other combinations under the same tillage method. One-off irrigation and subsoiling also produced a better grain yield relative to other combinations under the same N management method. I1STN240 produced the highest grain yield, with no significant increase relative to I1STN180 for any specific site in the two years. However, both of the two combinations significantly increased wheat yield compared to other combinations.

3.2. Contents of Total Protein and Protein Components

The experimental sites, irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management significantly affected the contents of total protein and protein components (Table 3, Figure 3). Compared to zero irrigation, one-off irrigation under the same tillage method and N management significantly decreased the contents of total protein, albumin, globulin, gliadin, and glutenin by 4.4%, 6.4%, 8.0%, 12.2%, and 10.0% averaged across sites in 2020–2021. Subsoiling increased the contents of albumin, globulin, gliadin, and glutenin by 10.8%, 11.2%, 12.3%, and 10.8% compared to rotary tillage, and 14.2%, 17.8%, 10.1%, and 7.8% compared to plowing, averaged across sites and years. With the increase in N rates, the contents of total protein and protein components increased firstly and then stabilized regardless of irrigation practices and tillage methods.
Although the effects of four-factor and three-factor interactions on the contents of protein and protein components were not significant, the effects of the two-factor interaction of irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management on the contents of gliadin and glutenin were significant (Table 3). Employing subsoiling and increasing N rates alleviated the decrease in the contents of protein and protein components induced by one-off irrigation. Averaged across sites and years, there were no significant differences in the contents of total protein and protein components among I1STN180, I1STN240, I0STN180 and I0STN240.

3.3. Processing Quality

The processing quality of wheat grain was also significantly affected by experimental sites, irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management (Table 3, Figure 4). Compared to zero irrigation, one-off irrigation significantly decreased processing quality in most cases, with an average of 4.1%, 10.7%, 9.7%, and 5.5% for wet gluten content, stability time, sedimentation value, and extensibility, respectively. However, subsoiling significantly increased these four quality parameters compared to rotary tillage and plowing in most cases. The processing quality of N240 was generally not significantly different from that of N180, but it was almost higher (p < 0.05) than N0 and N120. The three-factor interaction effects of irrigation, tillage, and N management on processing quality were not significant; however, the two-factor interaction effects of them were significant except for irrigation practices and tillage methods on wet gluten content and irrigation practices and N management on wet gluten content and extensibility. On the whole, I1STN180 produced better processing quality but was not significantly different from I1STN180 and I0STN240 over sites and years.

3.4. Above-Ground and Grain N Accumulation at Maturity

As shown in Table 4, the irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management and most of their two-factor interactions significantly affected the above-ground and grain N accumulation. Moreover, their effect on grain N accumulation was mostly greater than that on above-ground N accumulation. Over sites and years, compared to zero irrigation, one-off irrigation increased above-ground N accumulation by 25.9% and grain N accumulation by 33.4%. Likewise, compared to rotary tillage, plowing and subsoiling increased above-ground N accumulation by 2.1% and 10.3% as well as grain N accumulation by 3.9%, and 15.4%, respectively. Although both N240 and N180 significantly increased above-ground and grain N accumulation compared to N120 and N0 at all sites in the two years, the difference between N240 and N180 varied depending on irrigation practices and tillage methods (Figure 5). Under zero irrigation, the highest value was obtained when using N180 combined with rotary tillage or plowing and also with N240 combined with subsoiling. Under one-off irrigation, the highest value was obtained under N240 using all the three tillage methods. I1STN240 significantly increased above-ground N accumulation by 51.7% and grain N accumulation by 56.7% compared to other treatments over all sites and years.

3.5. N Accumulation, Translocation, and Its Contribution to Grain N

The experimental sites, irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management significantly affected the characteristics of N accumulation, translocation and its contribution to grain in most cases. Moreover, the effects of two-factor and three-factor interaction of irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management on pre-anthesis N accumulation and pre-anthesis N translocation (except for three-factor interaction) were significant (Table 4, Figure 6). Compared to zero irrigation, one-off irrigation increased the pre-anthesis N accumulation, pre-anthesis N translocation, and post-anthesis N accumulation by 27.5%, 33.9%, and 22.1% over sites and years. Likewise, compared to rotary tillage, subsoiling significantly increased the pre-anthesis N accumulation, pre-anthesis N translocation, and post-anthesis N accumulation by 10.8%, 14.1%, and 9.1%, respectively, whereas the effects of N management varied depending on irrigation practices and tillage methods.
The highest values of pre-anthesis N accumulation and pre-anthesis N translocation were obtained under I1STN240, which exhibited increases of 62.4% and 63.0%, respectively, compared to other combinations over sites and years.
Agronomy 15 01727 g006
Figure 6. Effects of different treatments on the characteristics of N accumulation and translocation of wheat from 2020 to 2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling. N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent the N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. The top and bottom of the box refer to the third and first quartiles, respectively, and the line inside the box is the median. The height of the box refers to the interquartile range. Different lowercase letters above the box show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
Figure 6. Effects of different treatments on the characteristics of N accumulation and translocation of wheat from 2020 to 2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling. N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent the N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. The top and bottom of the box refer to the third and first quartiles, respectively, and the line inside the box is the median. The height of the box refers to the interquartile range. Different lowercase letters above the box show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
Agronomy 15 01727 g006
Table 4. Analysis of variance of plant N characteristics in terms of accumulation and translocation.
Table 4. Analysis of variance of plant N characteristics in terms of accumulation and translocation.
Source of VarianceANA (kg ha−1)GNA (kg ha−1)PRNA (kg ha−1)PRNT (kg ha−1)CRPR (%)PONA (kg ha−1)CRPO (%)
S2.9 ns0.1 ns673.9 **4.8 *5.8 *16.2 **5.9 *
I493.3 **8492.2 **4502.9 **2663.3 **124.2 **2.3 ns120.9 **
T28.9 **700.7 **253.9 **169.5 **5.0 **6.7 ns4.4 *
N152.9 **2451.4 **2839.9 **1170.4 **28.0 **12.8 **28.0 **
S×I41.5 **14.9 **270.1 **170.7 **30.2 **2.2 ns32.1 **
S×T5.0 **14.7 **40.9 **37.3 **10.1 **7.3 **9.8 **
S×N26.6 **44.4 **58.5 **60.5 **1.4 ns12.6 **1.6 ns
I×T0.2 ns26.8 **28.8 **7.9 **1.3 ns1.9 ns1.6 ns
I×N4.3 **75.5 **97.3 **45.9 **0.1 ns1.2 ns0.0 ns
T×N0.8 ns29.5 **15.2 **4.2 **1.6 ns0.5 ns1.8 ns
S×I×T2.9 ns2.8 ns9.4 **7.9 **7.5 **1.0 ns7.5 **
S×I×N1.0 ns4.7 **4.8 **7.8 **1.6 ns1.7 ns1.8 ns
S×T×N0.4 ns2.2 ns3.6 **2.4 *1.8 ns0.7 ns1.9 ns
I×T×N0.2 ns2.3 ns3.7 **2.3 ns1.1 ns0.6 ns1.0 ns
S×I×T×N0.2 ns0.8 ns1.3 ns0.4 ns0.3 ns0.9 ns1.4 ns
ANA, GNA, PRNA, PRNT, CRPR, PONA, and CRPO refer to above-ground N accumulation, grain N accumulation, pre-anthesis N accumulation, pre-anthesis N translocation, the contribution rate of pre-anthesis N translocation to grain N, post-anthesis N accumulation, and contribution rate of pre-anthesis N accumulation to grain N, respectively. S, I, T, and N refer to the experimental site, irrigation practice, tillage method and N management, respectively. ns, not significant at p < 0.05; *, significant at p < 0.05; **, significant at p < 0.01.

3.6. Correlation Analysis of Grain Yield, Quality and Plant N Characteristics

Figure 7 indicates that the correlations between grain yield, quality indicators and plant N characteristics varied depending on irrigation practices, tillage methods, N management and their combinations. The correlations between yield and quality indicators and correlations between quality indicators (especially for processing quality) and plant N characteristics (except for the contribution rate of post-anthesis N to grain) were almost significantly negative when using different irrigation practices and different tillage methods, whereas they were almost positive under different N management methods and the three-factor interaction. The correlations between grain yield and plant N characteristics (except for the contribution rate of post-anthesis N accumulation to grain) and between protein content (except for globulin) and processing quality indicators were almost positive under different irrigation practices, tillage methods, N management methods, and their combinations. These results indicate that the negative impact of irrigation practices on the quality of dryland wheat can be compensated for by proper N management.

4. Discussion

4.1. Wheat Yield Is Affected by Irrigation Practices, Tillage Methods, and N Management

Boosting grain yield remains a primary aim in wheat production, particularly in drought-prone regions where the potential for yield increases can be compromised by limited water and nutrition [29,45]. Numerous studies have focused on the individual effects of irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management on wheat yield [29,46,47,48]. In drought-prone regions of China, agronomic measures such as one-off irrigation [18,49], subsoiling [27,29], and N rates of 180 or 240 kg ha−1 [18,28] could significantly increase wheat yield. Other studies have reported that there were significant combined effects on wheat yield between irrigation practice and tillage method [46,50,51], between irrigation practice and N management [19,52,53,54], and between tillage method and N management [27,28]. In accordance with previous reports, our trials showed that I1STN180 and I1STN240 significantly enhanced wheat grain yield, and these three tactics had the coordinated effects. Thus, the amplification of one-off irrigation on yield was enlarged when subsoiling was adopted and N rates were increased. Finally, I1STN180 and I1STN240 were better for grain yield without significant difference over sites and years. The reason for this may be the combined effects of one-off irrigation-induced improvement of soil moisture, subsoiling-induced improvement of water, the properties of and nutrition supply in the soil, and applied N-induced improvement of nutrition supply, providing suitable conditions for root and plant growth and carbon and N accumulation and metabolism, finally resulting in a greater yield of wheat [18,19,20,28,55]. However, there was no significant difference in wheat yield between the I1STN240 and I1STN180 at each site, in each year, and their averages. These results indicate that when using one-off irrigation in drought-prone regions, subsoiling and N180 could achieve quality targets without sacrificing wheat yield while saving 25% of N fertilizer. Zhang et al. [52] also reported that more than 120 kg N ha−1 can obtain high wheat yield using one-off irrigation at the jointing stage in drought-prone regions of China.
Previous studies have demonstrated that the proper N requirements for yield formation increase when water supply improves during the wheat growth stage [19]. In the present study, the effects of N rates on wheat yield varied with irrigation practices and tillage methods, which showed a similar tendency in the two years. Under the treatments of zero irrigation combined with rotary tillage or plowing, the highest yields were mostly obtained under N180. However, when one-off irrigation and subsoiling were adopted, the highest yield was mostly obtained under N240. These results indicate that the improvement of water supply induced by one-off irrigation and subsoiling will increase the proper N rate for the yield of dryland wheat. Previous studies have also found that the N requirement for wheat yield increases due to irrigation [19,50] and subsoiling [28].
The results of our trial also showed that the yield increase from one-off irrigation in 2021–2022 was 54.3–88.5% lower than that in 2020–2021. This may be ascribed to the different precipitation over the two years. The precipitation in 2021–2022 was 557.3–677.7 mm higher during the summer season and 98.6–141.1 mm lower during the growth stages than that in 2020–2021, resulting in a higher yield but a lower yield amplification from one-off irrigation. These results indicate that the improvement in wheat yield from one-off irrigation is closely related to precipitation. Adequate rainfall during the summer season helps wheat growth and development before irrigation and forms a good basis for yield formation, which is prone to increase wheat yield but reduce the role of one-off irrigation in increasing wheat yield.

4.2. One-Off Irrigation, Subsoiling and N180 Could Maintain the Contents of Protein and Protein Components in Wheat Grains in Drought-Prone Regions

The contents of protein and its fractions in wheat grain are related to its nutrition value and processing quality [56]. Generally, there is a significant negative correlation between yield and protein contents in wheat grains, which is mainly caused by carbon and nitrogen competition and protein dilution by starch [21]. In this study, one-off irrigation significantly decreased the contents of protein and its components in wheat grains compared to zero irrigation, indicating that high levels of protein in wheat grain require less water than high grain yield. These results are consistent with those of Zhang et al. [2], who reported that a proper water deficit is prone to increase the content of albumin, gliadin, and glutenin in wheat grains. This was mainly attributed to the dilution effect induced by yield improvement (Figure 2), which has been consistently proven in other studies [2,21,57]. The effectiveness of the individual and combined effects of environmental factors such as experimental sites, experimental years, irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management on grain yield (Figure 2) was higher than that on grain N accumulation (Figure 4); this may also explain this protein dilution. The reasons for this may be that (1) irrigation effectively encourages the dilution of N reserves by carbohydrate accumulation [2], and (2) the biosynthesis of grain starch to water (which is more sensitive than protein synthesis) resulted in a higher rate of starch accumulation compared to protein accumulation under one-off irrigation [2,58].
We also found that the responses of protein content in wheat grain to irrigation practices were different in the two experimental years. Compared to zero irrigation, one-off irrigation significantly decreased the contents of protein and protein components in wheat grains in 2020–2021, but there were no significant differences between the two treatments in 2021–2022. This was related to the fact that the one-off irrigation-induced yield improvement (21.8% to 115.0%) in 2020–2021 was much higher than that in 2021–2022 (6.9–31.7%). These results show that one-off irrigation-induced protein dilution occurred when the yield was largely increased but not when yield was slightly increased, indicating that a synergistic increase in the yield and protein content of wheat is possible. The synergistic increase in grain yield and protein content when using subsoiling in the present study confirms this point. This result is inconsistent with the results of Sun et al. [27], who found there was a significant positive correlation between grain yield and grain protein using different tillage methods in drought-prone regions in China.
Many studies have shown that reasonable irrigation practices, tillage methods, N management methods, and their interactions promote the characteristics of N accumulation, translocation and its contribution to grain N, resulting in an increase in the contents of protein and protein components [37,57,59,60]. In our trials, all of the strategies of one-off irrigation, subsoiling, and an N application rate of 240 kg ha−1 increased wheat N accumulation and translocation. However, the correlations between the grain protein (including total protein and its components) content and grain yield, plant N accumulation, and pre-anthesis N translocation in wheat were negative under different irrigation practices and tillage methods, whereas the correlations were positive under N management and three-factor interaction (Figure 7). These results showed that N180 or N240 is conducive to maintaining or slowing down the decrease in protein content in wheat grain caused by one-off irrigation (Figure 6). Yao et al. [5] pointed out that increasing N accumulation helps to simultaneously improve grain yield and protein content. However, although the correlations between the contents of protein and protein components in wheat grains and grain yield and plant N accumulation were negative under different tillage methods, subsoiling could collaboratively improve the grain yield, protein content, and plant N characteristics. Finally, one-off irrigation combined with subsoiling and N240 or N180 obtained similar contents of protein and protein components in most cases, which were not significantly lower than those achieved with zero irrigation combined with subsoiling and N240 or N180. These results indicate that the I1STN180 combination can reach an ideal protein content, saving 25% of N fertilizer compared to I1STN240.
In addition, our results showed that the changes in gliadin and glutenin contents under different combinations were lower than the changes in globulin and albumin (Figure 3). Shi et al. [61] also found that increasing the N rate could increase the contents of gliadin and glutenin more than the contents of albumin and globulin in wheat. These results indicate that the grain protein dilution due to yield increase was different among protein components, and the responses of storage proteins (gliadin and glutenin) were more sensitive than those of soluble proteins (albumin and globulin). Thus, the regulation of protein content in wheat grain using irrigation practices and N management may be mainly achieved through gliadin and glutenin.

4.3. Wheat Processing Quality Is Affected by Irrigation Practices, Tillage Methods and N Management and Their Interactions

The processing quality determines the commercial value of wheat. With the gradual increase in the demand for bakery flour products, dough’s rheological properties are being paid more and more attention in studies on wheat processing quality [2,5]. In our trials, compared to zero irrigation, one-off irrigation decreased the stability time, wet gluten content, sedimentation value, and extensibility of wheat dough to some extent. This result is consistent with the results of Zhang et al. [57], who reported that one-off irrigation at the overwintering stage significantly reduced wet gluten content, sedimentation value, and stability time relative to zero irrigation. This is mainly due to the protein decrease (Figure 3) caused by the dilution effect of increased yield (Figure 2).
A proper tillage method is an effective agronomic measure through which to improve wheat processing quality [40]. In our trials, the dough’s rheological properties (stability time, wet gluten content, sedimentation value, and extensibility) using subsoiling were significantly better than when using rotary and plowing (Figure 4). This improvement in processing quality was mainly due to the increase in the contents of protein and protein components (Figure 3) and the optimization of plant N characteristics (Figure 5, Figure 6). A study on the Loess Plateau also found subsoiling significantly increased gluten content and sedimentation values in wheat grains [40]. However, in the Mediterranean environment of central Italy, Campiglia et al. [41] showed that subsoiling had no significant effects on the gluten content of durum wheat. Variations in experimental conditions may account for differences in study outcomes.
Proper N management also tends to improve wheat processing quality [30,59]. Our results show that the measured processing quality of wheat showed a trend of first increasing and then stabilizing with the increase in N rates at the inflection of N180 at both of two sites in the two years; in particular, the increase under one-off irrigation was higher that caused by zero irrigation (Figure 4). These results indicate that the fall in wheat processing quality caused by one-off irrigation may be compensated for by increasing the N application rate and topdressing with N. Li et al. [62] also showed that the stability time was significantly enhanced with the increase in N rates under one-off irrigation at the jointing stage, and the increase was greater under the condition of one-off irrigation with 50% N topdressing than that under zero irrigation with 100% N applied as basal. Due to the positive effects of subsoiling and N management on wheat quality, the drop in wheat processing quality under one-off irrigation was compensated for. Thus, the processing quality of I1STN180 was not different from I1STN240, and even I0STN240.
Our study also showed that under different irrigation practices and tillage methods, the negative correlations between processing quality and grain yield and plant N characteristics were almost stronger than those with protein content, indicating that the sensitivity of processing quality to grain yield and plant N is higher than the sensitivity to protein. This was primarily attributed to the functional threshold effect of protein on processing quality. Most standards of processing quality require that the protein content reaches a threshold of 12% to 14%. A protein content lower than this threshold can result in an inability to form a stable structure and insufficient dough extensibility [2,5]. This result may also be due to the bigger variation in processing quality (Figure 4) compared to protein content (Figure 3); thus, the regulatory effects of cultivation or environmental factors on processing quality and yield were greater than that on protein content. However, the reasons for this remain to be further investigated. Additionally, this study did not assess baking quality, which can also be influenced by agronomic measures. Thus, the effects of irrigation practices, tillage methods, and N management and their interactions on baking quality should be focused on in the future.

5. Conclusions

The present study confirmed that soil testing based on one-off irrigation after wheat regreening greatly improves the grain yield but decreases the grain quality of dryland wheat compared to zero irrigation, and these effects are considerably mediated by tillage methods and N management. I1STN240 or 1SSN180 helped to increase grain yield and plant N accumulation and translocation compared to other combinations. Moreover, the contents of protein and protein components and the processing quality under I1STN180 were not significantly different from the combination with highest value in most cases. We concluded that one-off irrigation with subsoiling and N180 performed better than the other combinations in term of grain yield, protein and protein components, the processing quality of wheat, and plant N accumulation and translocation, all while saving 25% N fertilizer. This study provides new academic insight into how to manipulate tillage and N management to coordinate wheat yield and quality in drought-prone regions where one-off irrigation is assured.

Author Contributions

M.H. conceptualization; data curation; investigation; writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. N.X. data curation; writing—original draft. K.Z. and X.H. investigation; data curation. K.R., Y.J., S.W., C.L., H.W. and G.F. software; visualization; writing—review and editing. Y.L. conceptualization, writing—review and editing. J.W. and G.L. conceptualization; funding acquisition; writing—review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (under Grant No.: 2022YFD2300800; 2018YFD0300700) and the Science and Technology Research Project of Henan, China (under Grant No.: 232102111009).

Data Availability Statement

This study includes all supporting data, which can be obtained from the corresponding authors upon request.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions for this work.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Figure 1. Monthly precipitation and air temperature at the two sites.
Figure 1. Monthly precipitation and air temperature at the two sites.
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Figure 2. Effects of different treatments on wheat yield at the two experimental sites in 2020–2021 and 2021–2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling; N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent the N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. Different lowercase letters above the bars show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
Figure 2. Effects of different treatments on wheat yield at the two experimental sites in 2020–2021 and 2021–2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling; N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent the N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. Different lowercase letters above the bars show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
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Figure 3. Effects of different treatments on the contents of protein and protein components in wheat grains from 2020 to 2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling; N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. The top and bottom of the box refer to the third and first quartiles, respectively, and the line inside the box is the median. The height of the box refers to the interquartile range. Different lowercase letters above the box show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
Figure 3. Effects of different treatments on the contents of protein and protein components in wheat grains from 2020 to 2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling; N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. The top and bottom of the box refer to the third and first quartiles, respectively, and the line inside the box is the median. The height of the box refers to the interquartile range. Different lowercase letters above the box show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
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Figure 4. Effects of different treatments on processing quality in wheat grains from 2020 to 2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling. N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent the N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. The top and bottom of the box refer to the third and first quartiles, respectively, and the line inside the box is the median. The height of the box refers to the interquartile range. Different lowercase letters above the box show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
Figure 4. Effects of different treatments on processing quality in wheat grains from 2020 to 2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling. N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent the N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. The top and bottom of the box refer to the third and first quartiles, respectively, and the line inside the box is the median. The height of the box refers to the interquartile range. Different lowercase letters above the box show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
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Figure 5. Effects of different treatments on grain and above-ground N accumulation of wheat from 2020 to 2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling. N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent the N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. The top and bottom of the box refer to the third and first quartiles, respectively, and the line inside the box is the median. The height of the box refers to the interquartile range. Different lowercase letters above the box show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
Figure 5. Effects of different treatments on grain and above-ground N accumulation of wheat from 2020 to 2022. I0, zero irrigation; I1, one-off irrigation; RT, rotary tillage; PT, plowing; ST, subsoiling. N0, N120, N180, and N240 represent the N management with N application rates of 0, 120, 180, and 240 kg N ha−1, respectively. The top and bottom of the box refer to the third and first quartiles, respectively, and the line inside the box is the median. The height of the box refers to the interquartile range. Different lowercase letters above the box show the significant differences at p < 0.05 (by Duncan’s test) among treatments, and when there are more than two lowercase letters in the figure, only the first and last letters are retained.
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Figure 7. The correlation analysis of grain yield, quality and N accumulation at maturity of wheat under different irrigation practices (A), tillage methods (B), N management methods (C), and their combinations (D). GY, TPC, WG, ST, SV, EA, GNA, ANA, PRNA, PRNT, CRPR, PONA, and CRPO refer to grain yield, total protein content, stability time, wet gluten content, sedimentation value, extensibility, grain N accumulation, above-ground N accumulation, pre-anthesis N accumulation, pre-anthesis N translocation, contribution rate of pre-anthesis N translocation to grain N, post-anthesis N accumulation, and contribution rate of pre-anthesis N accumulation to grain N, respectively. * and ** indicate significant correlation at p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively.
Figure 7. The correlation analysis of grain yield, quality and N accumulation at maturity of wheat under different irrigation practices (A), tillage methods (B), N management methods (C), and their combinations (D). GY, TPC, WG, ST, SV, EA, GNA, ANA, PRNA, PRNT, CRPR, PONA, and CRPO refer to grain yield, total protein content, stability time, wet gluten content, sedimentation value, extensibility, grain N accumulation, above-ground N accumulation, pre-anthesis N accumulation, pre-anthesis N translocation, contribution rate of pre-anthesis N translocation to grain N, post-anthesis N accumulation, and contribution rate of pre-anthesis N accumulation to grain N, respectively. * and ** indicate significant correlation at p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively.
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Table 1. Basic soil properties at 0–40 cm soil depth at the two sites in October 2019.
Table 1. Basic soil properties at 0–40 cm soil depth at the two sites in October 2019.
SiteSoil Depth
(cm)		Proportion of <0.01 mm
Soil Particles (%)		OM Content
(g kg−1)		TN Content
(g kg−1)		OP Content
(mg kg−1)		EK Content
(mg kg−1)		pHSBD
(g·cm−3)		MFC
(%)
Yichuan0–2022.8 14.71.119.0139.67.571.4026.0
20–4047.2 10.00.892.5107.47.40
Luoning0–2035.6 13.20.835.991.57.981.2625.3
20–4036.7 9.20.691.675.67.82
OM, TN OP, EK, SBD and MFC refer to the organic matter, total nitrogen, olsen phosphorous, exchangeable potassium, soil bulk density, and maximum field water capacity, respectively.
Table 2. Seeding rate, sowing date, irrigation date, irrigation amount, and harvest date at each site in 2020–2021 and 2021–2022.
Table 2. Seeding rate, sowing date, irrigation date, irrigation amount, and harvest date at each site in 2020–2021 and 2021–2022.
YearSiteSeeding Rate
(kg ha−1)		Sowing DateIrrigation DateIrrigation
Amount (mm)		Harvest Date
2020–2021Yichuan187.518 October 202023 February 202142.130 May 2021
Luoning187.515 October 202021 February 202141.35 June 2021
2021–2022Yichuan225.02 November 20214 March 202238.32 June 2022
Luoning225.028 October 20215 March 202238.16 June 2022
Table 3. Analysis of variance of grain yield, protein content, and processing quality.
Table 3. Analysis of variance of grain yield, protein content, and processing quality.
Source of VarianceGrain Yield
(kg ha−1)		Albumin Content (%)Globulin Content (%)Gliadin Content (%)Glutenin Content (%)Total Protein Content (%)Wet Gluten Content (%)Stability Time (min)Sedimentation Value (ml)Extensibility
(mm)
S802.9 **67.8 **4.7 *215.9 **27.0 **553.6 **381.5 **133.2 **497.5 **770.7 **
I8202.7 **24.1 **37.0 **331.5 **480.2 **97.2 **48.0 **191.2 **125.1 **144.0 **
T651.2 **37.8 **41.9 **30.0 **189.8 **5.2 *21.8 **62.6 **0.2 ns56.3 **
N1899.6 **29.7 **36.7 **109.9 **158.8 **198.5 **149.1 **69.7 **183.8 **181.8 **
S×I278.8 **0.9 ns0.3 ns4.8 *3.6 **17.6 **6.9 **2.6 ns0.2 ns2.2 ns
S×T71.3 **26.0 **6.4 ns2.4 ns1.7 ns2.8 ns6.9 **1.1 ns6.6 **4.2 *
S×N220.5 **1.8 ns0.2 ns3.0 *10.4 **5.9 **14.3 **2.8 **11.9 **41.4 **
I×T29.3 **0.7 ns0.3 ns19.4 **18.0 **0.1 ns0.2 ns9.6 **5.8 **11.2 **
I×N54.9 **1.5 ns0.3 ns3.7 **5.4 *2.7 **2.1 ns2.9 *12.2 **0.6 ns
T×N11.2 **2.9 *4.0 **7.9 **14.3 *2.4 **4.4 **2.4 *3.3 **11.4 **
S×I×T1.7 ns0.3 ns0.2 ns1.0 ns2.2 ns3.0 ns1.4 ns0.3 ns1.7 ns0.6 ns
S×I×N21.0 **0.3 ns0.0 ns0.7 ns2.1 ns1.2 ns0.0 ns0.2 ns0.5 ns0.7 ns
S×T×N1.9 ns0.9 ns0.1 ns1.2 ns0.4 ns0.8 ns0.4 ns0.7 ns1.5 ns3.4 **
I×T×N3.4 **1.1 ns1.8 ns1.6 ns2.4 ns0.8 ns0.3 ns0.9 ns1.6 ns0.4 ns
S×I×T×N5.5 **0.2 ns0.4 ns0.6 ns1.1 ns1.2 ns0.4 ns0.2 ns1.0 ns1.8 ns
S, I, T, and N refer to the experimental site, irrigation practice, tillage method, and N management, respectively. ns, not significant at p < 0.05; *, significant at p < 0.05; **, significant at p < 0.01.
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Huang, M.; Xu, N.; Zhao, K.; Huang, X.; Ren, K.; Jia, Y.; Wu, S.; Li, C.; Wang, H.; Fu, G.; et al. The Combined Effects of Irrigation, Tillage and N Management on Wheat Grain Yield and Quality in a Drought-Prone Region of China. Agronomy 2025, 15, 1727. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071727

AMA Style

Huang M, Xu N, Zhao K, Huang X, Ren K, Jia Y, Wu S, Li C, Wang H, Fu G, et al. The Combined Effects of Irrigation, Tillage and N Management on Wheat Grain Yield and Quality in a Drought-Prone Region of China. Agronomy. 2025; 15(7):1727. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071727

Chicago/Turabian Style

Huang, Ming, Ninglu Xu, Kainan Zhao, Xiuli Huang, Kaiming Ren, Yulin Jia, Shanwei Wu, Chunxia Li, Hezheng Wang, Guozhan Fu, and et al. 2025. "The Combined Effects of Irrigation, Tillage and N Management on Wheat Grain Yield and Quality in a Drought-Prone Region of China" Agronomy 15, no. 7: 1727. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071727

APA Style

Huang, M., Xu, N., Zhao, K., Huang, X., Ren, K., Jia, Y., Wu, S., Li, C., Wang, H., Fu, G., Li, Y., Wu, J., & Li, G. (2025). The Combined Effects of Irrigation, Tillage and N Management on Wheat Grain Yield and Quality in a Drought-Prone Region of China. Agronomy, 15(7), 1727. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15071727

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