New soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing technology achieves green yield increases, helping farmers raise incomes and become prosperous
Original title: New technology brings green yield increases
Wheat harvest progress chart
San Nong Express comprehensive report: "This year's wheat crop is very good, with thick stalks, large heads and plump grains, so the harvest will surely be even higher than last year." Standing at the edge of the field, Ning Fengfeng, a villager of Shangyuan Village, Hougong Township, Wenxi County, Shanxi, and chairman of the Xiangyuanchang Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, said, "All 70 harvesters and seeders are in place, just waiting for the weather to clear."
"This year, our county's wheat yield per unit area and total output are expected to hit a new high again." Ren Dongpo, director of the Wenxi County Agriculture Committee, also said in a WeChat group named "Wheat People."
"The wide-narrow row soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing technology has changed the way Shanxi wheat increases yields, shifting from the traditional model of three parts sowing and seven parts management to seven parts sowing and three parts management. In addition to increasing yields, it also saves water, fertilizer and labor. It is a green yield-increasing model independently innovated by Shanxi." Gao Zhiqiang, a member of the wheat expert group of the Ministry of Agriculture and a professor at Shanxi Agricultural University, explained, "It has solved the problem of poor sowing quality in dryland that traditionally existed in terms of water retention, warming and seedling protection."
The wide-narrow row soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing technology for dryland wheat replaces the traditional cultivation's furrow sowing technology and compaction with agricultural machinery operations. It completes ditching, fertilizing, sowing and compacting in one pass, while changing rotary tillage to strip tillage, achieving deep ditching, deep fertilization, and sowing wheat seed in the moisture-retaining soil layer, ensuring uniform and strong wheat seedlings.
It is understood that Shanxi's traditional dryland wheat was previously limited by a low sowing level and focused on field management, requiring large inputs of manpower and materials, while yields still depended on the weather. In contrast, the soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing technology, with its deep furrows and high ridges, allows rainwater and irrigation water to flow in quickly and be used cyclically; deep fertilization ensures sufficient base fertilizer and full absorption, helping save fertilizer; and the one-pass operation from ditching to compacting avoids the high costs and labor input brought by multiple rotary tillage passes. While being green and energy-saving, it also greatly reduces the intensity of agricultural production management and care.
"Adding the state subsidy of 28 yuan per mu, compared with plastic film mulching, this technology requires an input of only 40 yuan per mu, and irrigation water is reduced from 50 cubic meters to 40-45 cubic meters." Ning Fengfeng said.
The soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing technology achieves the technical integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy in sowing production, changes the sowing problem of two crops a year in dryland, and while advancing mechanized operations, also brings farmers visible and tangible economic benefits and grain yield increases.
Due to recent rain, a nearby wheat field sown conventionally has lodged, while the adjacent furrow-sown field remains neat and uniform.
Xie Haishen, an agronomist at the Wenxi County Agriculture Committee, explained: "The furrow sowing technology requires no-tillage on the ridge portions, making the furrows deep but the row spacing narrower, ensuring soil-moisture-probing sowing and a sufficient population. A press wheel is attached behind the seed drill, with one press wheel compacting two rows of wheat, forming narrow rows in the furrow and wide rows on the ridge. When it rains or irrigation is applied, soil can naturally be moved to cover the plants, and the soil covers the first node of the wheat stalk, playing a role in resisting lodging."
Chai Xilin, a villager of Dongyu Village, Houcun Township, transferred 400 mu of dryland, all using the soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing technology. According to yield measurement, the number of heads per mu was 374,000, grains per head 34.5, and 1,000-grain weight 40.2 grams, with a yield of 440.8 kilograms per mu.
At present, Wenxi County has promoted the wheat soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing technology on 40,000 mu. Among this, irrigated land averaged 458.1 kilograms per mu, an increase of 49.3 kilograms year on year. Dryland averaged 342.2 kilograms per mu, an increase of 65.1 kilograms year on year.
Not only that, a single soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing machine of an agricultural machinery cooperative can earn 20,000-30,000 yuan a year.
Shanxi is a dryland wheat area, and Wenxi County is one of the main production areas, where of 600,000 mu of wheat, 500,000 mu is dryland. Since Shanxi began trial promotion of the soil-moisture-probing furrow sowing technology in 2014, it has been promoted on 150,000 mu across 9 counties (cities and districts) in the three major wheat production areas of Yuncheng, Linfen and Jincheng. (Reporter Ma Yu)
>>> San Nong technology, more ways to get rich await you
http://www.gdcct.net/agritech/kjxnbl/
>>> Technology feature, uncovering the scientific secrets behind traditional agricultural experience
http://www.gdcct.net/agritech/feature/
>>> Agricultural commentary, the most creative professional opinions on agriculture, rural areas and farmers
http://www.gdcct.net/agritech/bzh/