A preliminary analysis on the yield gap of winter wheat between demonstration plots and farmers’ fields

Author: Weili Liang ¹, Hongzhan Lü ¹, Aiping Xia ¹, Guiyan Wang ¹, Fengshu Qin ², Zhenqi Yang ² and Yuhai Lü ³

Received 6 July 2006, accepted 22 September 2006.

Abstract

The major problems in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production in the Plains of Hebei province were identified by analyzing the results of an on-farm demonstration covering 7 farms applying recommended management practices and a formal survey of 120 practicing wheat farmers. The crop performance in the demonstration farms reveals that yield of winter wheat can exceed 9000 kg ha^-1 that is much greater than achieved in most the farmers’ fields where the average yield was only 69% of that of the demonstration plots. Over seeding, untimely sowing, confusion in variety use and poor irrigation practice, together with unbalanced fertilization, are the major technical problems responsible for the yield gap. The crop yield in farmers’ fields can be increased by 43% through improving field management practices without additional cost while obtaining an extra net profit of 4748 CNY ha^-1.