Climate Change and Dryland Agricultural Ecosystem Management

design with three replicate blocks, each consisting of thirteen sampling locations (E1, E5, E9, E13,
E17, E21, M, W1, W5, W9, W13, W17, W21) for measurement, which were divided into five
treatments depending on the light levels received. The five experimental treatments were E-S, E-NS,
M, W-NS, and W-S, while E-S and W-S were shading regions at afternoon and morning, respectively,
E-NS and W-NS were non-shading regions and M was the middle position between tree rows which
was a non-shading region too. A series of parameters, such as leaf area (AL), transpiration rate (E),
stomatal conductance (Gs) and microclimate characteristics were carried out at all the 39 locations
within the system. And finally, transpiration water consumption of single maize plant was calculated
based on E and AL.
Results of E diurnal changes (8:00-18:00) of maize showed that, windbreak had different influences
on maize transpiration at different growth period. The E values of maize at the western shading
regions were lower at seeding and flowering stage, and had no significant differences with
non-shading regions at other growth periods. The E values of maize at eastern shading regions were
lower at flowering stage, and had no significantly differences at other growth periods. The E values of
maize at filling stage had no significantly differences at different regions within windbreak. Otherwise,
variance analysis showed that there was significant difference in maize E value between seedling
stage and filling stage (p