ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Field Water Management
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Agricultural Water Management: Techniques for Improving Crop Water Efficiency and Sustainability, Volume IIView all 7 articles
Effects of drip irrigation regimes on leaf structure, photosynthesis, yield, and quality in Atractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz
Provisionally accepted
- Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, Tongliao, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Atractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz is a perennial herb suitable for planting in well-drained sandy soil. The dried rhizomes of A. chinensis are used in medicine and are among the sources of Atractylodes-derived medicinal materials included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. However, the low water retention capacity of Horqin Sandy Land and water availability affect the growth process of A. chinensis, and studies on how water regulation modulates A. chinensis remain limited. Therefore, we aimed to examine the synergistic relationships among leaf structure, plant physiology, and secondary metabolism to understand how irrigation levels in the Horqin Sandy Land affect A. chinensis yield and quality. To this end, we experimented with five irrigation rates (4500, 4000, 3500, 3000, and 2500 m³ hm⁻²), analyzing leaf anatomical structure, photosynthetic physiology, yield, and quality. Different irrigation rates influenced the thickness of leaf palisade and spongy tissues. As irrigation decreased, the leaf photosynthetic pigment content first increased and then decreased. At 3500 m³/hm⁻² irrigation, the leaf electron transfer efficiency, carbon assimilation capacity, and key enzymes for atractylode alkaloid synthesis all remained high. The medicinal yield of Northern Atractylodes showed a downward trend with decreasing irrigation, while its pharmacological quality exhibited an initial increase followed by decline. These findings provide crucial theoretical support for adapting Northern Atractylodes to future climate changes and mitigating drought stress and offer scientific guidance for artificial cultivation in the Horqin Sandy Land.
Keywords: Atractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz, drip irrigation, quality, water deficit, yield
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 05 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lv, Wu, Li, Zhuang, Guo, Wang, Gao, Sun and Jia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dezhi Sun
Junying Jia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.