{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T12:47:01Z","timestamp":1785415621521,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783641600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Key Research and Development Plan of China Programs","award":["2021YFD1900705"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021YFD1900705"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2022YFD1901602"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022YFD1901602"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["32301315"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32301315"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["32301315"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32301315"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Innovation Capability Support Program of Shaanxi Province","award":["2023KJXX-072"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023KJXX-072"]}]},{"name":"Innovation Capability Support Program of Shaanxi Province","award":["2024CX-GXPT-03"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024CX-GXPT-03"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Plants"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is an important water-saving strategy in arid regions. To quantify the effects of RDI on foxtail millet yield and water use efficiency and determine an optimal RDI strategy, a three-year field trial was carried out over dry, normal, and wet rainfall years in the Loess Plateau. Full irrigation throughout the whole growth period served as the control, whereas mild, moderate, and severe deficit irrigation treatments were conducted at the jointing\u2013booting stage, heading\u2013flowering stage, and across the whole growing period, respectively. The results indicate that the effects of RDI on foxtail millet yield varied with crop growth stage and deficit severity. During the heading\u2013flowering stage, mild RDI showed statistically similar grain yield and WUE relative to those under full irrigation. In normal and wet years, moderate and severe RDI had no statistically significant effects on grain yield and WUE. Additionally, moderate and severe RDI significantly improved irrigation water use efficiency by 19.94\u201328.50% and 34.35\u201347.72%, respectively. The primary reason is that RDI at this stage maintained root development and led to only limited suppression of plant growth. In contrast, moderate and severe RDI at the jointing\u2013booting stage or throughout the whole growth period significantly inhibited root establishment and plant development, reduced dry matter accumulation, and consequently led to substantial yield losses. The inhibitory effect became more pronounced with increasing deficit severity. Specifically, severe RDI at the jointing\u2013booting stage and throughout the entire growth period significantly reduced yield by 19.35\u201354.98% and 31.47\u2013100%, respectively. Furthermore, to identify the optimal RDI regime adaptable to variable rainfall years, a multi-model comprehensive evaluation system based on yield and WUE was established by integrating three individual evaluation models, including the membership function method, TOPSIS, and grey relational analysis, with the Fuzzy\u2013Borda combined evaluation model. The result showed that the heading\u2013flowering stage is the critical period for implementing RDI in foxtail millet in the Loess Plateau. Mild RDI during this stage is preferred because it maintains stable yield and WUE while substantially reducing irrigation amount over various rainfall years. Additionally, moderate and severe RDI can also maintain stable yield while significantly improving irrigation water use efficiency in normal and wet years.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/plants15142128","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T09:46:47Z","timestamp":1783676807000},"page":"2128","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Effects of Regulated Deficit Irrigation at Key Growth Stages on Yield and Water Use Efficiency of Foxtail Millet in the Loess Plateau"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Shuqing","family":"Guo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Research Center of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education, Yangling 712100, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0243-4721","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fei","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8844-6098","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiakun","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Ecological Restoration in Shanbei Mining Area, College of Life Science, Yulin University, Yulin 719000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Suiqi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Research Center of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education, Yangling 712100, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China"},{"name":"University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"},{"name":"College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"459","article-title":"Current status and future prospective of foxtail millet production and seed industry in China","volume":"54","author":"Li","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci. 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