Abstract
The sole effect of crop straw incorporation or film mulching on soil organic carbon (SOC) content, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and crop yield is well documented in the literature; however, the combined effects of biodegradable film mulching coupled with straw incorporation on these aspects is not yet studied in detail. We conducted a field experiment expanding over five years to evaluate the influence of different film mulching with straw incorporation treatments: (i) double-ridge furrow sowing with full film mulching plus straw incorporation (DS), (ii) double-ridge furrow sowing with full film mulching (D), (iii) conventional tillage plus straw incorporation (S), and (iv) conventional tillage (CK) on organic carbon contents (SOC), GHG emissions and maize productivity. An average of the results of five years revealed that DS, as compared to CK, increased grain and biological yield by 74.06 % and 29.47 % (P < 0.05), followed by D and S (except for 2017). With every progressing year, DS significantly increased the organic carbon content in the 0–20 cm soil layer with an approximately increase of 17.60 % from 2015 to 2020. A maximum total organic carbon storage of 130.99 Mg C ha−1 in 0–100 cm soil profile was recorded for DS, which was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than other treatments. Conversely, compared with CK, DS increased CO2 and N2O emissions by 34.38 % and 33.95 %, respectively, but significantly reduced the global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) by 41.96 % and 64.91 %, respectively. It is concluded that the use of biodegradable mulch coupled with straw incorporation could be an efficient strategy leading to improved maize yield and organic carbon content, and reduced net global warming potential (NGWP) and GHGI in semi-arid rainfed areas.
Published Version
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