Abstract
Straw strip mulching in maize (Zea mays L.) production is showing a positive effect with the increasing negative effects coming from crop straw and plastic film residues. Therefore, it is imperative to develop comprehensive utilization of straw, and promote the green development of agriculture in rainfed regions. A dryland field experiment was conducted in semiarid northwestern China in 2017 and 2018 and included three treatments: maize straw strip mulching with alternating strips of mulched and non-mulched soil (MSSM), and double ridge-furrow fully mulched soil with white or black plastic film (DRWP or DRBP, respectively). The results show that the interaction between mulching treatment and year significantly influenced maize silage yield, grain yield, biomass yield, aboveground plant water content at silage maize harvest stage, ears ha−1, kernels ear−1, and thousand kernel weight (p < 0.001, p = 0.002, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). For silage, maize growth under straw strip mulching was greater than that of the double ridge mulching system. Silage yield of MSSM was significantly higher than that of DRWP and DRBP, but maize grain and biomass yields under MSSM were significantly lower those under DRWP and DRBP in 2017 and 2018. Compared with the double ridge mulching system, net economic return from silage with MSSM was significantly increased by 28.31% and 20.85% in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and net economic return from grain was 6.67% lower in 2017 and 2.34% higher in 2018. The MSSM treatment exhibited water-temperature coupling; the MSSM treatment significantly reduced soil temperature in the 0–25 cm soil layer by 1.23–2.14 °C and increased soil water storage in the 0–200 cm soil layer by 9.75 and 24.10 mm in 2017 and 2018, respectively, thereby delaying growth development of maize by about 13 days. Therefore, straw mulch can replace plastic film mulch and serve as an environmentally friendly cultivation method for maize in semiarid rainfed regions.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and rice (Oryza sativa L.) are the three most widely grown crops in the world, and over 30% of human caloric intake comes from maize in 94 developing countries [1,2]
Our results show that the Maize straw strip mulching (MSSM) treatment significantly reduced mean soil temperature of the 5–25 cm soil layer by 1.27 and 2.03 ◦C throughout the growing season compared to that of the DRBP and DRWP treatments in 2017 and 2018, which is consistent with the results of Lu et al [62], Chen et al [52], and Chang et al [53], respectively
In 2017, the largest difference in mean soil temperature among treatments was at the 25 cm soil depth, with the MSSM and DRBP treatments being 2.57 and 1.54 °C lower compared to the DRWP treatment, respectively
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and rice (Oryza sativa L.) are the three most widely grown crops in the world, and over 30% of human caloric intake comes from maize in 94 developing countries [1,2]. The primary constraints on crop production in this region are degraded soils, inefficient water use, drought, and low temperature stress early in the growing season [5,6,7], which severely restrict the profitability of rainfed crop production for local farmers [8,9]. To solve these issues, many management strategies have been studied to improve rainwater use efficiency (WUE), and collecting effective precipitation during the crop growing season is key to improving crop yield [10]. Residual plastic film is difficult to degrade and its recycling capacity is inefficient, which is a major limiting factor for sustainable development of agriculture; it reduces the homogeneity of soil, and it can seriously impede the movement of water and solutes in soil [18,20]
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