Mulching Techniques to Conserve the Soil Water and Advance the Crop Production - A Review

Manjeet Prem,Ghanshyam T Patle,Neeraj Seth,Prem Ranjan

doi:10.12944/cwe.15.special-issue1.02

Abstract

The necessity to increase the production of food grains and enhances the quality of surrounding environment has leaded to find the materials to control or regulate the water and wind erosion. Mulching has become now a days an essential and decisive exercise in agricultural production. It lessens the application of herbicides and various chemical fertilizers, control the weeds and maintains the soil moisture and soil temperature. This article consists of the detail reviews of different research conducted on mulches and elaborate the opportunities that they resolving the problem in agriculture. The resources of water for agricultural operations have been inadequate over the years as a result of global warming and uneven or uncertain rainfall in the low rainfall zones of India. To alleviate the water scarcity in agriculture, mulching has a vital impact as a water conserving technique in rain-fed cropping. It is very important primarily for preserving the soil moisture, preventing evaporation of soil and governing the soil temperature, which affects the food production. India being an agricultural country should have a better admiration towards water conservation tactics. By now we are fighting from a great stress of water insufficiency. Each and every drop of water is important for us but inappropriately because of inattentiveness, we repeatedly waste gigantic volume of water in which 70 to 80 % is passed down for irrigation purpose. Mulching and micro- irrigation techniques can play a vital role in controlling the over and excessive irrigation. This practice assistance to prevent weed growth, increment soil moisture, reduce soil erosion, maintain soil temperature, augments soil structure, improves soil fertility and improvise soil biological regime. There are several categories of mulching which are organic mulching, inorganic mulching, natural mulching, synthetic mulching, surface mulching, upright mulching or vertical mulching, plastic mulching, rubber mulching, pebble or stone mulching, dust mulching, straw mulching, landscape fabric, live vegetative barriers etc. Mulching also shows some limitations beyond many advantages as it may harbor some insects, pests and diseases and also create some weed problems sometimes. The current analysis deals with argument of every single feature of mulching and it’s beneficiary effects.

Highlights

It is becoming increasingly clear that the challenge of feeding tomorrow’s population is to an outsized extend about improving productivity of water within present land use, as new arable land is relatively limited (Prem et al, 2017)
Plastic mulches are fully impermeable to water. It confines the losses of water and erosion of soil through-out the soil surface by preventing rapid evaporation from the surface of soil and the upsurge of water comprising salt, which is important in countries which has high salt content water resources
Effect of Mulching on Soil Temperature Organic and inorganic mulches both are very useful in regulating temperature in root zone of the plants (Singer and Martin, 2008; Koshki and Jocobi, 2004; Steward et al, 2003)

Summary

Introduction

It is becoming increasingly clear that the challenge of feeding tomorrow’s population is to an outsized extend about improving productivity of water within present land use, as new arable land is relatively limited (Prem et al, 2017). The principal objectives of mulching are controlling erosion and saving water in low rainfall regions While natural mulches such as leaves, straw, tree waste, grass clippings, bark clippings and compost have been used for centuries, during the last 60 years the arrival of synthetic materials has changed the means and profits of mulching. It confines the losses of water and erosion of soil through-out the soil surface by preventing rapid evaporation from the surface of soil and the upsurge of water comprising salt, which is important in countries which has high salt content water resources In this way it plays a productive part in conserving water (Sharma and Bhardwaj, 2017). Understanding the features of various mulching materials and their proper usages may assistance you to hand-picked the correct mulch as per requirements

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Conclusion