Spring maize yield, soil water use and water use efficiency under plastic film and straw mulches in the Loess Plateau

Wen Lin,Qingwu Xue,Wenzhao Liu

doi:10.1038/srep38995

Abstract

To compare the soil water balance, yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of spring maize under different mulching types in the Loess Plateau, a 7-year field experiment was conducted in the Changwu region of the Loess Plateau. Three treatments were used in this experiment: straw mulch (SM), plastic film mulch (PM) and conventional covering without mulch (CK). Results show that the soil water change of dryland spring maize was as deep as 300 cm depth and hence 300 cm is recommended as the minimum depth when measure the soil water in this region. Water use (ET) did not differ significantly among the treatments. However, grain yield was significantly higher in PM compared with CK. WUE was significantly higher in PM than in CK for most years of the experiment. Although ET tended to be higher in PM than in the other treatments (without significance), the evaporation of water in the fallow period also decreased. Thus, PM is sustainable with respect to soil water balance. The 7-year experiment and the supplemental experiment thus confirmed that straw mulching at the seedling stage may lead to yield reduction and this effect can be mitigated by delaying the straw application to three-leaf stage.

Highlights

plastic film (PM) −2b −151a −47b 44b −70a 164b 73a uptake[20]
The soil water content changed as deep as 300 cm in spring maize field in the Changwu region
Under PM, soil water depletion was observed at certain depths of the soil during the maize growing seasons, whereas in the fallow period, more water was recharged at these depths

Summary

Introduction

Yield and WUE are higher under plastic film mulching. Soil water[9]; plastic film mulching may fail to sustain crop production in the long run. There are many studies on plastic film mulch, most of these studies were short-term (2–3 years). Precipitation, differ greatly among years in the Loess Plateau, short-term field experiments are not sufficiently representative of long-term climatic conditions. Some studies showed the benefits of soil water conservation and increasing yield for using straw mulching. We report the results of a 7-year field experiment in the Loess Plateau. The primary objective was to evaluate the soil water sustainability of plastic film mulching. We explored the reason of yield reduction effect of straw mulch in the south Loess Plateau

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion