Abstract
Ridge–furrow cultivation with plastic film mulching has been widely used for many years to increase crop yields in semiarid regions. The long-term effects of plastic mulching on crop yield and soil water balance need to be seriously considered to assess the sustainability of this widely used field management technique. A seven-year maize field experiment was conducted during 2012–2018 to estimate the yield sustainability and soil water balance with two treatments—mulching (yes; no) and nitrogen fertilization (yes; no). This resulted in the following four groups—no film mulching, no N application (M0N0); film mulching, no N application (M1N0); no film mulching, N application (M0N1); film mulching and N application (M1N1). Our results show that plastic mulching significantly increased maize yield. A combination of mulching and nitrogen application had the highest sustainability yield index (SYI) of 0.75, which was higher than the other three treatments, with SYI values of 0.31, 0.33, and 0.39, respectively. Plastic film mulching increased soil water content and water storage in both the sowing and harvesting periods and did not cause the formation of dry soil layers. Precipitation storage efficiency (PSE) in the nongrowing season played a key role in maintaining the soil water balance and it was positively affected by plastic film mulching. Our research indicates that plastic mulching and N application could maintain maize yield sustainability and the soil water balance of agriculture in semiarid regions. In addition, we highlight the importance of nongrowing season precipitation, and thus, we suggest that mulching the field land with plastic film throughout the whole year should be adopted by farmers to store more precipitation, which is important to crop growth.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Plastic mulching significantly increased maize yield.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“plastic mulching significantly increased maize yield”
Claim · model-written summary
Mulching with nitrogen had the highest sustainability yield index, 0.75, compared with the other three treatments.
- Treatment
- mulching and nitrogen applicatione0
- Outcome
- sustainability yield index (SYI)e0
- Direction
- higheste0
- Value
- 0.75e0
- Qualifier
- SYI values of 0.31, 0.33, and 0.39e0
- Comparator
- the other three treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A combination of mulching and nitrogen application had the highest sustainability yield index (SYI) of 0.75, which was higher than the other three treatments, with SYI values of 0.31, 0.33, and 0.39, respectively.”
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Plastic film mulching increased soil water content and storage at sowing and harvest.
- Treatment
- Plastic film mulchinge0
- Outcome
- soil water content and water storagee0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- both the sowing and harvesting periodse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plastic film mulching increased soil water content and water storage in both the sowing and harvesting periods”
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Plastic film mulching did not cause dry soil layers.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plastic film mulching increased soil water content and water storage in both the sowing and harvesting periods and did not cause the formation of dry soil layers.”
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Nongrowing season precipitation storage efficiency played a key role in soil water balance.
Not reportedMaterialGeneCompoundOrgan / stageInteractorTreatmentComparatorSettingDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Precipitation storage efficiency (PSE) in the nongrowing season played a key role in maintaining the soil water balance”
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Plastic film mulching positively affected nongrowing season precipitation storage efficiency.
- Treatment
- plastic film mulchinge0
- Outcome
- Precipitation storage efficiency (PSE)e0
- Direction
- positively affectede0
- Qualifier
- nongrowing seasone0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Precipitation storage efficiency (PSE) in the nongrowing season played a key role in maintaining the soil water balance and it was positively affected by plastic film mulching.”
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend year round plastic film mulching to store more precipitation for crop growth.
- Outcome
- mulching the field land with plastic film throughout the whole yeare0
- Qualifier
- store more precipitatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“we suggest that mulching the field land with plastic film throughout the whole year should be adopted by farmers to store more precipitation, which is important to crop growth”
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
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