Impacts of biodegradable plastic mulches on soil health
Henry Y. SintimSreejata BandopadhyayMarie EnglishAndy I. BaryJennifer M. DeBruynSean M. SchaefferCarol MilesJohn P. ReganoldMarkus Flury
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In order to generate information and suggest solution experiment was conducted to study the effect of mulch (black and white plastic mulch as well as grass mulch) on soil temperature under polyhouse condition. The treatments were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications during main rainy season of 2012 and 2013. Soil temperature during each individual years and combined over years was significantly improved with both plastic mulches over no mulch and grass mulch. The highest soil temperature was recorded under white plastic mulch followed by black plastic mulch. On the other hand lowest soil temperature was recorded under grass mulch treatment. White plastic mulch scored higher temperature by 1.17, 2.48 and 3.78 °C compared to black plastic mulch, no mulch and grass mulch, respectively. In general, all mulched and no mulched treatments soil temperatures were under optimal range for most warm season vegetable crops for water and mineral uptake from the soil. Both plastic mulches are recommended for users to produce most warm season vegetable crops by enhancing soil temperature during cool season and grass mulch to reduce soil temperature during hot season under polyhouse growing conditions. Keywords: Mulch, Temperature polyhouse and vegetable
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Soil health refers to the ecological equilibrium and the functionality of a soil and its capacity to maintain a well balanced ecosystem with high biodiversity and productivity. Soil health as a tool for sustainability, physical, chemical, and biological properties. Among the physical indicators, soil texture, aggregation, moisture, porosity, and bulk density have been extensively used, while among chemical indica¬tors soil pH, total C and N, mineral nutrients, organic matter, cation exchange capacity and biological ones such as microbial biomass C and N, biodiversity, soil enzymes, soil respira¬tion, etc., in addition to macro and meso-fauna play a major role in maintenance of soil health. Many human activities have caused desertification, loss of biodiversity, disruption of aggregates, loss of organic matter and nutrients. It is imperious to maintain soil health and productivity with increasing emphasis on reforestation and recovery of degraded areas through the use of organic amendments, reintroduction of plants, soil fauna and microorganisms.
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<p>Organic field crop systems are characterized by complex rotations with high spatial and temporal vegetative diversity, an enhanced use of legumes, and reduced external nutrient (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) use. At the same time, a core premise of certified organic agriculture is that this farming system provides benefits to soil health via enhanced microbial diversity. The following short review, drawing primarily upon selected studies from North America, examines the impact of farming systems, and various management strategies within these, on soil organic matter, N and P dynamics, and soil microbial and macrofaunal abundance and diversity. Organic cropping systems are shown to provide benefits with respect to reduced farm N and P surpluses, in combination with maintenance of soil organic matter and improved soil health. However, soil health benefits appear consistently achieved only for larger soil organisms partly due to the resilience of the soil microbial community. Recent research examining soil P dynamics and P uptake in relation to legume biological N<sub>2</sub> fixation and bacterial and mycorrhizal community diversity provide evidence of the resilience of the soil microbial community with respect to functionality, if not diversity of microbial community composition. These latter results may challenge organic agriculture core premises of consistent benefits to soil health via enhanced microbial diversity, but in its place may lead to an improved understanding of how specific cropping practices and production system intensity overall, rather than farming system per se, influences both nutrient cycling and soil ecosystem functioning.</p>
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Soil Research is an international journal of soil science publishing high quality research on: soil genesis, soil morphology and classification; soil physics and hydrology; soil chemistry and mineralogy; soil fertility and plant nutrition; soil biology and biochemistry; soil and water management and conservation; soil pollution and waste disposal
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Plastic mulch is used for agricultural production to improve crop performance and mediate local environmental concerns. Paper mulch is an alternative to plastic mulch, it is effective and more biodegradable. The performance of plastic and paper mulch materials in agricultural production varies according to climatic environments, production practices, and crops. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of paper mulch compared with plastic mulch and bare soil for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) field production in 2018 and 2021. Data on weed control, soil temperature, and tomato yield were recorded. Weed coverage and weeding time were reduced in paper and plastic mulch treatments compared to bare soil. Soil temperature in 2021 was lower in paper and plastic mulch treatments than in bare soil. Tomato yield was greater in plastic mulch than paper mulch and bare soil. Tomato yield for paper mulch treatments was not different from that of bare soil treatments. Paper mulch offered comparable weed control benefits as plastic mulch, and comparable tomato yield as bare soil.
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*Corresponding author: qumerhort@gmail.com Since the beginning of civilization, the man has developed technologies to increase the efficiency of food production. The use of plastic mulch in commercial vegetable production is one of these traditional techniques that have been used for centuries. Studies were conducted to assess the efficacy of plastic mulch on growth and yield of two hot pepper hybrids, viz. Sky Red and Maha in poly/plastic tunnel. The treatments were black plastic mulch, clear plastic mulch and bare soil as control. Both hot pepper hybrids mulched with black plastic showed significantly better vegetative growth (plant height, leaf area etc) and fruit yield. Clear plastic mulch significantly increased soil temperature and reduced the number of days to first flower than black plastic mulch and bare soil. However, fruit yield was higher by 39.56 and 36.49% respectively in both hybrids when they were grown on black and clear plastic mulch as compared to bare soil. Overall results indicated that the use of plastic mulch is an ideal option to maximize hot pepper productivity as well as to extend their production season in poly/plastic tunnels.
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Soil Health refers to the ecological equilibrium and the functionality of a soil and its capacity to maintain a well balanced ecosystem with high biodiversity above and below surface, and productivity. To understand and use soil health as a tool for sustainability, physical, chemical, and biological properties must be employed to verify which respond to the soil use and management within a desired timescale. Attributes with a rapid response to natural or anthropogenic actions are considered good indicators of soil health. Among the physical indicators, soil texture, aggregation, moisture, porosity, and bulk density have been used, while among chemical indicators total C and N, mineral nutrients, organic matter, cation exchange capacity, among others are well established. However, most of them generally have a slow response, when compared to the biological ones, such as microbial biomass C and N, biodiversity, soil enzymes, soil respiration, etc., in addition to macro and mesofauna. Thus, a systemic approach based on different kinds of indicators (physical, chemical and biological) in assessing soil health would be safer than using only one kind of attribute. Many human activities have caused desertification, loss of biodiversity, disruption of aggregates, loss of organic matter and nutrients, among others. Today, it is imperious to maintain soil health and productivity with increasing emphasis on reforestation and recuperation of degraded areas through the use of organic amendments, reintroduction of plants, soil fauna and microorganisms. This review focused on an integrative view on indicators of soil health to be used as tools for prediction of sustainability in production systems.
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The search for sustainable agriculture is a reality that aims saving water and agricultural inputs to obtain greater productivity. Some techniques can be used for this purpose, such as drip irrigation and the plastic mulch of the soil. Thus, the aim of this study was to verify the effects of plastic mulch under two water depths on the productive characteristics of a commercial tomato field. The employed experimental design was the completely randomized in a 2 x 2 factorial. The sources of variation were two types of soil cover (with and without plastic mulch) and two water depths (164 mm and 188 mm) with nine replicates. Plant height and water use efficiency were not influenced by soil mulch or water depth variation. Soil with plastic mulch provided a lower mean fruit mass (108.32 g fruit-1), however, with a higher number of fruits per plant (70), which contributed to a higher commercial yield (58.42 t ha-1). The highest total yield (64.08 t ha-1) was obtained in the soil with plastic mulch under the water depth of 188 mm. The use of plastic mulch associated with a water depth of 188 mm provided an increase in tomato yield.
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Plastic mulch is one of the effective ways to conserve water in the soil reservoir to be uptaken gradually by plants. Combination of plastic mulch and drip irrigation was popularized in the United State for more than two decades and recently in some parts of Iran, due to “quicker to market” benefit of faster seed germination and plant growth. However, the combination of plastic and furrow irrigation has not yet been fully examined in the field to find if there is any effect on soil water conservation and likelihood increase in the yield. The objective of this study was to find the effect of plastic mulch along with furrow irrigation on cucumber and tomato yield in the field at flowering and production stages. For this purpose, a series of experiments were performed in a field in Najaf Abad city in Esfahan province, Iran. Experimental layout consisted of three treatments: furrows without mulch, furrows conjunction with opaque (or clear) plastic mulch and furrows conjunction with black plastic mulch for both cucumber and tomato independently. Each treatment was replicated three times. The soil moisture content was monitored during the season and crops yield were estimated and the results were compared to control (furrows without plastic mulch). Overall, there was a significant difference in soil moisture retention between clear plastic and control and also between yields resulted from furrows with clear, black and without plastic mulches for both cucumber and tomato crops.
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