52 Results Found

Biodegradable mulch films (BDMs) have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional polyethylene (PE) films in modern horticulture, yet the effect of film thickness on crop performance remains inadequately understood. In this study, a two-year f...

Straw mulching is an effective agricultural technology to reduce soil water loss in arid and semi-arid areas. Herein, the soil temperature and soil water content of bare land (LD) and 5 cm (JG5), 10 cm (JG10), 15 cm (JG15), 20 cm (JG20) and 30 cm (JG...

Soil mulching is one of the common measures applied in organic agricultural production which could replace plastic films and protect the environment. In order to fully evaluate the effects of different straw mulching thicknesses on soil health, maize...

Straw mulching is an important strategy for regulating soil moisture, nutrient availability, and thermal conditions in agricultural systems. However, the mechanisms by which the mulching period, thickness, and planting density interact to influence y...

Worldwide, a huge amount of solid fermented waste is produced every year during mushroom production. The rational utilization of spent mushroom substrate (SMS) is conducive to environmental protection and the sustainable development of agriculture. T...

To solve the problem that the covering device of sugarcane cannot be adequate for the agronomic standards of seed cane setts planting, a soil-covering and film-mulching device for sugarcane transverse planting was designed. The device includes a soil...

Mulching technology has created a major problem of agricultural plastic pollution. This is because the mulch is severely degraded by UV (ultraviolet) irradiation and the mechanical properties deteriorate, which makes mechanical recycling or manual re...

A model of unsaturated soil-water movement using a prediction model of basic physical soil properties for calculating correlation functions was developed using VADOSE/W. The reliability of the model was assessed by comparing the results with those of...

Reducing soil evaporation is important to alleviate water shortages in arid and semi-arid regions. The objective of this work was to reveal the effect of straw mulch on soil evaporation based on field experiments during a freeze–thaw period in...

The need for sustainable alternatives to conventional plastic mulches in agriculture has led to the development of various types of biodegradable mulches made from natural fibres and biopolymers to reduce environmental pollution and mitigate soil pol...

In the main strawberry areas of Southern Italy, cultivation is carried out by transplanting plants on raised beds (30–40 cm from ground level), mulched with black polyethylene (PE). This technique has becoming increasingly expensive due to the...

Crop models are crucial in assessing the reliability and sustainability of soil water conservation practices. The AquaCrop model was tested and validated for maize productivity under the selected climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices in the rainf...

An open field experiment from November 2022 to May 2023 in Croatia, which is characterized by a continental humid climate, evaluated nonwoven mulches made from viscose, jute, and hemp fibres blended with PLA fibres. The blends of viscose and jute fib...

A protein-based film (PBF), obtained from black soldier fly prepupae proteins, was assessed for its agronomic performance as mulch. PBF was investigated in a potting experiment and compared with Mater-Bi (MB), polyethylene (PE) and bare soil. During...

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is a fruit tree that is globally distributed, especially in warm areas with low annual rainfall and limited water availability. This species exemplifies the critical role of water in agriculture and the need for effic...

Weeds are one of the main problems in cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs); they negatively affect yield (herba and essential oil), and the overall quantity and quality of biomass, flowers, roots, seeds, and secondary metabolites. This...

This study examines the effects of biodegradable mulches on melon production and quality in a Mediterranean environment, specifically focusing on Mater-Bi and Ecovio in comparison to conventional (low-density polyethylene) LDPE mulch. Biodegradable m...

Potato is an important crop in the Northwest China, however, its production is constrained by water scarcity. Plastic mulching film is an efficient technical measure to alleviate potato production restrictions. Therefore, studying the response of pot...

The main measures to improve potato cultivation in eastern China are film mulching and drip irrigation. However, the film can cause soil pollution and inhibit plant growth because of non-degradable polyethylene, which is the main component of the fil...

Adoption of suitable organic fertilizers and soil mulching are useful tools to enhance soil quality, which will inevitably lead to improved growth and yield of crops. Little is known about the soil organic amendments and Azolla (Azolla pinnata) under...

Mulching with recycled paper has the potential to be used in agricultural production and can be adopted in strawberry cultivation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic characteristics, water consumption and technical c...

The combination effect of straw mulching and supplemental irrigation on the soil water and heat, and the growth and productivity of mature apple trees on the Loess Plateau of China remains unclear. Field experiments were conducted in 2022 and 2023 to...

The soil mulching device plays an important role in the sowing stage of crops. Compared with the traditional narrow film planting mode, under the ultra-wide film planting mode adopted by crops in arid areas, the soil transportation distance inside th...

The spotted-wing Drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii, is native species in Southeast Asia. For over a decade, this invasive pest has been globally expanding. The economic losses to soft fruits and stoned fruits in the United States are increasing ev...

To address the problem of environmental pollution caused by the extensive use of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) mulch film, this study developed a novel sprayable mulch using natural fibers and biodegradable polymers. Urea–formaldehyde resin (...

[Aims] The saline soil in continuous silting tidal areas will become a crucial reserved land resource in China. A prominent problem is controlling soil salinization for improving agricultural water and land resources’ productivity in coastal ar...

Antioxidants are added to foods to decrease the adverse effect of reactive species that create undesirable compounds that destroy essential nutrients and, therefore, lower the nutritional, chemical and physical properties of foods. This study was car...

The extensive application of plastic-film mulching (PFM) has brought a series of environmental pollution due to the lack of awareness of plastic-film rational use and absence of plastic residues recycling in China. In addition, the use of degradable...

A two-year field study evaluated biodegradable plastic film (BPF; thicknesses: 0.006, 0.008, and 0.010 mm) versus polyethylene film (PE; 0.010 mm) and no-mulch control on sugarcane yield and weed suppression. Key results demonstrated that 0.010 mm BP...

An experiment was conducted in south-western coastal saline area of Khulna district of Bangladesh (22°35′53.463″ N latitude and 89°27′42.617″ E longitude) during the period from December 2018 to March 2019. The experim...

Polyethylene mulch film (PEM) is widely utilized in garlic cultivation, significantly enhancing garlic yield. However, the prolonged use of this material leads to serious environmental issues that adversely affect soil health and plant growth. To pro...

This paper presents the designs and calculations of a leaping type soil-covering device for potato cultivation. The device is based on the full-film mulching cultivation mode, where the seed rows are covered with soil. The working principle of the le...

The implementation of energy conservation and emissions reduction in Beijing prompted yearly increases in the area of urban green space, leading to direct increases in urban water consumption. This aggravated an already tense situation of water short...

In sub-humid regions, declining maize (Zea mays L.) yield is majorly attributed to unreliable rainfall and high evapotranspiration demand during critical growth stages. However, there are limited farm technologies for conserving soil water and increa...

In order to study the effect of a plastic membrane and geotextile cloth mulching on soil moisture and crop growth in the loess–hilly region, a one-year continuous field monitoring experiment was carried out in Ansai District, City of Yan’...

Reducing ineffective evaporation is a feasible means to improve water use efficiency in agriculture, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. A field experiment assessed the impact of sand mulches (1-cm thickness) with a particle size of 0.5–1.5...

In the arid and semi-arid regions of Northwest China, periodic rainfall deficits, high field evaporation, limited freshwater resources, and high irrigation costs restrict crop yield and water productivity (WP). Gravel mulching (GM), a traditional agr...

This paper presents the design of an integrated potato-planting machine capable of full-film covering, creating micro-ditches on ridges, and covering seed rows with soil. The machine addresses the challenges of traditional methods, allowing for mecha...

Tree bark is a by-product of the timber industry available in large amounts, considering that approximately 10% of the volume of a tree stem is bark. Bark is used primarily for low-value applications such as heat generation or as mulch. To the best o...

Cover crop-based, organic rotational no-till (CCORNT) corn and soybean production is becoming a viable strategy for reducing tillage in organic annual grain systems in the mid-Atlantic, United States. This strategy relies on mechanical termination of...

Paddy fields are a key agricultural ecosystem for achieving carbon neutrality in southern China, with significant potential to sequester carbon and mitigate emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O. Film-covering is an emerging agricultural technique in rice p...

The water (W; W50, W75, and W100)–zeolite (Z; Z0, Z3, Z6 and Z9) coupling (W-Z) regulation strategy of high-quality and high-yield tomato was explored with alternate drip irrigation under mulch. Greenhouse planting experiments were used in moni...

In order to sustain control over soybean root rot, wheat-straw-fiber-based mulch film (WFM) coated with carbendazim (C) and chitosan (CS) mixture (C-CS-WFM) were prepared through bar coating technology. The Box–Behnken design method was employe...

To address issues such as slow soil temperature recovery and delayed sowing periods caused by straw mulching in the cold regions of northern Heilongjiang Province, this study designed a straw crushing and scattering device compatible with the 2BMFJ s...

This study examined the impact of different bio-based and biodegradable mulching films (TSCs) and soil conditioners (SCs) on plant productivity and fruit quality in a tomato cultivation trial under non-irrigated conditions. In particular, different T...

With the rapid development of planting techniques using plastic film mulching, the content of residual plastic film in soil increases year by year, which pollutes the soil and water, endangers the growth of crops and reduces the quality and yield of...

In order to determine the optimal irrigation and drainage mode for the anti-lodging cultivation of Super Rice Japonica 9108, barrel loading tests of different irrigation and drainage modes were carried out in the Water-Saving Park of Hohai University...

This study evaluated the properties of soil water dynamics and desiccation to a depth of 500 cm and tested the idea that land use affects soil drying in deep profiles. Four land use types were chosen: farmland, artificial forest and grassland, and ab...

Soils in arid regions are characterized by elevated salinity levels. During the process of soil moisture evaporation, salts are transported with water to the surface, resulting in the formation of salt crusts. Although these crusts significantly impa...

The water–zeolite amount–burial depth coupling regulation strategy of high-quality and high-yield tomatoes was explored with drip irrigation under mulch. Greenhouse planting experiments were performed to monitor and analyze the tomato gro...