Polyethylene film mulching enhances the microbial carbon-use efficiency, physical and chemical protection of straw-derived carbon in an Entisol of the Loess Plateau.

The global use of agricultural polyethylene mulches has emerged as a widespread farming practice, however, its effects on the fate and dynamics of crop straw-derived C in soil microbial biomass C (MBC), aggregate-associated and chemical recalcitrance-related C fractions are rarely assessed in situ. A two-year field experiment using C-labeled maize stem was carried out to quantify the allocation and dynamics of straw-C in an Entisol with and without plastic mulching. The results indicated that across the treatments, from 49.

Maize productivity and soil properties in the Loess Plateau in response to ridge-furrow cultivation with polyethylene and straw mulch.

Ridge-furrow with full film mulching (RFFM) is widely used in the Loess Plateau (LP) to increase maize yield. However, continuous RFFM application may cause excessive depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil water storage (SWS). The present study tested four production systems, namely, (1) RFFM; (2) ridge-furrow with polyethylene film and straw mulching (RFFSM); (3) non-contoured seedbed with film mulching (FFM); and (4) non-contoured seedbed without mulching (CK) in 2013 and 2014 to identify an optimal technique to increase maize yield yet minimizing the negative effects.