Black film mulching can replace transparent film mulching in crop production

Plastic film mulching systems are widely used in crop production because of great benefits in increasing crop yields, but transparent film mulching (TFM) has negative impacts on crop production due to the high soil temperature under certain conditions. Because of its lower impacts on soil temperature, black film mulching (BFM) is being considered as an alternative to TFM. A meta-analysis was therefore conducted to compare the benefits and trade-offs of TFM and BFM use in potato, maize, and wheat production. Overall, the plant height, aboveground biomass, water use efficiency, and yield under plastic film mulching increased by 7-17 %, 27-59 %, 20-47 %, and 17-35 %, respectively. However, film mulching shortened the crop phenology by 4-9 % due to the higher soil temperature compared with non-mulching. Compared with TFM, the mean soil temperature over the crop growing season under BFM reduced by 1.1 degrees C, which resulted in a 3-5 % increase in phenology. This is a crucial factor for BFM to increase maize yield by 6% and improve marketable tuber rate of potato by 9%, which led to higher profits, compared with TFM. In addition, no herbicide was used in BFM system, thereby eliminating the costs of herbicide and its application. As a result, the net economic benefits in BFM were 5-11 % higher than those in TFM for crop production. In conclusion, the BFM system leads to greater crop growth and higher economic benefits than the TFM system, especially for maize and potato. Policies and investment incentives that support the promotion of BFM technology should be prioritized in order to pursue these greater benefits.

Automated summary

Plastic film mulching systems can increase crop yield and water use efficiency, but shorten crop phenology; compared with transparent film mulching, black film mulching can lower soil temperature, extend crop phenology, increase maize yield, and improve marketable tuber rate of potato.