Chen et al. (2025) Evaluating the effects of biodegradable film and plastic film mulching on soil water and nitrogen cycles and maize yield in different regions of rainfall and soil texture: An experimental and modeling study

Identification

• Journal: Field Crops Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-14
• Authors: Ning Chen, Xianyue Li, Tingxi Liu, Yuehong Zhang, Jianwen Yan, Qi Hu, Wenhao Ren, Zhenzhen Mei, Xiaowei Cai
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fcr.2025.110190

Research Groups

• State Key Laboratory of Water Engineering Ecology and Environment in Arid Area, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, 010018, China
• College of Agriculture, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
• Collaborative Innovation Center for Integrated Management of Water Resources and Water Environment in the Inner Mongolia Reaches of the Yellow River, Hohhot 010018, China
• Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydrology and Efficient Use of Water Resources of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hohhot, 010018, China
• Research and Development of Efficient Water-saving Technology and Equipment and Research Engineering Center of Soil and Water Environment Effect in Arid Area of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hohhot, 010018, China

Short Summary

This study quantifies the differences in soil water and nitrogen cycling, maize yield, and water/nitrogen use efficiency under biodegradable film, plastic film, and no film mulching across varying rainfall and soil texture regions, concluding that biodegradable film mulching is most effective in high rainfall and loam soil areas.

Objective

• To quantify differences in soil water and nitrogen cycling, crop yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) under biodegradable film mulching (BM), plastic film mulching (PM), and no film (NM) scenarios in different rainfall and soil texture regions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Hetao Irrigation District (HID) of China, encompassing five different sub-irrigation districts with varying rainfall patterns and soil textures (loam, sandy loam, sandy soil).
• Temporal Scale: Field experiment conducted from 2014 to 2020 (7 years). Numerical modeling utilized 40 years of meteorological data (1980–2020).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Modified Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer model (BDSSAT), which incorporated the effects of disintegration area on air temperature (Ta) compensation.
• Data sources:
  • Maize field experiment data collected in the Hetao Irrigation District from 2014 to 2020.
  • 40 years of meteorological data (1980–2020).
  • 5000 soil samples from five different sub-irrigation districts within the HID.

Main Results

• The BDSSAT model accurately simulated soil water and nitrogen balance as well as crop yield.
• Spatial differences in soil water and nitrogen cycles and crop yield among BM, PM, and NM were most pronounced in low rainfall regions of the Hetao Irrigation District.
• The differences between BM and PM decreased with increasing rainfall.
• Differences in soil water and nitrogen balances between BM and PM were lower in loam soil regions compared to sandy loam and sandy soil regions.
• Crop yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) under BM were generally lower than under PM, with the exception of high rainfall and loam soil regions.
• Biodegradable film mulching (BM) demonstrated higher mulching benefits than both plastic film mulching (PM) and no film (NM) in regions characterized by high rainfall and loam soil.

Contributions

• Improves the understanding of the mechanisms governing soil water and nitrogen cycling under biodegradable film mulching.
• Provides practical recommendations for farmers and governmental bodies to adopt biodegradable film as an effective replacement for plastic film in agricultural regions with high rainfall and loam soil.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Chen2025Evaluating,
  author = {Chen, Ning and Li, Xianyue and Liu, Tingxi and Zhang, Yuehong and Yan, Jianwen and Hu, Qi and Ren, Wenhao and Mei, Zhenzhen and Cai, Xiaowei},
  title = {Evaluating the effects of biodegradable film and plastic film mulching on soil water and nitrogen cycles and maize yield in different regions of rainfall and soil texture: An experimental and modeling study},
  journal = {Field Crops Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.fcr.2025.110190},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2025.110190}
}