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Agricultural Water-Saving Effects of Soil Mulching
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Agricultural Water-Saving Effects of Soil Mulching

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water, Agriculture and Aquaculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 November 2023) | Viewed by 6005

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Sien Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: water science; irrigation and water management; environmental science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Junliang Fan

grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Water Recourses and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang 712100, China
Interests: drip irrigation; evapotranspiration; water balance; crop–water relations; water resource management; soil fertility
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Lifeng Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Hydraulic and Ecological Engineering, Nanchang Institute of Technology, Nanchang 330099, China
Interests: drip
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil mulching is an efficient agronomic practice in agricultural production, especially in arid and semi-arid regions such as northwest China. Soil mulching plays a prominent role in regulating soil temperature, conserving water, and increasing the soil’s ability to resist agricultural disasters, thereby ensuring an increased and stable crop yield. As it has a huge population, China encourages the application and promotion of mulching practices. However, it is often not possible to fully take into account various factors such as weather forecasts, irrigation amount, crop yield, environmental impact, ecological protection, and economic efficiency in practical applications. As a result, the application of mulching practices is not as effective as it could be. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach is needed to improve the effectiveness, applicability, and promotion of soil mulching. Therefore, the objectives of this Special Issue are aimed at, but are not limited to, the forecasting and simulation of soil water, salt and nutrient transport, soil temperature variation and estimation, water use efficiency, the relationship between crop growth and yield, the comprehensive evaluation of economic efficiency, and machine learning application for various indicators in different climatic regions using different mulching practices.

This Special Issue focuses on and is not limited to the following topics：

  • Straw mulching and plastic film mulching;
  • Water cycle process under soil mulching;
  • Water-saving potential of soil mulching;
  • Mulching effects on soil micro-environment.

Prof. Dr. Sien Li
Prof. Dr. Junliang Fan
Dr. Lifeng Wu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • film mulch
  • evapotranspiration
  • water saving
  • irrigation
  • water use efficiency
  • soil water content

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 14583 KiB  
Article
Effects of Partial Straw Mulching on Potato Production under Different Rainfall Years in Dry-Farming Region
by Deming Zhao, Juhua Ma, Xunzhen Cui, Liangliang Hu, Zeyi Wang, Lei Chang and Caixia Huang
Water 2023, 15(22), 3971; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15223971 - 15 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1458
Abstract
Improving resource utilization efficiency is critical for achieving high yields and long-term agricultural development in arid and semi-arid settings. Using potato as the research material, a field trial was carried out from 2020 to 2022 in dryland agricultural areas of China, with two [...] Read more.
Improving resource utilization efficiency is critical for achieving high yields and long-term agricultural development in arid and semi-arid settings. Using potato as the research material, a field trial was carried out from 2020 to 2022 in dryland agricultural areas of China, with two treatments of ridge planting with a furrow mulching straw pattern (SML) and flat planting without mulching (CK). The responses of the dryland potato yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and soil hydrothermal properties to the two cultivation patterns were investigated. The results indicated that during the potato reproductive period, the soil temperature of 0–25 cm in the SML treatment dropped by 0.70–0.83 °C, in comparison to CK; the ridge and furrow-covered belt, which showed a warming effect at 7:00 a.m. in the seedling stage (SD) and the budding stage (BP), was lower than CK in all the rest of the time, and also the planting belt on the ridge, which cooled down significantly at 14:00 a.m. and the performance varied between the years of 7:00 a.m. and 17:00 a.m. SML significantly decreased the water consumption before BP but significantly increased it after BP in the year of median water and mild drought, while the total amount of water consumed during the entire growing season did not differ significantly from CK’s. In the year of moderate drought, SML’s total water consumption was significantly less than that of CK, with the water consumption significantly lower before BP and after the tuber bulking stage (TB), but significantly higher from the BP to the TB. In three consecutive growing seasons, SML increased the yields by 9.72–41.67% and WUE by 4.62–11.14% compared with CK, with the yields significantly or positively connected with the average soil temperatures at the TB, the starch accumulation stage (SA), and the water consumption from the BP to the TB. Overall, partial straw mulching could be used as a cultivation technique to achieve sustainable agricultural development in dry farming areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Water-Saving Effects of Soil Mulching)
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18 pages, 4053 KiB  
Article
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Loading Characteristics of Agricultural Non-Point Sources in the Tuojiang River Basin
by Dong Fu, Yanchuan Gong, Chuntan Chen, Xiao Gui, Hepei Liu, Shu Chen, Juntao Ren and Bingjie Hou
Water 2023, 15(19), 3503; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15193503 - 7 Oct 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1595
Abstract
Agricultural non-point source (ANPS) pollution has emerged as a significant factor influencing water quality within watersheds. Understanding the spatial distribution and composition of ANPS is crucial for effective river water quality management. Based on the statistical data of 28 districts and counties in [...] Read more.
Agricultural non-point source (ANPS) pollution has emerged as a significant factor influencing water quality within watersheds. Understanding the spatial distribution and composition of ANPS is crucial for effective river water quality management. Based on the statistical data of 28 districts and counties in the Tuojiang River Basin (TJRB), the load distribution characteristics of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) from ANPS were studied in this work by using the pollutant discharge coefficient method. In 2018, ANPS contributed 60,888.92 tons of TN and 20,085.98 tons of TP to the TJRB. By 2019, the TN load had decreased to 57,155.44 tons, while the TP load increased to 21,659.91 tons. Spatially, TN and TP loads follow a pattern of being lowest in the upstream, intermediate in the downstream, and highest in the middle reaches. Planting sources emerged as the primary contributors to TN and TP loads from ANPS in the TJRB, accounting for 61.43% and 77.39%, respectively. Rural living sources made a lesser contribution, at 20.23% for TN and 9.15% for TP, while poultry and livestock farming sources accounted for 18.34% of TN and 13.46% of TP loads. The analysis of grey water footprint (GWF) and water pollution level (WPL) revealed that TN and TP loads continued to exert significant pressure on the TJRB’s water environment throughout the study period. These findings offer valuable insights for enhancing water quality management in the TJRB. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Water-Saving Effects of Soil Mulching)
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13 pages, 1166 KiB  
Article
Effects of Water and Nitrogen Coupling on Yield, Quality, Water and Nitrogen Use Efficiencies of Greenhouse Muskmelon
by Wenjun Yue, Si Chen, Lihua Gao, Ningyu Li and Linsong Liu
Water 2023, 15(14), 2603; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15142603 - 18 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2252
Abstract
The proficient supply of water and nitrogen is a key factor in facility agriculture. In order to pursue high yields, most farmers blindly irrigate and fertilize, leading to yield reduction, quality decline, soil salinization, and fertility destruction. A successive two-year greenhouse experiment was [...] Read more.
The proficient supply of water and nitrogen is a key factor in facility agriculture. In order to pursue high yields, most farmers blindly irrigate and fertilize, leading to yield reduction, quality decline, soil salinization, and fertility destruction. A successive two-year greenhouse experiment was carried out on fruit quality, yield, irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of greenhouse muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) under drip fertigation, which can provide a scientific basis for local muskmelon intensive production in Southeast China. The experiments were conducted in 2020 and 2021, with three irrigation levels 80% (W1), 100% (W2), and 120% (W3) of ETc and three N levels 60 (N1), 95 (N2), and 130 (N3) kg N ha−1. The amount of drip irrigation water was determined every 5 days based on crop evapotranspiration (ETc). The seasonal irrigation amount ranged from 209.77 mm to 298.86 mm in 2020 and from 201.22 mm to 286.04 mm in 2021. The highest muskmelon yield was obtained in the treatment of W3N3 with an average of 27.38 t ha−1 in 2020 and 27.10 t ha−1 in 2021. Although the yield was improved by increasing nitrogen supply, there was no significant difference between N2 and N3 treatment in two years under the irrigation level of W2 and W3. The highest irrigation water use efficiency was observed in the W1N3 treatment in 2020 and 2021. The NUE increased with decreasing N rates at the same irrigation level. Under the same nitrogen application level, TSS and Vc under low water (W1) were higher than that under medium water (W2) and high water (W3) treatment. The highest content of nitrate in low water and high nitrogen (W1N3) treatment was 55.41 µg/g in 2020 and 52.50 µg/g in 2021, respectively. The yield and quality of muskmelon are often incompatible, for instance, W2N2 treatment can obtain a higher yield, but W1N2 treatment maximizes Vc, TSS of muskmelon quality. Our findings suggest that the irrigation level of 1.0 ETc, nitrogen level of 95 N ha−1, and 3500 kg·ha−1 of decomposed organic fertilizer was recommended as the best combination, which can improve the yield, quality, IWUE, NUE of muskmelon under drip fertigation with soil mulching in the experimental site. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Water-Saving Effects of Soil Mulching)
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