Effects of biodegradable film types and drip irrigation amounts on maize growth and field carbon sequestration in arid northwest China

Yonghui Liang, Yue Wen, Yu Meng, Haiqiang Li, Libing Song, Jinzhu Zhang, Zhanli Ma, Yue Han and Zhenhua Wang

Agricultural Water Management, 2024, vol. 299, issue C

Abstract: Biodegradable film (BF), as a superior substitute for traditional polyethylene film (PF), has experienced a consistent increase in China. However, a significant research gap persists regarding the utilization of BF in assessing farmland carbon balance. This experiment examined the responses of maize growth, yield, irrigation water productivity (IWP), CO2 emissions, and field net carbon sequestration (NCS) to two BF types (BF1, 100-day induction period, and BF2, 80-day induction period), and PF, and three irrigation amounts (I1, I2, I3: 5250, 5625, and 6000 m3 ha–1), by conducting a two-year (2019–2020) field trial in a typical arid and semi-arid region of China. The results indicated that biodegradable film mulching (BFM) negatively affected maize growth, resulting in reduced yield and IWP. Especially under the I1 irrigation level, the biodegradable film reduced maize yield by 6.26%–13.99% and IWP by 6.64–13.85%. Notably, in the I2 irrigation level, BF1 mulching had a comparable impact on maize yield and IWP to that of PF. Additionally, the increase in irrigation amounts exerted a more pronounced promoting effect on maize total biomass than on yield and IWP. Concerning carbon balance, short-term BF application resulted in reduced CO2 emissions (5.74–6.30% under BF1 and 9.27–12.37% under BF2), without any significant impact on NCS in cropland. Taking into account the economic value of maize and farmland ecology, we recommended utilizing irrigation amounts of 5625 m3 ha–1 for BF application in arid areas, while opting for a BF with a longer induction period whenever feasible.

Keywords: Biodegradable film mulching; Irrigation amount; Maize growth; Soil CO2 emission; Carbon sequestration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424002294
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:299:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424002294

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2024.108894

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().