Soil mulching significantly enhances yields and water and nitrogen use efficiencies of maize and wheat: a meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT: Global crop yields are limited by water and nutrient availability. Soil mulching (with plastic or straw) reduces evaporation, modifies soil temperature and thereby affects crop yields. Reported effects of mulching are sometimes contradictory, likely due to differences in climatic conditions, soil characteristics, crop species, and also water and nitrogen (N) input levels. Here we report on a meta-analysis of the effects of mulching on wheat and maize, using 1310 yield observations from 74 studies conducted in 19 countries. Our results indicate that mulching significantly increased yields, WUE (yield per unit water) and NUE (yield per unit N) by up to 60%, compared with no-mulching. Effects were larger for maize than wheat, and larger for plastic mulching than straw mulching. Interestingly,

SUBMITTER: Qin W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4653642 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature