Agronomic performances of biodegradable and non-biodegradable plastic film mulching on a maize cropping system in the semi-arid Loess Plateau

Biodegradable plastic film mulching (PFM) is considered as an alternative to non-biodegradable PFM to mitigate the negative impacts of film residual. However, the agronomic performance and soil environmental quality under biodegradable PFM still needs to be tested by comparison to non-biodegradable PFM. In this study, we evaluated the effects of biodegradable and non-biodegradable PFM on soil property, microbial and enzyme activities, and maize growth performance. Biodegradable and non-biodegradable PFM both increased soil temperature and water content, and increased N content, microbial biomass and maize yield by up to 30%, but decreased enzyme activities as compared to no mulching (Contr). The most soil properties, microbial and enzyme activities were similar between non-biodegradable and biodegradable PFM at the early stages of maize growth. However, at the late stages, soil temperature (-0.7°C), water content (-4%), mineral N (-20%), NO 3 ? (-21%), ammonia monooxygenase activities (AMO) (-13%) and total PLFAs (-11%) decreased under biodegradable PFM due to the fragmentation of the film. White PFM increased soil temperature, water content and total PLFAs at the early stages, while decreased mineral N and total PLFAs at the late stages compared to black PFM. Our study showed that the availability N and soil temperature were the major factors affecting soil microbial community. Thus, the microbial activity decreased after the fragmentation of biodegradable film, due to the decreased soil temperature, water and mineral N. Noticing, biodegradable PFM could decrease nitrate accumulation in topsoil by decreasing N transformation due to the lower microbial and N-related enzymes activity (e.g., AMO), compared with non-biodegradable PFM, which may avoid the negative environmental impacts such as nitrate leaching or gas emission after harvest. The maize yield and crop height, aboveground biomass, plant N uptake under biodegradable PFM were similar with non-biodegradable PFM during maize growth, implying biodegradable film have no negative impact on crop growth and yield. In general, biodegradable PFM was equivalent to non-biodegradable PFM in terms of yield increase and plant N uptake, but was environmentally friendly. Therefore, biodegradable PFM is a better alternative to non-biodegradable PFM for sustainable agricultural practices.

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