Effect of Different Mulching Patterns on Soil Moisture and Crop Productivity of Spring Maize

In order to improve rainfall utilization efficiency and increase water availability for crops in dryland experimental area of northern China,a field experiment was conducted in 2008-2013 at Shouyang Dryland Farming Experimental Station in Shanxi Province of China,which determined the effect of five different mulching patterns,i.e.water-permeability plastic film mulch+straw mulch between rows(SJ),water-permeability plastic film mulch(S),normal plastic film mulch+straw mulch between rows(PJ),normal plastic film mulch(P)and straw mulch(J),on soil moisture,yield of spring maize,and economic return using traditional farming pattern as control(CK).The results obtained in a six-year experiment showed that,all mulching treatments raised the 6-year average soil moisture contents by 3.5%~8.8% in the depth of 0-200 cm as compared to control.Compared with the control,the 6-year average spring maize yield with SJ,S,PJ,P and J significantly increased by 27.8%,26.7%,19.2%,17.0% and 6.9%,and the average water use efficiency increased by 30.16%,29.63%,21.16%,15.87% and 5.29%,respectively.The treatment of water-permeability plastic film mulch(S)yielded highest net income,followed by water-permeability plastic film mulch+straw mulch between rows(SJ),with increments of 1 924.2,1 703.6yuan/hm2,respectively.It could be concluded that the mulching patterns of water-permeability plastic film mulch(S)and water-permeability plastic film mulch+straw mulch between rows(SJ)could significantly improve the product and net income of spring maize as well as water use efficiency,and therefore were high-efficiency farming patterns for spring maize in semi-humid and partial drought areas of northern China.