Ridge-furrow and plastic-mulching tillage enhances maize–soil interactions: Opportunities and challenges in a semiarid agroecosystem

Understanding plant-soil relationships may help maximize crop productivity while maintaining and improving soil quality. Field experiments were conducted in 2006 and 2007 at the Dryland Agricultural Experimental Station of the Loess Plateau, Lanzhou University, China, to determine the effects of various ridge-furrow and plastic-mulching techniques on the growth and yield of maize (Zea mays L) and soil biochemical properties. Five treatments were designed: (1) flat-plot sowing without ridge-furrow mulching (CK), (2) large (80 cm) and small (40 cm) ridges alternated and fully mulched with plastic (DRM), (3) on-furrow sowing with plastic mulch applied only on the ridge at a row spacing of 60 cm and 40 cm alternatively (RM), (4) flat-plot sowing with plastic mulch at a row spacing of 60 cm and 40 cm alternatively (NM), and (5) flat-plot sowing with plastic mulch at a row spacing of 80 cm and 40 cm alternatively (WM). The results showed that film mulching enhanced soil microbial biomass: where microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in the DRM treatment reached 633 mg kg(-1) at harvest in 2007, three times the MBC of the CK. The MBC:SOC ratios were 8.8%, 7.1%, 5.7% and 5.4% in DRM, RM, NM and WM, respectively. The ridge-furrow with plastic-mulching increased soil light fraction carbon (LFOC) in both years, averaging up to 1.04g kg(-1) at harvest. Underground plant biomass increased substantially in the mulching treatments, especially in DRM. Positive correlations were found between total biomass and LFOC. between MBC and LFOC, and between MBC and available phosphorus (AP), but a negative correlation between SOC and soil mineral nitrogen (MN). The carbon to phosphorus (C/P) ratio was highest in DRM among treatments, but the content of SOC. MN, and C/N ratio in DRM was lowest, suggesting that the DRM treatment strengthened the interactions between maize and soil, and that the increased content of LFOC with time provides a basis for increasing productivity in future years. In conclusion, the ridge-furrow and plastic-mulching technique brought about a challenge in maintaining soil fertility, but this technology provides a potential opportunity of substantially increasing crop yields in semiarid rainfed regions. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.