Effect of Colored Plastic Mulches on Yield of Tomato and Weed Biomass

Abstract

Abstract-In 2010, Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) was grown on polyethylene mulch films and bare soil for evaluate the effect of colored plastic mulches on weed and crop yield. The plastic mulches were blue, black, clear, red and silver on black. Black and silver/black plastic mulches suppressed weeds which were encouraged under clear, blue and red mulches. Results indicated that soil temperature increased under the various colored plastic mulches about 3 to 6 ˚C more than it in bare soil. Number of branches and leaves were better for the plants grown over plastic compared to bare soil. The highest early yield was obtained in clear plastic likely due to light entrance and raising soil temperature. Mulching increased marketable yield relative to bare soil as the plants grown on silver/black plastic mulch indicated a 65% increasing in marketable mulch compared to control treatment. The plastic mulches resulted in an 84-98% reduction in weed biomass.Index Terms-Mulching, soil temperature, weed dry weight, early yield.

Effect of Polyethylene Mulching Type on the Growth, Yield and Fruits Quality of Physalis Pubescens

“…On the other hand, Singh et al reported that mulch could improve leaf photosynthetic capacity beside the role of polyethylene for enhanced root growth, as well as, absorption of each of water and nutrients and thereby, enhanced metabolic activities within plant during the period of growth and reproduction process, which possessed much shoot number per plant and width leaf area with high leaf chlorophyll content as mentioned before that induced more photosynthetic rates. This in turn built high yield of carbohydrates which gave rise to more cell division and enlargement inducing more vegetative vigorous plants ,this reflect to produce more total yield as mentioned by Our results are in agreement with those results obtained with [28]on pepper and [32]on tomato [33][34][35][36][37]. …”

Effect of Different Mulch Colors on Cucumber Production

“…In a study assessing five different plastic mulch colors (black, white, red, silver, and blue) on an okra crop, the greatest yield was obtained with the silver colored plastic mulch, followed by the blue plastic mulch, while the control treatment with no mulch produced the lowest yield. Contrary to Rajablariani et al, (2012), our results were inconsistent in treatments of Blue colored mulch which produced plants among the shortest main branch length, number of leaves, number of fruits per plant and marketable fruit yield. Generally, fewer thrips, aphids, cucumber moths and whiteflies were noted on plants on Silvery grey colored mulch compared to other colored mulches.…”

“…This could be a reason why the lettuce grown in red mulch were the tallest (Kasperbaeur 2010). Rajablariani et al, (2012), working on tomatoes attributed these findings to the mulch color`s effects on internodes length suggesting a role for surface reflected light (and particularly the far-red to red light ratio) on plant development. However, researches conducted on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) grown on red mulch had most number of leaves compared to the other colored mulch treatments (Franquera, 2011).…”

Effect of Weed Control Treatments and Cutting Frequency on Weed Dry Matter and Biomass in Relation to the Growth and Yield of Fluted Pumpkin (<i>Telfairia occidentialis</i> Hook F)

“…Also Hamidreza et al, (2012) and Masarirambi et al, (2013) observed that plants grown with mulch had higher plant height, stem diameter and leaf area when compared with no mulch or weedy plots. Rajablarijani et al, (2012) observed an increase on the number of branches and leaves for the plants grown with plastic mulch compared to bare soil. The findings of the study were also consistent with the findings by Matsenjwa (2006) who reported that both plastic and organic mulch increased plant height of field bean under similar conditions.…”