Modelling the effects of plastic mulch on water, heat and CO2 fluxes over cropland in an arid region

Growth, grain yield, and water use efficiency of rain-fed spring hybrid millet (Setaria italica) in plastic-mulched and unmulched fields

“…Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) is an important food and fodder crop in semi-arid areas (Xia et al, 2012). The hybrid foxtail millet "Zhangzagu" is popular because of and increase crop yields (Han et al, 2004;Li et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2009Wang et al, , 2012aYang et al, 2012;Zhou et al, 2012). However, plastic mulching also has some notable negative effects.…”

Evaluating the Effects of Mulch and Irrigation Amount on Soil Water Distribution and Root Zone Water Balance Using HYDRUS-2D

“…Plastic mulch is an important factor that influences soil moisture, soil temperature, and surface microclimate [18]. Moreover, several studies have indicated that plastic mulch has a greater effect on soil water balance and ultimately improves water use efficiency [19][20][21].…”

Modeling crop water use in an irrigated maize cropland using a biophysical process-based model

“…Cropland is one of an important terrestrial ecosystem having an inherent nonlinear interaction between biosphere and atmosphere, so there are complex water, energy and mass exchanges within and above the system (Baldocchi and Xu, 2004;Ramírez et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2006;Yang et al, 2012). Crop water use or evapotranspiration (ET) is the largest term in the cropland water balance after precipitation and irrigation (Leuning et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2012) because more than 90% of water used in agriculture is lost by soil evaporation and crop transpiration, referring as to ET (Rana and Katerji, 2000).…”