Effect of Plastic Mulching and Maize Density on Shoot and Root Allocation | Asian Journal of Res...

To boost plant biomass output in rainfed dry and cool environments, soil moisture and temperature of the crop rootzone may be regulated with effective mulching materials. The goal of this study was to see how planting density of maize (Zea mays) in a ridge-furrow system coated in plastic film affected shoot and root biomass. In the semi-arid region of northwestern China, five treatments were studied in spring 2014 and 2015: medium density planted in bare soil (BMD, with 45103 plants/ha), lower density in mulched ridge-furrow (MLD), medium density in mulched ridge-furrow (MMD), high density in mulched ridge-furrow (MHD), and extra-high density in mulched ridge-furrow (MHD) (MXD). In MLD, MMD, MHD, and MXD, full mulching with a polyethylene film was used with plant populations of 35, 45, 65, and 72 × 103 plants/ha, respectively. Plastic mulching and increased densities considerably boosted shoot biomass, so BMD was lower than MLD, MMD, MHD, and MXD by 28 percent, 35 percent, 52 percent, and 61 percent, respectively, throughout the two seasons. BMD, on the other hand, was higher in the root:shoot ratio (r/s) by 37 percent, 34 percent, 48 percent, and 6.0 percent, respectively, than the treatments. Increased density favoured shoot growth over root growth. As a result, MMD had a higher r/s than MHD and MXD by 11% and 19%, respectively. The r/s tends to decrease as the crop growth stage progresses, according to correlations. The growth rates of shoots and roots in BMD were much reduced during the early vegetative stages. Higher densities yielded more aboveground biomass and grain output while having lower r/s. As a result, understanding the increase in plant biomass allocation to the shoots relative to the roots and promoting shoot biomass allocated to grain fill is a recommended target for future research.

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