Using Plastic Mulching Improves Greenhouse-Grown Pakchoi (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis) Growth and Water Use Efficiency under Irrigation Scheduling Based on Soil Water Content

Abstract

Scarce water resources limit protected vegetable production in North China. Implementing efficient water-saving techniques is crucial for maintaining protected vegetable production and sustainability. A two-growing season field experiment was conducted in a glass greenhouse to explore the effects of water-saving techniques with irrigation scheduling based on soil water content on the growth and quality of pakchoi and the fate of irrigation water. Three water-saving techniques were investigated: micro-irrigation (M-0), furrow irrigation with plastic mulch (F-P), and micro-irrigation with plastic mulch (M-P) compared to furrow irrigation (F-0). F-P and M-P treatments enhanced pakchoi growth and primarily increased the total root length of the root system (0–0.2 m) compared to F-0. The two treatments further induced an improvement of pakchoi quality. Compared to M-0, F-P and M-P treatments showed better performance in reducing evaporation by 57–70% and proportion of evaporation in evapotranspiration, and consequently exhibited more pronounced effects on water saving. Irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) was improved in F-P by 50% in both seasons and was improved in M-P by 84 and 95% in spring season and autumn season, respectively. Combining irrigation scheduling based on soil water content with plastic mulch is a feasible way to improve IWUE in protected vegetable production by reducing water consumption and enhancing crop growth.

Climate change impacts on irrigated crops in Cambodia

“…In our work, higher CWP values are reported under drip irrigation compared to furrow and net irrigation. Comparable findings to the herein (22% higher CWP when comparing drip and furrow irrigation) are found in North China, where pak choi's CWP increases by 15 to 28% when using drip irrigation preferably than furrow irrigation over the spring and summer growing seasons, respectively (Xie et al, 2020). Although pak choi is not affected by heat-stress conditions, water-stress have an adverse effect on crop growth (6.7% of the growing season for the average values of different irrigation methods, sowing dates, RCPs over the 2017-2099 period).…”

Effects of Shredded Paper Mulch on Komatsuna Spinach under Three Soil Moisture Levels

“…Other research also mentioned the effectiveness of mulch on water saving. For example, straw mulch reduced the influence of meteorological conditions on soil water evaporation [41]; also, there was a 70% evaporation reduction in greenhouse-grown pak choi with plastic mulch compared with no mulch [42].…”

Study on nitrogen demand model in pakchoi (Brassica campestris ssp. Chinensis L.) based on nitrogen contents and phenotypic characteristics

“…Taking Shanghai as an example, the daily supply of pakchoi is over 4,000 kg, occupying a high proportion (30%–40%) of total green leafy vegetables in China ( Zhu et al., 2013 ). Fulfilling the daily requirement of the consumers without identifying the critical N demand status in plants is considered as minimum chances due to the short growth period and complex agronomic practices like fertilization, planting season, irrigation, cultivation systems, and crop varieties ( Foulkes et al., 1998 ; Fatemi et al., 2020 ; Xie et al., 2020 ; Hameed et al., 2022 ). A few studies about fertilizer and water diagnoses and simulation-based model–related strategies are conducted on green leafy vegetables ( Durand et al., 2010 ; Errecart et al., 2014 ).…”