干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

There is little information regarding the sustainability of the high yield agroecosystem with double ridges and furrows mulched with plastic film in semi-arid areas. In this study, we explored the sustainability of this agroecosystem with different mulching time during two growing seasons over 2006 and 2007. Three treatments were designed: (i) plastic film mulching applied at sowing and film removed at harvest (CK); (ii) mulching applied 30 days before sowing and removed at harvest (M1); and (iii) mulching applied at sowing and film left on field after harvest and used continually for mulching in the second season (M2). Microbial biomass C (MBC) and ratio of MBC to soil organic C (SOC) (MBC/SOC) were higher in M1 and M2 than in CK in 2007 growing season. The reduction rates of the ratios of light fraction of organic C (LFOC) to SOC (LFOC/SOC) with sampling dates were 0.0020, 0.0047 and 0.0045 for CK, M1 and M2, respectively. A larger value means a faster reduction rate of LFOC/SOC with sampling dates, and implying farming system would face a higher unsustainable risk. MBC correlated negative significantly with LFOC (R = -0.939, P = 0.0001) and mineral N (R = -0.835, P = 0.0007) due to low soil C pool. Accordingly, film mulched ridge and furrow system would threaten the sustainability of soil ecosystem via MBC increase a semi-arid agroecosystem. The practices of mulching applied 30 d before sowing (M1) and use of plastic film once every two years (M2) lead to increased environmental risk for the farming system. (C) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.