ArticleAgricultural water management2018
Impacts of plastic film mulching on crop yields, soil water, nitrate, and organic carbon in Northwestern China: A meta-analysis.
Article in Agricultural water management, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 242 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pitaya as a New Alternative Crop for Iberian Peninsula: Cultural Practices.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Effects of Mulch and Fertilization on the Quantity and Quality of Perennial Wall-Rocket (Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Exploring the Influence of Planting Densities and Mulching Types on Photosynthetic Activity, Antioxidant Enzymes, and Chlorophyll Content and Their Relationship to Yield of Maize.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Effects of plastic film mulching on soil microbial carbon metabolic activity and functional diversity at different maize growth stages in cool, semi-arid regions.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Topping and NPK fertilization alter seed germination, plant growth and active components ofFrontiers in plant science · 2024Article
- Blending controlled-release urea and urea under ridge-furrow with plastic film mulching improves yield while mitigating carbon footprint in rainfed potato.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Black Plastic Film Mulching Increases Soil Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Arid Potato Fields.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Fabrication and Characterization of Degradable Crop-Straw-Fiber Composite Film Using In Situ Polymerization with Melamine-Urea-Formaldehyde Prepolymer for Agricultural Film Mulching.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Plastic Film Mulching Improved Maize Yield, Water Use Efficiency, and N Use Efficiency under Dryland Farming System in Northeast China.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Substitute for polyethylene (PE) films: A novel cow dung-based liquid mulch on silage cornfields.PloS one · 2022Article
- Optimizing Wheat Yield, Water, and Nitrogen Use Efficiency With Water and Nitrogen Inputs in China: A Synthesis and Life Cycle Assessment.Frontiers in plant science · 2022Article
- Article
- Year-round film mulching system with monitored fertilization management improve grain yield and water and nitrogen use efficiencies of winter wheat in the dryland of the Loess Plateau, China.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2019Article
- Fate and transport of urea-N in a rain-fed ridge-furrow crop system with plastic mulch.Soil & tillage research · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
In order to increase crop yield in semi-arid and arid areas, plastic film mulching (PFM) is widely used in Northwestern China. To date, many studies have addressed the effects of PFM on soil physical and biochemical properties in rain-fed agriculture in Northwestern China, but the findings of different studies are often contradictory. Therefore, a comprehensive review of the impacts of PFM on soil water content, soil nutrients and food production is needed. We compiled the results of 1278 observations to evaluate the overall effects of PFM on soil water content, the distribution of nitrate and soil organic carbon, and crop yield in rain-fed agriculture in Northwestern China. Our results showed that PFM increased soil moisture and nitrate concentration in topsoils (0-20 cm) by 12.9% and 28.2%, respectively, but slightly decreased (1.8%) soil organic carbon (SOC) content in the 0-10 cm soil layer. PFM significantly increased grain yields by 43.1%, with greatest effect in spring maize (79.4%). When related to cumulative precipitation during the crop growing season, yield increase from PFM was greatest (72.8%) at 200-300 mm, which was attributed to the large increase for spring maize and potato, implying that crop zoning would be beneficial for PFM in this region. When related to N application rate, crop yields benefited most from PFM (80.2%) at 200-300 kg/ha. A cost-benefit analysis indicated that PFM increased economic return by an average of 29.5%, with the best improvement for spring maize (71.1%) and no increase for spring wheat. In conclusion, PFM can significantly increase crop yield and economic return (especially for spring maize) in rain-fed agriculture areas of Northwestern China. Crop zoning is recommended for PFM to achieve the largest economic benefit. However, full account needs to be taken of the environmental impacts relating to N loss, SOC depletion and film pollution to evaluate the sustainability of PFM systems and further research is required to quantify and mitigate these impacts.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.