The research team of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences found that: PBAT mulch can make melons sweeter and yield higher
Recently, Yan Yan, an associate researcher from the Facility Cultivation Research Group of the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, found that the use of biodegradable plastic film can improve the yield and quality of melons in autumn and winter in solar greenhouses. Relevant research results have been published in Environmental Science, an internationally renowned journal in the field of environmental science.
Laying mulch on the soil surface can increase soil temperature, maintain soil moisture, inhibit weed growth, reduce nutrient loss, promote plant growth and increase yield. Polyethylene mulch is currently the most widely used. However, the traditional polyethylene mulch film is difficult to recycle. After use, it is mixed into the soil, which affects the absorption of nutrients and water by plants, resulting in a decrease in its yield. Moreover, the degradation cycle of polyethylene mulch film under natural conditions is as long as hundreds of years, and the amount of residues in farmland continues to increase. The resulting "white pollution" of farmland has become more and more serious. Therefore, the development and application of new biodegradable plastic film has become a research hotspot. However, there are few reports on the degradation of biodegradable plastic film during the whole growing period of melon in solar greenhouse, and its impact on melon quality and growing environment.
The researchers conducted experiments in the solar greenhouse of the National Facility Agriculture Research Center of the Planning and Design Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Yongqing County, Hebei Province) from September to December 2020 to study the performance changes before and after the use of different plastic films. Studies have shown that compared with polyethylene mulch (PE), polyadipate/butylene terephthalate (PBAT)/polylactic acid (PLA) and polyadipate/butylene terephthalate (PBAT) /Lignin biodegradable mulch can increase soil temperature and increase the net photosynthetic rate of leaves. Compared with PE mulching film, PBAT/lignin mulching film treatment significantly increased the fruit weight, central sugar content and soluble sugar content of melon by 225.35g, 1.26% and 0.68%, respectively (p<0.05). Therefore, in the winter production of melon in solar greenhouse, covering PBAT/lignin composite degradable plastic film can increase the yield of melon and improve fruit quality, and its degradation performance is the best after use. The replacement of ethylene reduction provides new ideas.
