Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have'

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• Happiness is not having what you want, but
  wanting what you have.
• - Rabbi
  H. Schachtel

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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• CHAPTER XVIIUSE OF SOIL MULCH

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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foto

• Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle Irrigation
• by Megh R. Goyal

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FOTO

• Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle Irrigation
• by Megh R. Goyal

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INTRODUCTION
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The use of soil mulch is one of these
  traditional techniques that have been used for
  centuries in the intensive production of crops.
• The practice consists in placing mulch over the
  soil surface to create a favorable microclimate
  among soil-water-plant.
• The mulch has a significant effect on soil
  climate and the microclimate surrounding the
  plant. It affects the thermodynamic environment,
  the moisture, the erosion, the physical soil
  structure, the incidence of pests and diseases,
  the crop yield and the crop growth.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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INTRODUCTION
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 4. Any type of material can be used as a mulch
  (soil cover). In practice, however some are more
  appropriate than others for agricultural use.
• 5. In the past, natural and synthetic mulches
  have been used and evaluated, such as Paper
  products, glass fabrics, bituminous emulsions,
  metal fabrics of aluminum and polyethylene
  laminates, crop organic waste, etc.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch
INTRODUCTION 6. The selection of the mulch
material depends mainly on the availability, the
cost, the efficiency of use, and the purpose of
use. For this reason, the soil plastic mulch
(polyethylene plastic) is a commonly used soil
cover in the intensive production of vegetables,
throughout the world.

• Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle Irrigation
• by Megh R. Goyal

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ADVANTAGES
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 1. The use of soil mulch in combination with
  drip irrigation technology helps to increase
  significantly the commercial yield of various
  crops. It improves the crop quality. 
• 2. The silver coated plastic mulch increases the
  photosynthesis of some crops. Therefore, the
  growth is accelerated causing an early flowering
  and fruit formation.
• 3. The mulches of opaque color reduce the
  germination and growth of weeds. This reduces the
  competition with the crop and the labor
  requirement for inter-cultivation.
•  
•  

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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ADVANTAGES
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 4. The direct water loss due to evaporation is
  greatly reduced, which then contributes to a
  uniform soil moisture in the root zone.
• 5. It protects the soil from the direct impact of
  rain drops, contributing to the conservation of
  soil structure. It also reduces erosion.
•  
• 6. It has an effect on the soil climate and the
  microclimate surrounding the plant, thus
  affecting thermodynamic environment.
•  
•  

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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ADVANTAGES
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 7. The use of bright or reflecting mulches reduce
  the incidence of certain insects.
• 8. Soil mulch serves as a barrier to certain soil
  pathogens. It helps to maintain the fruits free
  of dirt, thus requiring less attention in the
  classification, packing and processing phase.
• 9. The use of soil mulch is a complement to the
  drip irrigation system. This simplifies the
  localization and management of soil fertilizers,
  soil fumigants and reduces the losses due to
  leaching to deeper layers.
•  

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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DISADVANTAGES OF THE USE OF SOIL MULCH
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 1. Expensive Its use is recommended in high
  value and rentable crops that are adaptable to
  the mechanization.
•  
• 2. Most of the plastics mulches do not decompose
  easily. Therefore these must be removed out the
  field at the end of crop season. However,
  biodegradable mulches can solve this problem.
•  
• 3. Installation and removal of mulch increase the
  labor requirements.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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DISADVANTAGES
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 4. It complicates the banded application of
  solid
• fertilizers. The fertilizer must be
  applied before the
• installation of mulch. However, the
  soluble
• fertilizers can be applied through the
  irrigation water.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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DISADVANTAGES
 Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• Despite many disadvantages, there are a series of
  conditions that justify the use of soil mulch
• 1. The lack of water in arid and semiarid regions
  around the world requires intelligent use of
  irrigation water by increasing the application
  efficiency.
•  
• 2. The necessity of increasing demand for food
  requires efficient methods of increasing the crop
  yield with limited resources.
• 3. There is a great demand for high quality
  products, which requires that the crop does not
  come in contact with soil.
• Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle Irrigation
• by Megh R. Goyal

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DISADVANTAGES
 Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 4. The high cost of fertilizers requires an
  effective use.
•  
• 5. The necessity of reducing the incidence of
  insects. Less use of pesticides to control pests
  and diseases which reduce the contamination of
  our environment.
•  

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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RESEARCH ADVANCES IN THE USE OF SOIL MULCH
 Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 1. The Agricultural Experimental Stations
  throughout the world have evaluated the effects
  and viability of the soil mulch in the crop
  production under limited natural resources.
• 2. Most of this technology has been directly
  transferred and adapted from one place to another
  around the world. The drip irrigation system
  technology has been adapted in conjunction with
  soil mulch.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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 Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• 3. However, many of these research findings and
  experiences in these places are not absolutely
  applicable to our necessities, because the data
  were obtained under variable conditions of
  climate and soil.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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Effects on the Crop Yield
 Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• Experiments realized at the Agricultural
  Experimental Substation of Fortuna in Juana Díaz
  Puerto Rico demonstrated that the use of silver
  coated black plastic in combination with the drip
  irrigation system increased significantly the
  yield of various vegetables, in comparison with
  non-soil mulch treatments (Table 1). It was found
  that the use of silver coated black plastic
  significantly increased the yield of sweet
  peppers compared to treatments using transparent
  plastic, white plastic or black plastic.
• Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle Irrigation
• by Megh R. Goyal

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 Table 1. Labor requirements and yield of
various vegetable crops under soil mulch and drip
irrigation.
 Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch
Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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Effects on the Crop Yield
 Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• These findings are in agreement with the ones
  obtained by other investigators around the world.
  In scientific terms, the increase in crop yield
  is due to a series of physical, climatic and
  biological effects that are favored by the mulch.
  In practical terms, this increase in crop yield
  means more income for the farmer.
• Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle Irrigation
• by Megh R. Goyal

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LABOR INPUT REQUIREMENTS
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The use of mulch increases the labor input
  because of installation, maintenance, and removal
  operations, as shown in table 1. In practical
  terms this means that the farmer have to incur
  additional expenses when using the soil mulch.
• Different studies have demonstrated that the
  use of soil mulch reduces the labor requirements
  for weeding to 4, depending on the crop and
  season of the year. Without mulch, the weeding
  requires 13 to 27 of the total labor input
  requirements. This reduction, in addition to
  other benefits, can justify the use of soil
  mulch.
• The use of soil mulch through manual operations
  requires 15 to 28 of the total labor
  requirements. These values can be significantly
  reduced by mechanizing the installation and mulch
  disposal operations.
•  

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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Chart 1 Labor Requirements
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch
1 Cantaloupe 2 Cucumber 3 Green Beans 4 Pepper 5
Tomato 6 Watermelon
Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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Chart 2 Average Yield
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch
1 Cantaloupe 2 Cucumber 3 Green Beans 4 Pepper 5
Tomato 6 Watermelon
Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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CONSERVATION OF SOIL MOISTURE
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The soil mulch reduces water loss due to
  evaporation. Moreover, it inhibits the weed
  growth and reduces the water use by weeds.
• This contributes to a more efficient irrigation
  management.
• The plastic mulch treatments were more efficient
  in conserving and maintaining a uniform soil
  moisture in the roof zone, in comparison with the
  organic mulch.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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SOIL TEMPERATURE
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The effects of different soil mulch treatments
  plastic mulch (transparent, white, black and
  silver), organic mulch and control (without
  mulch) were evaluated on the soil temperature
  at four depths (0, 7.5, 15.0, 22.5 cm) during
  each time of the day (morning, noon and evening)
  and two seasons (summer and winter) in drip
  irrigated sweet peppers.
• It was found that the use of transparent plastic
  mulch causes a rise in the soil temperature
  higher than the other treatments at all depths
  and time of the day in winter and summer. This is
  because the transparent mulch allows passage of
  most of the sun radiations received on the soil
  surface, causing a soil heating by absorption.
  Generally, the inferior side of the plastic is
  covered of condensed water drops in the morning
  before the sun rises.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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SOIL TEMPERATURE
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The water creates a barrier that allows the
  entrance of infrared radiations of short wave,
  but large wave radiations cannot escape out. This
  is the reason that most of the heat that will be
  irradiated to space will be retained in soil.
  Furthermore, the surface evaporation decreases
  considerably conserving the evaporation energy.
  This increment in the heat flow contributes in
  the rising of soil temperature. In Israel, the
  phenomenon conservatory effect has been used as
  a method for sterilizing and reducing the
  incidence of certain pests and diseases in the
  soil. In Puerto Rico, the rise in temperature
  generated by the transparent mulch is not
  sufficient to carry out this practice.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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SOIL TEMPERATURE
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The temperature in all plastic mulch treatments
  was higher than the ones in the control, during
  the morning at all depths, in winter and summer.
  This is attributed to the heat absorption by
  drops of condensed water under the mulch and to
  the reduction in the heat loss by evaporation.
  The interaction of these physical and biological
  effects can cause an early appearance of the
  fruit and an increase in the crop yield.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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SOIL TEMPERATURE
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The soil temperatures in reflecting plastic mulch
  treatments (white and silver) were lower than the
  ones in the control, during noon and evening at
  all depths during both crop seasons. This effect
  is attributed to soil temperature which varies
  depending on the reflection, absorption or
  transmission when receiving the solar radiation.
  The reflecting mulches transmit to the soil just
  a few of the radiations received.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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SOIL TEMPERATURE
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• In general terms, significant differences in
  temperature in various treatments were not
  observed for very cloudy or rainy days. It was
  attributed to the low intensity of soil radiation
  received by the soil surface. It could be
  observed that the variations in temperature were
  more pronounced during the first 30 days of the
  growing cycle.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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INTEGRAL CONTROL OF WEEDS
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The integral weeding is of great importance in
  vegetable crops using soil mulch. In pepper and
  tomato production, the highest net profit was
  obtained using plastic mulch combined with
  weeding or the direct application of some
  herbicide.
• The use of plastic mulch in combination of
  agricultural practices is recommendable.
  Nevertheless, the use of an additional chemical
  agents or weeding (manual or mechanical) will
  depend greatly on the economic considerations in
  each case.

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal
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INTEGRAL CONTROL OF WEEDS
Chapter XVII Use of Soil Mulch

• The opaque mulches avoid the germination of
  weeds. The transparent mulches stimulate the
  growth of weeds since the light can pass through
  the soil. The Cyperus rotundus L. weed could not
  be controlled using soil mulches because during
  its germination the buds perforated the mulch.
• Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle Irrigation
• by Megh R. Goyal

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• Dont wait for extraordinary opportunities.
  Seize common occasions and make them great.
• - Orison
  Swett Marden

Management of Drip/ Micro or Trickle
Irrigation by Megh R. Goyal