Returning Cotton Stalks to the Field Increases Residual Plastic Film in Oasis Agroecosystems under Long‐term Mulched Drip Irrigation

作者：Jinzhu Zhang, Huaijie He, Zhenhua Wang, Bihang Fan, Xurong Zheng, Wenhao Li, Henry Lin, Li Guo · 发表于：Soil Science Society of America Journal · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.2136/sssaj2019.04.0128 · 被引用次数：11 · 研究领域：Irrigation Practices and Water Management、Soil erosion and sediment transport、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics

Core Ideas Residual plastic film (RPF) was measured in cotton fields following varied years of mulched drip irrigation. The amount of large RPF pieces >30 cm 2 (or 50–100 mg) at 0 to 15 cm increased by 20% (or 10%) after cotton stalks were returned. Small film fragments accumulated in the tillage layer as the number of years of drip mulching increased. Returning cotton stalks to the field benefits yield, but strongly impacted the amount and distribution of RPF. The difficult recovery of RPF should be taken into account for ensuring sustainable oasis agriculture and reducing soil pollution. After the long‐term practice of dripping irrigation under plastic film (also called mulched drip irrigation) in Xinjiang, efficient recovery of the residual plastic film (RPF) becomes a grand challenge. This is especially true for cotton fields where RPF amount has significantly exceeded China's National Standard and caused severe soil pollution. Here, we examined the RPF in cotton fields in a typical oasis agroecosystem in Xinjiang with different lengths of time of mulching practice (5, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 19 yr). We documented the amount and distribution of the RPF at 0‐ to 40‐cm depth via six field sampling events in 2016 and 2017, before and after cotton stalks were returned to the field. The density of the RPF of six sampling plots in 2016 was 121.85, 215.85, 250.63, 294.17, 327.83, and 352.38 kg ha −1 , rising from 5 to 19 yr of mulched drip irrigation, which further increased by 18...