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ABSTRACT
The negative effect on the grain yield of spring wheat when mulching with clear plastic film was studied in a semiarid area. Four treatments were set up: M–plastic film mulching without phosphorus application; P–phosphorus supplied without mulching; MP–phos–phorus supplied and mulching; and CK–without film mulching or phosphorus. The dry year, 1998 had only 115 mm rainfall, but a wet year, in 1999, had 240 mm rainfall for the growing periods. Root biomass was significantly enhanced in the mulched treatments, but the amount of water absorbed from the soil did not increase in corresponding proportion. Film mulching reduced biomass ratio of shoots to roots (S/R) by 52% for treatment M and 43% for treatment PM during the late growing period, and S/R was 25% lower in 1998, than in 1999 during the same period. Grain yields were significantly lower in mulched treatments, than in the non-mulched treatments in 1998.
