engleski

Mulching in vegetable production: effects on growth, yield and pests management

Mulching is a common prac ce in the produc on of vegetablesduring last more than twenty years. The technology is applicable to the most vegetable crops grown either outside or in protected cul va on and it is o en accompanied with drip irriga on and use of water soluble fer lizers. There are many benefi ts of soil mulching, and among the most important, are increased soil temperature in root zone which enhances early spring vegeta ve growth and development, leading to increase of yield in early harvests.In addi on, mulching could reduce water use and weed growth, and contribute to be er control of pestsa acks. The most used mulches worldwide are plas c and PE mulches, but recently debate was raised about serious environmental constrains due to problems with their disposal and reuse.Therefore, more eff orts should be done on development of biodegradable mulches or use of organic mulches that may be incorporated into soil a er harvest. The results of diff erent experiments on tes ng the eff ect of PE mulches on growth, yield, and quality of watermelon and tomato crops grown in the Mediterranean part of Croa a, as well as comparison to straw mulch are discussed in this paper.

fruit quality, polyethylene fi lm, straw mulch, pest management, soil temperature, yield

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