BEAN RESPONSE TO MULCHING IN UNHEATED PLASTIC GREENHOUSE

A two-year study was conducted to evaluate the use of white and co-extruded white-black plastic polyethylene (PE) films for soil mulching in unheated plastic greenhouse in Motril (Coast of Granada, Spain). This two plastic treatments were compared with the bare soil and the local sand-mulched soil, in a dwarf bean crop.
The plastic mulches reflected, at the beginning of the cycle, a high proportion of the radiation (up to 60 % of global incoming radiation) contributing to increase absorbed radiation and rising the photosynthetic rates of the bean crop, as compared with the bare soil and the sand-mulched treatments.
As crop grew these differences in absorbed radiation disappeared.
The plastic mulches decreased the soil temperature, at the beginning of the cycle, therefore compensating the higher absorbed radiation and resulting in no significant differences in growth and development.
The highest bean yield was obtained in the sand-mulched treatment.

V International Symposium on Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climates: Current Trends for Suistainable Technologies

J. Hernández, M.I. Morales, I. Escobar

Mulch, radiation, photosynthesis

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2001.559.8