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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (15): 20-26.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2025-0416

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Effects of Plastic Film Mulching on Growth and Physiological Indicators of Sweet Potato

QIN Huawei(), CHEN Lulu, TIAN Changgeng, LIU Shanggang, SUN Zhe()   

  1. Tai’an Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tai’an, Shandong 271000
  • Received:2025-05-20 Revised:2025-11-12 Online:2026-08-15 Published:2026-08-13

Abstract:

To clarify the effects of film mulching on sweet potato growth under water stress during early establishment in the spring drought prone areas of northern China, and to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the differential responses to mulch color, a field experiment was conducted using cultivars ‘Taishu 15’ and ‘Taizishu 1’ as test materials. Three treatments were established: no mulching (CK), white film mulching (WM), and black film mulching (BM). Soil water content, growth parameters, osmotic adjustment substances, photosynthetic characteristics, chlorophyll fluorescence, and antioxidant enzyme activities were measured. The results showed that compared with CK, film mulching treatments significantly increased soil moisture content at 10-30 days after transplanting, with the BM treatment showing the best effect, achieving an increase of 28.1% to 77.9%. The BM treatment significantly promoted the growth of vine length, branch number, stem diameter, and leaf area. Regarding physiological indicators, the BM treatment significantly increased leaf proline and chlorophyll b content while significantly reducing malondialdehyde content. In terms of photosynthetic characteristics, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate were significantly increased under the BM treatment. The net photosynthetic rate and intercellular CO2 concentration of both WM and BM treatments were significantly higher than those of CK, but there was no significant difference between the two film treatments. Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters indicated that film mulching treatments significantly increased the maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII, actual photochemical efficiency, and photochemical quenching coefficient, while decreasing the non-photochemical quenching coefficient, with the BM treatment showing more prominent improvement effects. Regarding antioxidant enzymes, the BM treatment also significantly increased the activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase. In conclusion, black plastic film mulching promotes sweet potato plant growth by increasing soil moisture content, enhancing leaf photosynthetic capacity, improving photosystem performance, and boosting antioxidant capacity, with its effects being superior to those of white plastic film. This study provides a theoretical basis and technical support for green and efficient sweet potato cultivation in the dry farming regions of northern China, and future research should integrate yield formation and long-term field validation to further optimize the mulching system.

Key words: sweet potato, plastic film mulching, soil water content, photosynthetic characteristics, antioxidant enzymes

CLC Number: