The Influence of Mulch Culture to the Growth and Yield of Plum
Keywords:
Plum,
Mulching culture,
Leaf fall,
Soil moisture content,
Variation of individual fruit weight
2013 Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 45-50
Details
2013 Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 45-50
In this study, we aimed to examine the effects of mulch culture on the quality and production of plum. As a result of two years’ experiment that ground surface was covered or not by vinyl black film from July 1st to December 31th, the following effects of mulching were clarified. 1) The mulching can prevent the soil moisture from extremely decreasing and suppress its fluctuation during the continuous dry weather in summer, and increase soil temperature. 2) The mulching tended to hasten leaves fall in autumn, which suggested that the differentiation and formation of flower buds and commutation of nitrogen from leaves had been promoted. 3) The mulching tended to make the total production of plum increase and the variation of individual fruit weight reduced, which expected to improve those economic value. In addition, it was clarified that both of the average individual fruit weight and the total yield of plum were increased if the soil moisture content was maintained around the field capacity during summer season when evapotranspiration was very high.
