Effects of Plastic Film Mulching on Soil Nematodes and Soil Quality at Different Growth Stages of Maize Planted in Semiarid Areas of China

ABSTRACT Plastic mulching is considered as a simple, yet effective land management measure to modify microclimate in semi-arid areas. However, the influence of plastic mulching on local soil nematodes and soil quality needs to be investigated more deeply. To fill the knowledge gap, we compared the characteristics of soil nematode communities (density, trophic structure), soil enzyme activities, soil physicochemical properties, and their relationships between maize fields cultivated with use of plastic film mulching and no film mulching, under the same land conditions in Chifeng region, Inner Mongolia. The results showed that the total number of nematodes in most of the film mulched (FM) fields was lower than in no film mulched (nFM) fields. Most of soil chemical properties showed no significant difference between nFM samples and FM samples. Only 0–10 cm soil layer in nFM samples had significantly higher urease activity than in FM samples in June. Plastic film mulching may have an adverse effect on soil quality. Thus, the correct and effective use of plastic film mulch is one of the important measures for future agricultural development in semiarid areas.