Adaptive highly efficient mulching technologies for use on dryland agricultural ecosystems are crucial to improving crop productivity and water-use efficiency (WUE) under climate change. Little information is available on the effect of using different types of mulch on soil water thermal conditions, or on root/shoot trait, leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), yield, and WUE of spring maize. Hence, in this study, white transparent plastic film (WF), black plastic film (BF), and maize straw (MS) was used, and the results were compared with a non-mulched control (CK). The results showed that the mean soil temperature throughout the whole growth period of maize at the 5–15 cm depth under WF and BF was higher than under MS and CK, but under BF, it was 0.6 °C lower than WF. Compared with CK, the average soil water storage (0–200 cm) over the whole growth period of maize was significantly increased under WF, BF, and MS. WF and BF increased the soil water and temperature during the early growth stages of maize and significantly increased root/shoot biomass, root volume, LAI, LAD, and yield compared with MS. Higher soil temperatures under WF obviously reduced the duration of maize reproductive growth and accelerated root and leaf senescence, leading to small root/shoot biomass accumulation post-tasseling and to losses in yield compared with BF

中文翻译：

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西北半干旱地区土壤温度，水分和春玉米根冠对不同覆盖物的响应

在旱地农业生态系统中使用的自适应高效覆盖技术对于在气候变化下提高作物生产力和用水效率（WUE）至关重要。关于使用不同类型的地膜覆盖物对土壤水热状况的影响，或关于根/茎性状，叶面积指数（LAI），叶面积持续时间（LAD），产量和春玉米水分利用效率的信息很少。因此，在这项研究中，使用了白色透明塑料膜（WF），黑色塑料膜（BF）和玉米秸秆（MS），并将结果与​​非覆盖对照（CK）进行了比较。结果表明，在WF和BF条件下，玉米整个生育期5–15 cm深度的平均土壤温度均高于MS和CK，但在BF条件下，其平均温度比WF低0.6°C。与CK相比 在WF，BF和MS条件下，玉米整个生长期的平均土壤贮水量（0–200 cm）显着增加。与MS相比，WF和BF增加了玉米早期生长阶段的土壤水分和温度，并显着增加了根/茎生物量，根体积，LAI，LAD和产量。WF下较高的土壤温度明显减少了玉米生殖生长的持续时间，并加速了根和叶的衰老，导致抽穗后根/茎生物量积累较小，与BF相比，产量下降。