Reducing the usage and residue of plastic mulch film, but not productivity, is crucial for the sustainable development of dryland farming. The re-used mulching of plastic film (directly cropping on the already used plastic film) was tested compared to no-mulch and new mulching (mulching new film each year), in the grain maize, forage maize, and faba bean cropping systems. The new mulch significantly increased topsoil temperature (18.4% above average), upper 2 m soil moisture (20.2%), crop yield (85.8%), above-ground biomass (63.4%), net revenue (68.4%), proportion of macroaggregates (> 0.25 mm) (35.7%), mean weight diameter (MWD) (78.4%), soil organic carbon (7.0%), and heavy fraction organic carbon (10.3%) in all three crop systems compared to no-mulch. Re-used mulch significantly increased topsoil temperature (11.4% above average), moisture (13.4%), and MWD after final crop harvest (19.1%) in all three crop systems; and significantly increased crop yield (61.8%) and above-ground biomass (50.3%) in the faba bean system. However, re-used mulch had no significant effect for the grain and forage maize systems compared to no-mulch. The 2-years re-used mulch (3-years continuously mulch) had significantly lower plastic film residue (57.1% below average) after final crop harvest in all three crop systems. Re-used mulch also produced significantly higher net revenue (13.2%) in the faba bean system compared to new mulch. In summary, cropping faba bean, under re-used mulch, instead of new mulch, significantly reduce the usage and residue of plastic film and resulted in similar high productivity, and may become a willingly adopted practice for farmers due to the higher net revenue. This work can serve as a reference for sustainable use of plastic film mulch and has potential applications to effectively reduce plastic film usage and residue in cropland and develop sustainable agriculture, especially for cultivating faba bean and other temperature-insensitive crops in developing countries.

减少地膜的使用和残留，而不是生产力，对于旱地农业的可持续发展至关重要。在谷物玉米、饲料玉米和蚕豆种植系统中，对重复使用的塑料薄膜覆盖（直接在已经使用过的塑料薄膜上种植）与无覆盖和新覆盖（每年覆盖新薄膜）进行了比较。新覆盖物显着提高了表土温度（高于平均水平 18.4%）、上层 2 m 土壤水分（20.2%）、作物产量（85.8%）、地上生物量（63.4%）、净收入（68.4%）、大团聚体比​​例(> 0.25 mm) (35.7%)、平均重量直径 (MWD) (78.4%)、土壤有机碳 (7.0%) 和重组分有机碳 (10.3%) 在所有三种作物系统中与无覆盖相比。重复使用的覆盖物显着提高了表土温度（比平均水平高 11.4%），所有三种作物系统的水分 (13.4%) 和最终作物收获后的 MWD (19.1%)；蚕豆系统的作物产量（61.8%）和地上生物量（50.3%）显着增加。然而，与无覆盖物相比，重复使用的覆盖物对谷物和饲料玉米系统没有显着影响。在所有三种作物系统中，在最终作物收获后，2 年重复使用的覆盖物（3 年连续覆盖物）的塑料薄膜残留量显着降低（比平均水平低 57.1%）。与新覆盖物相比，重新使用的覆盖物在蚕豆系统中也产生了显着更高的净收入 (13.2%)。总之，在重复使用的覆盖物下种植蚕豆，而不是新的覆盖物，显着减少了塑料薄膜的使用量和残留物，并产生了类似的高生产率，由于更高的净收入，可能成为农民愿意采用的做法。