Research paperExploring the optimisation of mulching and irrigation management practices for mango production in a dry hot environment based on the entropy weight method
Introduction
Mangoes are one of the world's five most popular tropical fruits, known as the “king of fruits”, and are widely distributed in more than 100 countries worldwide (Farina et al., 2020). It is widely grown in many tropical and subtropical regions and is mainly produced in India, China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Pakistan, and Mexico (Kumar et al., 2021). China is one of the principal producing areas for mango. By 2017, the planting area was 2.1 × 106 ha, with an annual yield of 1.8 × 109 kg (Liu et al., 2021). The hot and dry areas in Southwest China are hot and sunny enough for mango growth. However, the area has low and uneven precipitation, high evaporation, and a long dry season. In addition, local mango orchards are not largely irrigated or flooded and lack scientific water management, which limits the high quality and efficient production of mango.
Ground mulching is the main agricultural technology measure for soil moisture conservation and organic crop management (López et al., 2014). It has been widely promoted and applied at home and abroad, has achieved good ecological, economic, and social benefits, and enables the sustainable development of agriculture in arid areas (Cheng et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2020b). Ground mulch can improve soil moisture content and water-use efficiency by inhibiting evapotranspiration and retaining water (Chen et al., 2019), preventing weed growth (Nwosisi et al., 2019), controlling daily and seasonal fluctuations in soil temperature (Xiukang et al., 2015), and protecting soil from erosion (Wang et al., 2019b). Ground cover also promotes soil biological activities, such as soil respiration and microbial biomass, and improves overall soil productivity (Tejada and Benítez, 2014; Xavier et al., 2020). Straw mulching can significantly increase soil moisture content and water storage in peach fields (Xavier et al., 2020). Straw mulching combined with other management measures can significantly increase tomato (Rasool et al., 2020), melon (Stagnari and Pisante, 2010), squash (Abd El-Mageed et al., 2016), apple (Zhong et al., 2019), and Actinidia chinensis (Zhang et al., 2020), single fruit weight, soluble solids, soluble sugar, and vitamin c contents (Fang et al., 2021). However, there are few studies on the effects of straw mulching combined with other management measures on mango fruit yield and quality.
Deficit irrigation (DI) not only greatly reduced the amount of irrigation but also significantly improved fruit quality (Cheng et al., 2021b). The net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr), and stomatal conductance (Gs) of mango leaves were decreased by water DI at the development stage of mango fruit, but the effects on intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) and leaf temperature were not significant (Liu et al., 2021; Zuazo et al., 2021). Deficit irrigation (75% crop evapotranspiration (ETC) or 50% ETC) at the early blooming and setting stages significantly reduced the yield of mango, while 50% ETC at the maturity stage had little effect on the yield and water use efficiency (WUE) (Santos et al., 2016). Compared with full irrigation, mild water deficit could accelerate starch decomposition and increase fructose content in mango (Léchaudel et al., 2005). Appropriate DI can significantly improve mango quality (Spreer et al., 2007). Previous studies focused on the effects of irrigation-water-deficit level on the increase of mango yield and quality, but there are few studies on the coupling effects of DI and ground mulching on the yield, quality, and WUE of mango.
Black film mulching coupled with DI can effectively retain water, inhibit weed growth, and improve mango fruit yield and quality (Panigrahi et al., 2010). In a previous study, black low-density polyethylene mulching and 80% irrigation achieved the highest benefit cost ratio (Pradhan et al., 2010). However, in dry and hot areas with weak farmland ecological environments, poor soil, and prominent water and heat contradiction, the combination of ground mulching and DI can not only maintain the yield of mango but also improve fruit quality and WUE. It is assumed that ground mulching coupled with suitable DI can achieve the comprehensive improvement of mango yield, fresh fruit quality and WUE in a dry hot environment.
The entropy weight method (EWM) is an objective weighting method that can be applied to any process where the weight needs to be determined (Sun et al., 2019). In addition, it can also be combined with other methods. The EWM uses the rare data of indicators to obtain entropy weight. The dispersion degree of each indicator is based on the data. Each index is then aligned using entropy weights, and the weight of each index is calculated. Compared with subjectivity, the entropy weight method has higher objectivity and can reasonably explain the final result (Singh et al., 2019). In addition, compared with other objective weighting methods, an EWM with a higher weight has no complex linear relationship, is simple and easy to implement, and has a wide range of applications. In the general EWM, all indices are weighted at the same level (Zou et al., 2006).
The objective of this study was (1) to quantify the interactive effects of ground mulching and DI on photosynthetic characteristics, fruit yield and quality, and irrigation WUE and (2) to determine an optimal combined ground mulching and DI management strategy to achieve a relatively high mango fruit yield, quality, and irrigation WUE in a dry hot environment based on the entropy weight method (EWM).
Section snippets
Site description
The experiment was conducted in Yuanjiang County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, Southwest China, from January 2018 to June 2019 (N23°11′, E102°0′; 840 m above sea level). The region has a typical monsoon climate, with an average annual temperature of 23.8°C and an extreme maximum temperature of 42.3°C. The average annual rainfall is 788 mm (81% of the rainfall is from May to October), and the average annual evaporation is 2750.9 mm, which is 3.5 times the rainfall. The relative humidity is 67%,
Photosynthetic characteristics
Single-factor effects of mulching significantly influenced the photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), transpiration rate (Tr), leaf water-use efficiency (LWUE), and carboxylation efficiency (Ce) at the flowering stage, expanding stage, and maturity stage in both years (Table 2). Considering factors of both irritation level and year, on averages the SM treatment increased Pn, Tr, Gs, LWUE, and Ce by 12.5%–26.0%, 18.5%–31.6%, 37.8%–51.6%, 36.9%–83.7% and 25.8%–38.6% compared with
Effects of mulching and irrigation treatments on the photosynthetic characteristics of mango
The interaction of mulching and irrigation level significantly influenced Pn and Ce at expanding stage in both years. This suggests that stomatal conductance is the main factor limiting assimilation for the interaction between mulching and irrigation, regardless of any metabolic damage (Wang et al., 2015). In addition, drought stress reduces the demand for light energy, and if the amount of incident light exceeds the energy consumption, the photosynthetic organs will be damaged under the
Conclusion
Compared with NM (no mulching), SM (mulching) significantly increased Pn, Tr, Gs, LWUE, and Ce in mango leaves, significantly increased yield and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), increased the ratio of solid to acid and sugar to acid in fresh fruit, and decreased the content of titratable acid. Compared with FI, DI75 significantly increased the IWUE, carotenoid content, soluble fixative content, solid acid ratio and sugar acid ratio in fresh fruit but reduced the titratable acid content.
Credit Author Statement
Xiaogang Liu and Xiukang Wang conceived the idea; Xiaogang Liu, Yuyang Zhang, Xianxian Leng, and Qiliang Yang collected the literature review; Qiliang Yang, Haiqing Chen, and Xiukang Wang provided technical expertise to strengthen the basic idea. Xiukang Wang and Ningbo Cui helped in collection of data and its analysis; Xiaogang Liu and Xiukang Wang proofread and provided intellectual guidance. All authors have read the first draft, helped in revision and approved the article. All authors have
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51769010, 51809224, 51979133, 51922072) and Key Laboratories of Universities in Yunnan Province.
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