Experimental investigation on the effect of soil solarization incorporating black, silver, and transparent polythene, and straw as mulch, on the microbial population and weed growth

Abstract

Soil solarization is a non-chemical method for eliminating crop-threatening weeds and selectively decontaminating soil. The effect of various soil solarization with black, silver, transparent polythene sheet and straw as mulching on the microbial count and weed growth was studied experimentally. The farm investigation comprised six soil solarization treatments: mulching with black, silver, and transparent polyethylene sheets of 25 μm (μ), organic mulch (soybean Straw), weed-free, and control. All six treatments were repeated in four sets in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) plot size of 5.4 m × 4.8 m. Black, silver, and transparent polythene mulches significantly reduced fungal count compared to non-solarized soil. Straw mulch significantly increased soil fungal count. Solarized treatments had much lower bacterial populations than straw mulch, weed-free, and control treatments. Black, silver, straw mulch, and transparent polythene had 18746, 22763, 23999, and 3048 weeds ha^-1 at 45 days after transplanting (DAT). The analysis of dry weed weight demonstrated a significantly low weed dry weight of 0.44 t/ha for black polythene (T₁) based soil solarization, representing an 86.66% reduction in dry weed biomass. Soil solarization had the lowest weed index (WI), with black polythene mulch (T₁) reducing weed competition. Among various soil solarization treatments, black polythene (T₁) showed the highest weed control efficiency of 85.84%, indicating its suitability for use in weed control. The results suggest that soil solarization is effective for soil disinfestation and weed control with polyethene mulch and summer heat in central India.

Keywords: Mulching; Soil microbial count; Soil solarization; Weed control efficiency; Weed index.