Thick polyethylene films lessen pollution footprint while highlighting environmental merit and maize yielding in drylands

Xiao-Bin Xiong; Peng-Yang Wang; Ze-Ying Zhao; Zi-Yu Han; Yuan Song; Ying Zhu; Yi-Bo Wang; Jin-Lin Zhang; Xu-Sheng Guo; Xiao-Feng Zhang; Xiao-Yu Lu; You-Cai Xiong

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126356

Thick polyethylene films lessen pollution footprint while highlighting environmental merit and maize yielding in drylands

J Environ Manage. 2025 Jun 26:390:126356. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126356. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xiao-Bin Xiong¹, Peng-Yang Wang¹, Ze-Ying Zhao¹, Zi-Yu Han², Yuan Song³, Ying Zhu⁴, Yi-Bo Wang⁵, Jin-Lin Zhang⁶, Xu-Sheng Guo³, Xiao-Feng Zhang⁷, Xiao-Yu Lu¹, You-Cai Xiong⁸

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
² Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing, 100012, China.
³ School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources Exploitation and Application of Gansu Province, Institute of Biology, Gansu Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Utilization of Agricultural Solid Wastes, Tianshui Normal University, Tianshui, Gansu Province, 741000, China.
⁶ College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
⁷ School of Management Science and Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan, 250022, China.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. Electronic address: xiongyc@lzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 40577868
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126356

Abstract

It is crucial to lessen secondary pollution of plastic film mulching (PFM) in drylands, where high and stable yielding of crops are highly dependent on PFM. To explore the solution, field investigations were conducted in dryland maize using the plastic films with four different thicknesses (0.015, 0.010, 0.008 and 0.006- mm) in an arid oasis site of northwest China (no-mulching as control group - CK). The results indicated that the release rate of phthalate acid esters (PAEs) tended to decline with increasing film thickness, up to the lowest in 0.015-mm films (19.7 %), significantly lower than others (p < 0.05). It was significant negatively associated with surface integrity of plastic films after aging, since the damaged area was only 3.5 % in 0.015-mm film, but up to 17.3 % in 0.010-mm, 19.2 % in 0.008-mm and 32.2 % in 0.006-mm thick films, respectively. Thicker PFM was observed to have less plastic fragment residues in soils, due to the higher recycling rate. Moreover, it optimized soil hydrothermal status across two growing seasons, and 0.015-mm plastic film significantly improved the accumulations of soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen by 1.4-15.5 % and 3.5-22.6 % relative to CK, also superior to others. The concentrations of easily oxidizable organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon in soils were improved by 8.9-9.8 % and 3.4-6.2 % in 0.015-mm plastic film respectively, relative to CK, significantly greater than others. Under conventional irrigation regime, the grain yield was the highest in 0.015-mm film group, up to 18,091 kg/ha, significantly greater than that of other groups. Thus, thick plastic film acted as a promising solution to lessen secondary pollution footprint while boosting environmental and productive merits in arid areas.

Keywords: Arid irrigation site; Environmental merit; Maize productivity; Phthalate acid esters (PAEs); Residual films; Thick polyethylene film mulching (TPFM).