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Effects of Plastic Mulch on the Growth, Maturity, and Yields of Corn¹

ABSTRACT

Slit translucent plastic covers on field plots of two corn hybrids (Zea mays L.) on Honeoye silt loam in New York increased soil temperatures, rate of early growth, final grain yields, and percentage of dry matter in ears at harvest. The mean yields of shelled corn over a 3-year period for corn hybrids, Cornell M-10 and Robson 350, were increased by 1,456 and 896 lb/acre (26 and 16 bu/acre), respectively.

When the plastic cover was not slit, but was sealed to the stalks to suppress evaporation and to prevent the entrance of rain, yields were at or above the 5,600-lb/acre level (100-bu/acre), and were consistently higher than yields for unmulched plots. Apparent use of soil moisture for crop production under the sealed treatment was about one–third of the total evapotranspiration from crop and soil under the bare or slit treatments.

¹ Contribution from the Northeast Branch of the Soil and Water Conservation Research Division, ARS, USDA, and the New York State Agr. Exp. Sta. Department of Agronomy Series Paper no. 649.

² Research Soil Scientist, USDA and Associate Professor of Soil Technology, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.; and Research Soil Scientist, USDA, Marcellus, N. Y., respectively.

Received for publication November 20, 1964. Accepted for publication February 19, 1965.