Growth and Yield of Spring-Grown Potato under Recycled-Paper Mulching

To explore the feasibility of recycled paper mulching in spring-grown potato the changes of soil environments and the growth and yield of potato under non-mulched control and three mulching treatments of recycled paper (RPM), transparent polyethylene film (TPFM), and black polyethylene film (BPFM) were examined over two spring seasons in 1998 and 1999 at Suwon, Korea. The mulching materials were a recycled mulch paper with 110 g/$m^2$ and a thickness of 0.1mm, which was manufactured from old corrugated containers for this experiment and the commercial polyethylene films with a thickness of 0.01mm. RPM lowered the average soil temperature at 5-cm depth during the potato growing period by 03$^{\circ}C$ compared with the control, whereas TPFM and BPFM raised it by 2.$0^{\circ}C$, and 1.8$^{\circ}C$, respectively. On a sunny day during sprout emergence, RPM reduced the maximum soil temperature by about 5$^{\circ}C$, while TPFM and BPFM enhanced it by about 11$^{\circ}C$ and 6.$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. The temperature difference between the control and the mulching treatments decreased with the development of canopy. All the mulching treatments had an advantage in preserving the soil moisture over the control. RPM and BPFM resulted in the effective control of weed by obstructing light transmission onto soil surface, but TPFM had no control effect of weed. Sprout emergence started two to three days earlier in TPFM and BPFM, but one day later in RPM than in the control due to the altered soil temperature by the mulching treatments. However, the final percentage of emergence was notably lower in TPFM than that in the control because of too high soil temperature during daytime, but was not different among the control, RPM, and BPFM. During the early stage of potato growth, the shoot and root growth under RPM was lower compared with the control, but afterwards, RPM outpaced the control. In 1998 experiment, the tuber yield under RPM and BPFM were significantly higher than those of the control and TPFM. In 1999 experiment, there was no significant difference in tuber yield between RPM and the control.