Impact of different mulches on soil temperature and plant growth in guava nursery under subtropical conditions

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of organic and inorganic mulches on soil temperature, moisture, weed control efficacy and growth of guava nursery plants. Black polypropylene woven mats were found to be most effective in suppressing the weed growth even after 240 days of application. Weed biomass of 1.4 g/m2 was recorded in black polypropylene woven mats after 300 days of application as compared to 42.5 g/m2 in control and 20.5g/m2 in paddy straw mulch. The biodegradable mulch started degrading after 150 days of application and recorded a weed biomass of 4.8g/m2 at this stage. Black polypropylene woven mats resulted in 2–3 per cent higher soil temperature during winters and maintained 1.5–2 percent higher moisture content during the month of May-June. The maximum colony count of fungi (34.04 × 103 cfu/g of soil), bacteria (42.33 × 106 cfu/g of soil) and actinomycetes (34.52 × 105 cfu/g of soil) was recorded under paddy straw mulch plots. The highest percentage of buddable plants (84.73%) with maximum plant height (44.26 cm) was also recorded in black polypropylene woven mats. Thus, it was concluded that the black polypropylene woven mats can be applied in the guava nursery plots to control the weed growth effectively as well as to moderate soil temperature and enhance soil microbial population.