Effects of a ridge-furrow micro-field rainwater-harvesting system on potato yield in a semi-arid region

• We examine the effects of mulching and non-mulching micro-field ridge-furrow rainwater-harvesting technology on potato.
• Mulching increase topsoil temperature and lead better growth at the early plant growth stage.
• Increasing the width of ridge will increase the soil moisture in the furrow, thereby promoting more robust individual plants.
• Non-mulching 1.0 m ridge width and 1.0 m furrow width treatment shows greater effects on total yield and water use efficiency.

To evaluate the effects of mulching and ridge and furrow widths on soil temperature and moisture, crop growth and yield, and water use efficiency (WUE), a series of field experiments were conducted in a potato field in Inner Mongolia, China. In 2009 and 2010, four treatments (flat plot without mulching (CK), plastic film mulched ridge (MR), MRF (plastic film mulched ridge and furrow (MRF), and non-mulched (NM0.5)) were conducted on the same widths of ridge (0.5 m) and furrow (0.5 m), and two additional non-mulching treatments (1.0 m ridge and furrow width (NM1.0), and 1.5 m ridge and furrow width (NM1.5)) were tested in 2011 and 2012. The results indicated that mulching practices increased topsoil temperature compared to non-mulching treatments at the emergence stage. Compared to CK, the soil water storage in furrows was increased by 10.2 mm on average in 2009 for the MRF treatment, 8.1 mm and 15.1 mm in 2011, and 14.0 mm and 21.2 mm in 2012 for NM1.0 and NM1.5, respectively, and plant leaf area index and dry biomass values during the potato growth stage were also increased. The MR treatment produced greater effects on crop productivity than NM0.5, and increased total yield and marketable yield by 21.4% and 36.3% compared to CK in 2010. Of three non-mulching treatments (i.e., NM0.5, NM1.0, and NM1.5), the NM1.0 treatment produced the highest total yield and marketable yield; compared to CK, the WUE, total yield, and marketable yield were increased by 12.7%, 8.2%, and 52.0% in 2011, and 23.4%, 16.4%, and 81.0% in 2012, respectively.