Residue Mulching Alleviates Coastal Salt Accumulation and Stimulates Post-Fallow Crop Biomass under a Fallow–Maize (Zea mays L.) Rotation System

Abstract

Fallow, a field where living plants are unplanted for a period, is continually implemented to accumulate moisture for the upcoming cultivation. However, there are less studies on the fallow strategies in one-crop-per-annum cropping system for coastal saline soils. In this study, 2-year “fallow + maize (Zea mays L.)” rotation experiments were carried out from 2016 to 2018 to assess how the mulching determine post-fallow soil moisture, salt distribution, and crop performance. Three treatments were designed, i.e., traditional cultivation without residue retention (TT), traditional tillage with total straw mulching during fallow (TT + SM), and no-till cultivation combined fallow mulching (NT + SM). After 2 years of fallow mulching with maize rotation, TT + SM reduced soil electrical conductivity (EC) and total salt of the upper 30 cm soil profile by 22.9% and 25.4% (p = 0.05), respectively, compared with the TT treatment. The results also indicate an improvement in volumetric soil water content (SWC) by 10.3%, soil organic matter (SOM) by 17.8%, and ultimately grain yield by 11.3% (p = 0.05) under the TT + SM treatment. Fallow mulching is recommended as an acceptable way to protect soil health in coastal fresh-starved or rain-fed farming practice.