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Improved soil moisture, nutrients, and economic benefits using plastic mulchs in balsa-based agroforestry systems

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Abstract

The manufacture of wind turbine blades generally uses balsa wood as the base materials, and it is crucial to explore new regions for cultivating balsa trees to achieve carbon neutrality in the future. **shuangbanna may be China’s only area with a tropical climate suitable for the large-scale planting of balsa trees. The present study investigated the key soil elements influencing the growth of balsa plantations and the effects of different cultivation practices on soil environments and economic benefits in **shuangbanna, China. We found that the height of balsa stems after growing 4 years reached 5.8 m; the increment of diameter at breast height (DBH) reached 27.7 cm and volume of balsa stems reached 196.0 m3 ha−1 in **shuangbanna of China. It is of the utmost importance to improve the contents of soil exchangeable magnesium (Mg) and available phosphorus (P) for the growth of balsa trees, and exchangeable aluminium (Al) inhibited the growth of balsa trees. The practice of plastic film mulching not only improved soil moisture in the 40‒100-cm soil layer in the dry season and in the 0–60-cm soil layer in the rainy season but also enhanced soil nitrate nitrogen when compared with no plastic-mulching practice in balsa plantations. The comprehensive economic benefits of balsa/coriander/ginger/taro plantations were significantly improved by implementing plastic film mulching, as compared to balsa plantations. We conclude that balsa tree can be cultivated in **shuangbanna, China, and its successful cultivation provides opportunities for China’s wind power development.

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Data availability

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Institutional Center for Shared Technologies and Facilities of **shuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS for their support with field measurements and soil analyses.

Funding

This study was funded by the Key Research and Development Program of Yunnan Province (202003AD150011) and Biological Resources Programme, Chinese Academy of Sciences (KFJ-BRP-007-020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Plant Resources and Sustainable Use, **shuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China

    Chang-An Liu, Shuai Hua & Zhu-Biao Duan

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Ming-Yue Liang & Jia-Lin Zhang

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  1. Chang-An Liu
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  2. Ming-Yue Liang
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  3. Jia-Lin Zhang
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  4. Shuai Hua
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  5. Zhu-Biao Duan
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Contributions

Chang-An Liu: conceptualization; Chang-An Liu: methodology; Chang-An Liu: formal analysis; Ming-Yue Liang, Shuai Hua, and Zhu-Biao Duan: investigation; Chang-An Liu and Ming-Yue Liang: writing—original draft preparation.

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Correspondence to Chang-An Liu.

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Liu, CA., Liang, MY., Zhang, JL. et al. Improved soil moisture, nutrients, and economic benefits using plastic mulchs in balsa-based agroforestry systems. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 15733–15745 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32264-7

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