Abstract—In 2010, Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) was grown on polyethylene mulch films and bare soil for evaluate the effect of colored plastic mulches on weed and crop yield. The plastic mulches were blue, black, clear, red and silver on black. Black and silver/black plastic mulches suppressed weeds which were encouraged under clear, blue and red mulches. Results indicated that soil temperature increased under the various colored plastic mulches about 3 to 6 °C more than it in bare soil. Number of branches and leaves were better for the plants grown over plastic compared to bare soil. The highest early yield was obtained in clear plastic likely due to light entrance and raising soil temperature. Mulching increased marketable yield relative to bare soil as the plants grown on silver/black plastic mulch indicated a 65% increasing in marketable mulch compared to control treatment. The plastic mulches resulted in an 84-98% reduction in weed biomass.

Index Terms—Mulching, soil temperature, weed dry weight, early yield.

H. R. Rajablariani and F. Hassankhan are with Department of Agronomy, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Islamic Azad University, Varamin, Iran (e-mail: Larijani2004@gmail.com).
R. Rafezi is with Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center of Tehran Province, Plant Breeding Department, Karaj, Iran. (e-mail: Raminrafezi@ gmail.com)

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Cite: Hamid Reza Rajablariani, Farzad Hassankhan, and Ramin Rafezi, "Effect of Colored Plastic Mulches on Yield of Tomato and Weed Biomass," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 590-593, 2012.