To determine the suitability of different mulching materials for improving the yield of potato, a field experiment was conducted from January 2020 to May 2020 at Kavrepalanchowk, Nepal. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five treatments including: T1: silver plastic mulch, T2: black plastic mulch, T3: perforated black plastic mulch, T4: straw mulch, and T5: Control, with four replications. The experiment revealed that the highest tuber yield was obtained in silver plastic mulch (42. 29tonne/ha) followed by perforated black plastic (41. 04tonne/ha), black plastic (39. 17tonne/ha), and straw (28. 54tonne/ha) mulches, and the lowest yield was obtained in the Control treatment (21. 46tonne/ha). Soil temperature was found to be influenced by the use of mulching materials with the highest soil temperature recorded under black plastic mulch, whereas the lowest soil temperature was detected under the Control treatment. The economic analysis of using different mulching materials showed the highest benefit/cost ratio by silver plastic mulch (3. 63); followed by perforated black plastic mulch (3. 53) and the lowest benefit/cost ratio was calculated for the Control (2. 60). The present study, therefore, depicted silver plastic mulch followed by perforated black plastic mulch as the most effective mulching material for improving production of potato.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the sole and interactive effect of drip irrigation regimes (50, 70, and 100% of Crop Water Requirement, CWR) and different mulches [No Mulch (NM); Mood Chip Mulch (WCM); Composted Wood Chip Mulch (CWCM), and Plastic Mulch (PM)] on some morphological and physiological traits of tomato, Water Use Efficiency (WUE), and soil properties (soil moisture and temperature) under field conditions. Results showed that yield and its components were significantly influenced by different levels of irrigation. Different mulches increased fruit yield by 12– 46% over nonmulch conditions. The highest marketable yield (5. 78 kg plant-1) and total yield (5. 77 kg plant-1) were obtained by the plants under the highest water level (100% CWR) along with PM and WCM, respectively. The lowest percentage of cracked fruits and blossomend rot fruits was observed in the plants under 100 and 70% CWR along with WCM. In addition, the highest WUE (18. 27 kg m-3) was obtained with 70% water application under WCM. In general, the study revealed that drip irrigation with wood chip mulch had a significant role in increasing the yield of tomato and saving irrigation water under field conditions.

Using mulch is one of the ways which has been used so far to reduce the amount of evaporation. Accordingly, in this research, mulch effectiveness has been investigated in increasing the direct recharge of groundwater due to increased rainwater percolation. For this purpose, eight rainstorms with different durations and depths were tested. The depth of percolation of these rainfalls in the soil of 4 lysimeters with similar condition and different mulches, including gravel mulch, sand mulch, mixed 50% sand and 50% gravel mulch were tested as well as in non-covered soils. During the two months of the experiment, 192 data were collected for each soil moisture and rainfall percolation depth. The results showed that the mean rainwater percolation depth by gravel mulch, sand mulch and mixed sand and gravel mulch was respectively 19. 52, 2. 45 and 16. 60 percent increased comparing to the soil without mulch. It was found that mulching can increases rainwater penetration as one of the main sources of groundwater recharge, by reducing the amount of rain water evaporation and therefore the results of this research can be used to aquifer restoration.

Plastic mulch increased minimum temperature of soil, accelerated plant height, early growth, early yield, and bring satisfactory weed control without any application of herbicides. This experiment was laid out on three-factorial Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications during 2008-2010 at the National Rice Research Institute, Rasht, Iran using three kinds of mulches (Transparent and black PE and rice straw). Results showed that garlic total yield, bulb ash percent, TSS, vitamin C and flavonoids content were affected by mulching. Although mulching could improved some quality indices in garlic but no effect on forcing was observed. Due to two years experiment and interaction between year and mulches the usage of rice straw in rainy and cool season and plastic mulch in low rain fall and warm season recommended increasing garlic quality as second crop in rice field.