the effect of plastic mulch on water consumption and morphophysiological traits of oat and barley

Plastic mulches play an important role in reducing water consumption. an experiment was conducted at research greenhouse, razi university, iran. the experiment was a completely randomized design with three treatments and three replications. plants used for testing were barley and oat. treatments included control (without plastic mulch), transparent plastic mulch with half coverage and plastic mulch with almost full coverage. this study aimed at determining the percentage of the plastic cover that had the highest dry matter production and water use efficiency. results showed that treatment of plastic mulch with almost full coverage had the lowest water consumption and the treatment without the plastic mulch had the highest water consumption. the treatment of barley with full coverage had a water-saving of almost 40 percent compared to control. water use efficiencies for both plants treated with almost full coverage were highest among treatments. there was no significant difference between plastic mulch treatments in terms of leaf relative water content, fresh and dry weight of stem, fresh and dry weight of leaves, plant height, and leaf area in oat and barley. in this way, by applying a coating on the soil surface and preventing the loss of soil moisture, water consumption can be significantly reduced, while the dry matter produced is not reduced.