Potential agricultural and environmental benefits of mulches—a review

Abstract Rapid industrialization and urbanization have resulted in elevated global temperature over the years consequently disturbing the balance of agro-ecological systems worldwide. Therefore, new eco-friendly agricultural practices for sustainable food production are needed. Mulching could potentially serve the purpose by reducing soil evaporation, conserving moisture, controlling soil temperature, reducing weed growth, and improving microbial activities. Additionally, mulches could provide economical, aesthetic, and environmental advantages to agriculture and landscape. Moreover, in the restoration sites, mulches are widely used for the plantation of trees which need no significant care. Mulches combat with different stress conditions in agricultural lands as well as in landscapes. This review paper focuses on multiple significant impacts of mulches for the production and establishment of different crops in nature. Mulches conserve the soil moisture, enhance the nutrients status of soil, control the erosion losses, suppress the weeds in crop plants, and remove the residual effects of pesticides, fertilizers, and heavy metals. Mulches improve the aesthetic value of landscapes and economic value of crops. This paper also describes some problems associated with various mulch materials. There are contradictions about mulching materials as some researchers favor mulches and others have denoted some concerns. The selection of mulching material is important with respect to crop type, management practices, and climatic conditions. The appropriate mulching technique could provide the aforementioned benefits to the agro-ecological systems. Therefore, the impacts of low-cost, eco-friendly, and biodegradable mulching materials on soil microbes, nutrient balance, plant growth, and soil erosion should be explored in the future.