Is Cattle Manure Application with Plastic-Film Mulch a Good Choice for Potato Production?

Using manure in potato production has been considered for its potential environmentally friendly effects. Two years of field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of different kinds of fertilizer and soil surface treatments on potato growth. Experimental treatments consisted of three soil surface treatments, including black plastic-film mulch (BM), transparent film-plastic mulch (TM), and non-mulched (NM) treatment, and two fertilizer treatments, including inorganic fertilizer (IF), and cattle manure (CM). The results showed that low environmental temperatures at early growth stages harmed potato growth. The more suitable hydrothermal environment under BM treatment induced 9–67%, 1–223%, 15–30%, −1–11% and 18–34% greater plant height, leaf area index (LAI), tuber yield, crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and water use efficiency (WUE), respectively, than NM and TM treatments. Plastic-film mulch increased soil carbon dioxide concentration, especially for the TM treatment. With low soil nitrogen content during the whole growth stage, and high soil carbon dioxide concentration during sprout and seedling stages, the CM treatment reduced plant height, LAI, tuber yields, ETc and WUE by 27–155%, 2–96%, 6–23%, 2–6% and 8–25%, respectively. These results suggest that inorganic fertilizer with black plastic-film mulch is still the best choice for potato production, and further studies are needed to identify the best level of cattle manure used under black plastic-film mulch.