Practical strategies of film-side sowing technology to achieve a win-win situation of spring corn rooting resistance and corn yield in the Loess Plateau region

Practical strategies of film-side sowing technology to achieve a win-win situation of spring corn rooting resistance and corn yield in the Loess Plateau region | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Practical strategies of film-side sowing technology to achieve a win-win situation of spring corn rooting resistance and corn yield in the Loess Plateau region Zhongdong zhang, Tingting Zhang, kuo chen, haoran han, wude yang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6167583/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 23 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In the spring maize cropping system, film-side sowing technology can improve crop yield stability and film recycling in the dry farming zone by optimizing the film cover pattern, resulting in a synergistic effect of moisture conservation, yield enhancement, and on-farm film residue management. However, the effect on the resistance to lodging is not clear. Consequently, a two-year agricultural trial was designed to evaluate how distinct ground-cover cultivation strategies influence root architecture, biomechanical performance, lodging incidence, grain production efficiency, and economic profitability. Three treatment factors were used in the experiment: planting without mulching (CK), planting under plastic-film mulch (UPM), and film-side sowing (FSS). The results showed that breaking strength and up rooting strength of FSS and UPM were increased by 46%, 37.2% and 53.1%, 47.2%, respectively, compared with CK. At the physiological maturity (R6), the root length density (RLD), root surface area density (RSAD), and root dry weight density (RDWD) rooting indicator of FSS were significantly higher than in UPM and CK within the shallow subsurface zone (0–20 cm), with increases of 76.5%, 66%, 65% and 35.5%, 33.6%, 39.6%, respectively. Likewise, the root indicators of FSS were 50.9%, 92.4%, and 68.5% larger than those of CK in the intermediate pedogenic zone (20–40 cm depth), respectively. However, apart from FSS, the among treatments within the deeper pedogenic horizon (40–60 cm interval) were not significantly different. The rate of lodging was adversely correlated with the mechanical qualities (breaking strength, uprooting strength, and rind penetration strength), while root properties correlated well with these factors. In addition, the differences in root system indicators affected crop yield, which increased by 14.2% and 5% in FSS and UPM, respectively, compared with CK. Collectively, the highest seed yield and benefit and the lowest rate of lodging were observed under FSS conditions. The findings of this experiment will help to improve the cultivation measures to increase the resistance of spring maize to lodging. Biological sciences/Plant sciences/Plant biotechnology Biological sciences/Plant sciences/Plant physiology spring maize lodging root characteristics yield film-side sowing plastic-film mulch Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Tables 1 to 9 are available in the Supplementary Files section. Supplementary Files table.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 23 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 09 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 30 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Jun, 2025 Reviews received at journal 17 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 May, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 23 Apr, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 23 Apr, 2025 Editor invited by journal 20 Mar, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Mar, 2025 First submitted to journal 18 Mar, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6167583","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":446913714,"identity":"8854689d-396d-434b-bed0-1f174cba7165","order_by":0,"name":"Zhongdong zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhongdong","middleName":"","lastName":"zhang","suffix":""},{"id":446913715,"identity":"b44dd63b-c585-4f91-88cc-1a6065f10a6c","order_by":1,"name":"Tingting 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