The experiment took place during the 2023–2024 growing season at the Horticulture Research Centre in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, a region renowned for producing some of India’s finest mangoes. Researchers from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, working with collaborators in India, China, and Saudi Arabia, set up a randomized block design with three replications to test ten distinct fertilization strategies. These ranged from the full 100 percent recommended fertilizer dose down to just 25 percent, each either applied alone or combined with soil-applied micronutrients, one foliar spray, or two foliar sprays of micronutrients. The goal was to determine whether the standard full-dose prescription is actually the best recipe for both the soil and the fruit.

What makes this study technically significant is the breadth of measurements taken. The team did not simply weigh fruit and call it a day. They assessed soil chemical properties, enumerated microbial populations, measured the activities of key soil enzymes, quantified the density of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi spores, and tracked nutrient levels in both leaves and fruit. On the quality side, they analyzed total soluble solids, individual sugars, ascorbic acid, carotenoids, flavonoids, total phenols, antioxidant activity, and shelf life. This comprehensive dataset allowed them to move beyond simple treatment comparisons and probe the actual mechanisms connecting soil health to fruit chemistry.

The standout treatments were T8, which combined 75 percent of the recommended fertilizer dose with two foliar micronutrient sprays, and T9, which paired just 50 percent of the recommended dose with the same double spray regimen. Both consistently outperformed the conventional 100 percent fertilizer treatment across nearly every metric the researchers tracked. In other words, cutting synthetic fertilizer inputs by a quarter to a half did not starve the trees—it appeared to unlock a more productive collaboration between the orchard’s soil microbes and the plants themselves.

The soil biology data tell a compelling story. Under the reduced-dose-plus-spray treatments, researchers recorded higher spore densities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, the symbiotic fungi that colonize plant roots and extend their nutrient-gathering reach deep into the soil matrix. Bacterial populations also increased, as did the activities of soil enzymes, which serve as sensitive indicators of microbial community function and nutrient cycling capacity. Reduced fertilizer application likely eased the osmotic and chemical stress that high synthetic inputs can impose on soil organisms, allowing these biological partners to flourish and, in turn, supply the trees with a steadier, more diversified nutrient stream.

Those underground gains translated directly into fruit quality. The best treatments pushed total soluble solids to 20.78 degrees Brix, a measure of sugar concentration that mango buyers and processors watch closely. Alongside the elevated sweetness, the fruit accumulated higher levels of sugars, ascorbic acid, carotenoids, flavonoids, and total phenols, and showed greater antioxidant activity and longer shelf life. For consumers, that means a sweeter, more aromatic mango with a richer payload of health-promoting compounds. For growers and supply chains, extended shelf life carries real economic weight, reducing post-harvest losses in a crop that is notoriously perishable.

The study’s multivariate analyses added statistical muscle to these observations. Principal component analysis and redundancy analysis revealed clear positive associations among soil biological properties, nutrient availability, plant nutrient status, and fruit quality, while correlation and regression analyses traced the same pattern across individual variables. This coherence matters because it suggests the improvements were not isolated flukes but part of a linked chain: healthier soil biology supports better nutrient availability, which lifts the nutritional status of the leaves, which ultimately feeds the biochemical machinery that builds flavor, color, and antioxidants in the developing fruit.

Not every result was uniform, and the authors are careful to note the nuances. Soil organic carbon and several micronutrient responses varied across treatments, with some of the highest values appearing under a different treatment, T5, rather than the two star performers. Soil pH shifts, while statistically significant, were relatively small in magnitude. These details underscore a broader point about orchard management: soil systems are complex, and responses to nutrient inputs are rarely linear. What the data do support is a clear conclusion that within the conditions of this study, applying 50 to 75 percent of the recommended fertilizer dose with two foliar micronutrient sprays improved soil biological functioning, nutrient availability, plant nutrient status, and fruit quality compared with the conventional full dose.

The practical implications extend well beyond a single mango orchard in Uttarakhand. Fertilizer represents one of the largest recurring costs in fruit production, and its overuse carries well-documented environmental consequences, including nutrient runoff, groundwater contamination, and greenhouse gas emissions. If half the recommended dose can deliver superior fruit while rebuilding the soil’s biological engine, the economics and the ecology of mango farming both shift favorably. The findings also align with a growing global interest in integrated nutrient management, an approach that blends reduced synthetic inputs with organic amendments and biological interventions to sustain productivity over the long term.

There are, of course, caveats to keep in mind. The study covers one season, one variety, and one planting system, and the authors note that their findings apply specifically to medium-density tropical mango production under the conditions they tested. The work is part of a broader research framework, with companion preprints examining nutrient dynamics, yield responses, and economic modeling of the same experimental field. Still, the central message is striking enough to resonate far beyond the research community: sometimes the path to better fruit runs not through more inputs, but through letting the soil’s own living machinery do more of the work. For the world’s mango producers, that is a recipe worth testing in their own orchards.

Subject of Research: Integrated nutrient management effects on soil biology and fruit quality in mango orchards

Article Title: Integrated nutrient management, soil biological functions, and their linkages with fruit quality in mango (Mangifera indica L.) under medium-density planting

Article References: Kuldeep, Singh, A. K., Singh, O., Shivran, J. S., Mani, G., Divya, Gaurav, K., Gangola, S., Kumar, P., Manzoor, M. A., Khan, F., & Perveen, K. (2026). Integrated nutrient management, soil biological functions, and their linkages with fruit quality in mango (Mangifera indica L.) under medium-density planting. BMC Plant Biology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-026-09991-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12870-026-09991-9

Keywords: integrated nutrient management, mango, Dashehari, soil microbiology, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, soil enzymes, foliar micronutrients, fruit quality, fertilizer reduction, antioxidants, sustainable agriculture, orchard management

The research team worked at the Gao’an Experimental Station in Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, a subtropical monsoon region where early rice is transplanted in late April and harvested in mid-July, and late rice follows from late July to mid-October. During the roughly 150-day fallow period between rice seasons, the researchers grew Chinese milk vetch, a leguminous green manure that fixes atmospheric nitrogen through its symbiotic bacteria. In the spring, this biomass was plowed into the top 20 centimeters of soil along with rice straw and synthetic fertilizer, one week before rice seedlings went into the ground. The experiment built on a long-term field trial running since 2015, giving the soils time to respond to the different management regimes.

The design was elegantly simple in concept. Nine treatments compared winter fallow without fertilizer as a control, conventional full fertilization, and combinations of rice straw, green manure, or both, each crossed with either full or 60 percent reduced synthetic nitrogen rates. Green manure was incorporated at 22,500 kilograms per hectare of fresh weight, while rice straw was applied at 6,000 kilograms per hectare of dry weight. The logic behind pairing the two residues lies in their contrasting chemistry: milk vetch is nitrogen-rich with a low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and decomposes rapidly, sometimes releasing nutrients faster than rice plants can absorb them, whereas rice straw is carbon-rich, decomposes slowly, and can actually tie up soil nitrogen through microbial immobilization. Blended together, the residues moderate each other’s extremes and release nutrients more steadily across the growing season.

The yield results were striking. Early rice yields ranged from 2,477 kilograms per hectare in the unfertilized control to 6,827 kilograms per hectare under co-incorporation with full fertilization. Compared with conventional fertilization alone, the combined organic practice boosted early rice yields by 18.2 percent at full fertilizer rates and 12.0 percent at reduced rates. Late rice also benefited, with gains of 2.8 and 2.2 percent respectively, and the reduced-fertilizer co-incorporation treatment outperformed the reduced-fertilizer-only control by 13.6 percent. Across the full double-cropping year, the best treatment produced 14,070 kilograms of grain per hectare, the highest of all nine regimes tested.

Nitrogen uptake told a parallel story. Annual aboveground nitrogen uptake in the rice plants reached up to 248 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare in green manure treatments, an increase of up to 31.8 percent over conventional fertilization. Apparent nitrogen use efficiency climbed as high as 57.7 percent in the co-incorporation treatment with reduced fertilizer, compared with just 32.0 percent when rice straw was added to full conventional fertilization. Notably, straw alone actually depressed nitrogen use efficiency, confirming that the high carbon-to-nitrogen residue can leave rice plants short of available nitrogen when microbes outcompete roots for it. The synergy only emerges when the fast-releasing legume and the slow-releasing straw work together.

The environmental findings may matter even more than the agronomic ones. Using sponge-trapping devices and potassium chloride extraction to measure ammonia volatilization, and static chambers coupled with gas chromatography to track nitrous oxide, the team quantified gaseous nitrogen losses across every treatment. Ammonia dominated overwhelmingly, accounting for 97.7 percent of total gaseous losses on average, with annual emissions reaching 241 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare under conventional fertilization. Peaks followed fertilizer applications closely, with late-season fluxes running 2.4 to 4.6 times higher than in early rice, reflecting hotter conditions that accelerate the conversion of ammonium to ammonia gas.

Co-incorporation with reduced fertilizer cut these losses dramatically. Ammonia emissions fell by 10.3 percent at full fertilizer rates and by 30.1 percent when synthetic nitrogen was reduced by 40 percent, relative to conventional practice. Nitrous oxide emissions, though far smaller in magnitude, dropped by 13.6 and 45.5 percent under the same comparisons. Overall gaseous nitrogen losses declined by roughly 12.4 percent with organic amendments at full fertilizer rates and by about 31.7 percent when combined with the 40 percent fertilizer reduction. Expressed per kilogram of grain produced, the yield-scaled emissions intensity was lowest in the co-incorporation treatments, meaning farmers would be producing more rice while releasing less reactive nitrogen per unit of food.

To understand the mechanisms, the researchers applied partial least squares path modeling, a statistical technique that traces how multiple soil and management variables jointly influence emissions. The model explained 84 percent of the variability in ammonia emissions and 89 percent in nitrous oxide emissions. Nitrogen input emerged as the dominant driver of both gases, with standardized path coefficients of 0.94 for ammonia and 0.79 for nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide was additionally shaped by soil chemistry: available potassium and Olsen-phosphorus exerted negative effects, while soil organic carbon and pH had positive ones. The team also found that organic amendments raised soil organic carbon by up to 22.4 percent and boosted Olsen-phosphorus by nearly 39 percent, improvements that enhance the soil’s buffering capacity and slow the pH shifts that drive ammonia volatilization after urea hydrolysis.

The nitrous oxide story carries a subtle twist. Although incorporating organic residues initially stimulated microbial activity and briefly raised nitrous oxide fluxes, the annual totals remained low—just 1.0 to 1.8 percent of applied nitrogen—because flooded paddy conditions and the oxygen consumed by decomposing residues create a strictly anaerobic environment. Under those conditions, denitrifying microbes push the process to completion, reducing nitrous oxide all the way to harmless dinitrogen gas. In other words, the same waterlogged chemistry that makes paddies productive also gives them a partial safety valve against the most potent greenhouse gas in the nitrogen cycle.

The implications extend well beyond Jiangxi. Intensive fertilizer use has driven ammonia emissions up 78 percent and nitrous oxide emissions up 46 percent in heavily fertilized systems, contributing to smog formation, acid rain, biodiversity loss, and climate change, while less than half of applied fertilizer nitrogen typically ends up in the crop. This study demonstrates that a practice already widely adopted across southern China—plowing in milk vetch grown during the winter fallow alongside returned rice straw—can replace a meaningful share of synthetic nitrogen without sacrificing yield, and can even improve it. For a staple crop that must expand production by roughly 10 million tons annually to meet future demand, the message is compelling: the path to sustainable rice intensification may already be growing in the paddies during the off-season, waiting to be turned under come spring.

Subject of Research: Effects of co-incorporating green manure and rice straw with reduced synthetic fertilizer on rice yield and gaseous nitrogen losses in double-cropped paddy fields

Article Title: Co-incorporation of green manure and rice straw with reduced synthetic fertilizer benefits rice yield while decreasing gaseous N losses in double-cropped rice fields

Article References: Wan, L., Ma, T., Liu, H., Chen, X., Qin, W., Li, G., Xie, J., Ge, T., & Liu, J. (2026). Co-incorporation of green manure and rice straw with reduced synthetic fertilizer benefits rice yield while decreasing gaseous N losses in double-cropped rice fields. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 31, Article 103345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2026.103345

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1016/j.jafr.2026.103345

Keywords: rice, green manure, milk vetch, rice straw, nitrogen use efficiency, ammonia volatilization, nitrous oxide, paddy soil, double-cropped rice, fertilizer reduction, soil organic carbon, sustainable agriculture

The experiment was carefully controlled. The team grew cotton in pots under four different nitrogen regimes: a conventional rate of 0.240 grams of nitrogen per kilogram of soil, a 15 percent reduction to 0.204 grams, a 30 percent reduction to 0.168 grams, and a treatment with no nitrogen at all. At the early flowering stage, a moment the researchers identified as a critical turning point in the plant’s life cycle, they collected the chemicals secreted by the roots, known as root exudates. They then measured a battery of indicators: soil nitrogen transformation rates, enzyme activities, microbial biomass, root architecture, total plant nitrogen accumulation, and ultimately the seed cotton yield that farmers actually harvest.

The headline numbers are striking. Compared with plants receiving the full conventional nitrogen dose, those receiving the moderate 15 percent cut produced 14.7 percent more seed cotton per plant. Nitrogen partial factor productivity, a measure of how much yield each unit of applied fertilizer delivers, jumped by 34.9 percent. Nitrogen agronomic efficiency, which captures the yield gain attributable to fertilizer relative to unfertilized controls, rose by 38.7 percent. In other words, less nitrogen did not merely maintain the crop; it actively improved both the harvest and the return on every kilogram of fertilizer invested. The deeper reductions and the zero-nitrogen treatment did not replicate these gains, pointing to a sweet spot rather than a simple rule that less is always more.

What happened below ground helps explain the paradox. Under the moderate reduction, cotton roots developed a compact, dense architecture with higher root tissue density. Rather than chasing nitrogen through long, thin exploratory roots, the plants appeared to reallocate carbon from rapid elongation toward structural reinforcement, building a sturdier, more concentrated root system. This shift reflects a classic economic trade-off in plant biology: when a resource is scarcer, plants invest their finite carbon budget more carefully, favoring traits that improve acquisition efficiency over sheer spatial reach. The result is a root system positioned to exploit the soil volume it occupies more thoroughly.

At the same time, the chemical conversation between root and soil changed. Root exudates, the suite of sugars, amino acids, nucleotides and other compounds that roots release into the rhizosphere, shifted in composition under the moderate nitrogen reduction. Metabolomic profiling revealed two compounds standing out as the dominant responsive metabolites: proline, an amino acid long known as a stress signal and osmoprotectant in plants, and hypoxanthine, a purine base derived from nucleotide metabolism. These are not random leakage products. Their emergence suggests that the plant deliberately reprograms its belowground chemistry when nitrogen supply tightens, broadcasting signals that reshape the microbial community living on its root surface.

The consequences of that chemical broadcast were measurable. The altered exudate profiles were associated with changes in rhizosphere enzyme activities, the catalytic workhorses that microbes use to break down organic matter and release plant-available nitrogen. They were also linked to enhanced retention of nitrogen in microbial biomass, meaning soil microorganisms under the moderate reduction treatment held onto nitrogen more effectively rather than letting it leach away or escape as gas. This matters because microbial nitrogen turnover is a key gateway in the soil nitrogen cycle: nitrogen locked in microbial cells is not lost, and it can be released back to the plant through the continuous cycle of microbial growth, death and decomposition, a process often described as the microbial nitrogen shuttle.

The researchers used structural equation-style path modeling to tie these threads together, and the picture that emerged is one of coupling. Early flowering root exudates appear to link yield formation directly to soil nitrogen transformation and plant nitrogen acquisition, potentially through microbial nitrogen turnover driven by rhizosphere carbon metabolism. In plain terms, the carbon the plant spends on exudates buys it a better-functioning nitrogen economy in the soil. This echoes a growing body of rhizosphere science showing that plants are not passive recipients of soil fertility but active engineers of it, investing photosynthate below ground to cultivate the microbial partners and processes that feed them.

Why early flowering? The timing is not incidental. Flowering marks a major developmental pivot, when the plant shifts resources from vegetative growth toward reproductive structures, and when demand for nitrogen surges to support boll formation in cotton. The study’s authors argue that this window represents a critical opportunity for rhizosphere intervention. If the exudate-mediated dialogue between root and microbe is most consequential at this stage, then management practices, whether fertilizer timing, biostimulants, or microbial inoculants, could be targeted precisely when the plant is most receptive, maximizing effect while minimizing inputs. Related work by the same group has implicated thiamine and L-lysine in cotton exudates under nitrogen reduction, and other studies have shown purine metabolites enriching beneficial root-associated bacteria, suggesting a broader vocabulary of root chemical signals waiting to be exploited.

The implications stretch well beyond cotton. High nitrogen inputs and low nitrogen use efficiency remain critical constraints in cotton production, as the authors note, but the same pattern plagues cereals, oilseeds and vegetables across global agriculture. Applied nitrogen that crops fail to take up does not simply vanish; it contributes to waterway eutrophication, greenhouse gas emissions as nitrous oxide, and the long-term degradation of soil health. A strategy that trims fertilizer by 15 percent while boosting yield and efficiency by double digits offers a template for reconciling productivity with sustainability. It also aligns with the broader scientific push, highlighted in recent reviews, to improve crop nitrogen use efficiency as a pillar of a sustainable green revolution.

Cautions remain. The study was conducted in pots, where root-soil interactions unfold differently than in open fields, and the authors note that data supporting the findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, inviting replication and field validation. The precise molecular mechanisms by which proline and hypoxanthine steer microbial nitrogen turnover remain to be fully resolved. Still, the core message is compelling and timely: the path to higher yields with lower inputs may not run through the plant’s leaves or even its genes alone, but through the chemical conversation it holds with the soil at the moments that matter most. Listening in on that conversation, and learning to speak it, could reshape how the world fertilizes its crops.

Subject of Research: Root exudate-mediated rhizosphere nitrogen cycling and nitrogen use efficiency in cotton under moderate nitrogen reduction

Article Title: Moderate nitrogen reduction enhances cotton yield and nitrogen use efficiency via early flowering root exudate–rhizosphere interactions

Article References: Shen, Z., Liu, M., He, Y., Liu, X., Wang, H., Yang, Y., Zhang, Q., Zhang, W., & Pu, X. (2026). Moderate nitrogen reduction enhances cotton yield and nitrogen use efficiency via early flowering root exudate–rhizosphere interactions. Plant and Soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-026-09169-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s11104-026-09169-0

Keywords: cotton, nitrogen use efficiency, root exudates, rhizosphere, proline, hypoxanthine, microbial nitrogen turnover, soil enzymes, early flowering, fertilizer reduction, plant-soil interactions, sustainable agriculture

The research, published in the journal Engineering Agriculture under the title describing a manure-based slurry film and its microbially mediated nutrient activation mechanism, combined multi-season field experiments growing silage maize with a full life cycle assessment of the film’s environmental profile. The field results are the study’s headline finding. When the manure-based slurry film replaced conventional polyethylene mulch, silage maize yields held steady even as chemical fertilizer application was reduced by 30 percent. Under a more modest 15 percent fertilizer reduction, the film actually delivered a significant yield increase compared with the polyethylene control. For a crop that anchors much of China’s dairy and beef feed supply, maintaining output while cutting fertilizer by nearly a third would represent a substantial economic and environmental gain.

The mechanism behind these results, according to the authors, is not a physical effect but a biological one. Unlike polyethylene film, which works as an inert barrier that traps heat and moisture, the manure-based slurry film continuously releases soluble organic matter along with nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients into the surrounding soil. This steady nutrient drip reshapes the soil microbiome in ways that appear central to the yield outcomes. The researchers documented increased abundance of functional bacterial groups, including Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria, both known to participate in nutrient cycling. Populations of nitrifying bacteria rose, and potassium-solubilizing bacteria were revived, improving the availability of a nutrient that is often locked into mineral forms that crops cannot access.

These microbial shifts form what the study describes as a positive feedback loop: nutrient input from the film activates functional bacteria, which convert and release nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in plant-available forms, which in turn improves overall fertilizer use efficiency. The timing of this biological support matters as much as its magnitude. The authors report that the film promotes root growth during the seedling stage, when a strong root system establishes the plant’s capacity to forage for nutrients. Later, during the grain-filling stage, when demand for phosphorus and potassium peaks, the film’s slow biological supply pathways strengthen precisely those nutrient flows. The result is that dry matter accumulation continues even under reduced fertilizer conditions, something that conventional physical mulching alone cannot achieve.

This distinction between physical and biological mulching is what positions the technology as a genuinely new approach to fertilizer reduction rather than a variant of existing practices. Current methods for improving fertilizer use efficiency each carry significant drawbacks that have limited their adoption. Fertilizer synergists, chemical additives designed to slow nutrient loss or inhibit nitrification, are costly and may themselves disturb soil microbial communities. Deep fertilizer placement, which puts nutrients closer to active root zones, requires specialized equipment and considerable labor, making large-scale promotion difficult. Combined organic and inorganic fertilization delivers good results in trials but imposes high application costs on farmers and has proven impractical for routine use. Biodegradable mulch films made from other materials can ease residual plastic pollution, but they generally suffer from low cost-effectiveness, poor mechanical stability in field conditions, and unclear life-cycle environmental benefits.

The manure-based slurry film approach also tackles the lingering problem of livestock waste head-on. By using cow manure as the raw material for a value-added product, it connects three previously disconnected links in the agricultural system: crop-livestock nutrient cycling, fertilizer reduction, and the reduction of residual film pollution. The film simultaneously reduces chemical fertilizer and plastic mulch inputs at the source while improving the soil microecology it covers, enhancing functional bacterial abundance and optimizing arable land quality. In principle, every hectare planted with the film diverts manure from waste streams, substitutes a biodegradable material for persistent plastic, and replaces a portion of synthetic fertilizer with nutrients already captured in the manure supply chain.

The study is nonetheless candid about the technology’s limitations, and its life cycle assessment reveals an uncomfortable truth: the manure-based slurry film’s current environmental impact is greater than that of polyethylene film. The production process involves relatively high energy and water consumption, and until these inputs are reduced, the film’s overall green credentials remain qualified rather than absolute. Large-scale application will require simplifying the manufacturing process and improving its energy efficiency. This kind of honest accounting is rare and valuable in agricultural technology reporting, where new materials are often promoted on field performance alone without scrutiny of what happens upstream at the factory gate.

What the life cycle assessment provides, then, is not a verdict against the technology but a roadmap for iteration. By clarifying both the microbial enhancement mechanism in the field and the full environmental costs of production, the study gives engineers specific targets for optimization: reduce energy intensity, recycle process water, and streamline fabrication so that the film’s upstream footprint falls below the savings it generates downstream. The authors frame the work as a scientific basis for technology iteration, large-scale production, and eventual industrial application, aimed at pushing agricultural inputs toward low-cost, biodegradable, and resource-recyclable categories. If those engineering goals are met, the film could help build what the researchers describe as an efficient, low-carbon, and clean farmland production system in which food security and ecological security are pursued together rather than traded off against each other.

For the broader field of sustainable agriculture, the study offers a proof of concept that waste streams can be engineered into inputs that do more than replace a conventional product. The manure-based film does not merely substitute for polyethylene; it actively manages soil biology, synchronizes nutrient release with crop demand, and tolerates sharp fertilizer cuts that would stunt a conventionally mulched crop. That combination of functions, drawn from a material that would otherwise be a disposal burden, is what makes the finding notable. The next test will be industrial: whether a production process that currently consumes substantial energy and water can be refined quickly enough, and scaled affordably enough, to move the film from experimental plots into the millions of hectares of Chinese farmland where mulch plastic and excess fertilizer accumulate with every growing season.

Subject of Research: Biodegradable cow manure mulch film for fertilizer reduction and soil health in maize production

Article Title: Cow manure transformed into biodegradable mulch film: 30% fertilizer reduction still maintains yield, while improving soil and reducing pollution

Article References: Cow manure transformed into biodegradable mulch film: 30% fertilizer reduction still maintains yield, while improving soil and reducing pollution. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: cow manure, biodegradable mulch film, fertilizer reduction, silage maize, soil microbiome, microplastic pollution, crop-livestock cycling, life cycle assessment, nutrient activation, soil health, China Agricultural University, sustainable agriculture