Plastic mulch provides a range of benefits including helping modulate soil temperature, reduce soil erosion, evaporation, fertilizer leaching and weed problems and increasing the quality and yields of the product. But when the crops are harvested, plastic mulch needs to be removed from the ground for disposal. Otherwise, these wastes are mixed with the soil and have a negative impact on yields by reducing the access of nutrients and moisture in the soil. The purpose of the current study is, therefore, to propose a roller for plastic mulch retriever which is applicable when the crops are harvested, and the plastic mulch needs to be removed from the ground for disposal. The winding mechanism of the plastic mulch retriever performs the main function and must have the high-quality performance of the winding operation in the removal technology. Research based on requirements of tensile strength test method and changes of strength characteristics of plastic mulch from various factors under natural conditions. The coefficient of compaction of the used plastic mulch (Krel), was the ratio of the diameter of the standard plastic mulch which was wound in the factory to the diameter of the used plastic mulch during the winding.

This weed management investigation was carried out at the Zonal Agricultural Research Station (ZARS), Bangalore, during the summers of 2017 and 2018 to standardize agrotechniques for weed management of rice grown under aerobic conditions. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with eleven treatments replicated thrice. It consisted of two pre-emergence herbicides and one early post-emergence herbicide, the stale seedbed technique, mulching, hand weeding and intercultivation which was compared to the weedy check. The results showed that pyrazosulfuron ethyl 10% wettable powder (WP) at 35 active ingredient (a.i.) g ⋅ ha–1 as PE fb bispyribac sodium 10% SC at 30 ml ⋅ ha–1 a.i. as an early post-emergence herbicide performed better in terms of rice grain and straw yield (5,800 and 9,786 kg ⋅ ha–1, respectively), plant height (58.42 cm), rice total dry matter production (149.84 g ⋅ plant–1), productive tillers ⋅ hill–1 (40.32), panicle length (24.53 cm), 1000 grain weight (25.35 g), net returns (Rs. 62424), higher B : C ratio (2.59) and lower total weed density, weed dry weight at different stages of rice and weed index (3.80%) as well as higher weed control efficiency (90.52%). This practice could be recommended to farmers growing aerobic rice under these climatic conditions.

The study involved experimental work implemented from April 2014 until March 2017. Its purpose was to observe grape production quality parameters, such as yield, water productivity, berry size and bio-mass. Different irrigation methods, such as drip irrigation (DI), drip irrigation with plastic mulching (DIPM), drip irrigation with organic mulching (DIOM), subsur-face irrigation with stone column (SISC), subsurface irrigation with mud pot (SIMP), and subsurface irrigation with plastic bottles (SIPB) have been used during the experimental work. The crop has been irrigated following the CROPWAT-8.0 model developed by the FAO. Climate parameters are obtained from the automatic weather station located near the experi-mental field. Based on experimental results and analyses, it has been observed that the drip irrigation with the plastic mulching method is the best for irrigation in terms of the grape yield comparing with all other methods due to its highest productivity of 35–40%. Subsurface irrigation with the plastic bottle method is found to be suitable as it gives 20% higher yield than the traditional drip irrigation method. The SIPB method shows the cost-benefit ratio of 112.3, whereas the DIPM method had the ratio of 36.6. Based on the cost-benefit analysis, it is concluded that the SIPB method is economically more viable as compared with all other methods. Hence, based on the findings, it is recommended to use drip irrigation with a plastic mulch-ing and drip irrigation with a plastic bottle as the best options to achieve grape productivity while using minimum water.

The article was created as a result of the work TECHMATSTRATEG 1 program “Modern Material Technologies” as part of the project with the acronym INNOBIOLAS entitled “Development of innovative working elements of machines in the forestry sector and biomass processing based on high-energy surface modification technologies of the surface layer of cast elements”; agreement No. TECHMATSTRATEG1/348072/2/NCBR/2017.
The article discusses the procedure for selecting casting materials that can meet the high operational requirements of working tools of mulching machines: transfer of high static and dynamic loads, resistance to tribological wear, corrosion resistance in various environments. The mulching process was briefly described, then the alloys were selected for experimental tests, model alloys were made and perform material tests were carried out in terms of functional and technological properties. The obtained results allowed to select the alloy where the test castings were made.