ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Agroecological Cropping Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicFarming for the Environment and Healthy Food: Advantages and Limits of Agroecological SystemsView all articles
Sustainable Mulching with Agricultural Residues Enhances Soil Properties, Fruit Quality, Growth, and Yield of 'Le-Conte' Pear
Provisionally accepted
Nada E. Mohammed1*
Abdel-Moety Mohamad2
Noha A. Mahgoub1
Doaa M. Abou El Yazid2Naglaa E. Khalafallah3
Mohamed Shokr4Aleksandra O. Utkina5
Atef Abo-Ogiala4*- 1Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
- 2Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Shaikh, Egypt
- 3Tanta University Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta, Egypt
- 4Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt
- 5Rossijskij universitet druzby narodov, Moscow, Russia
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Recycling plant residues for use as mulch avoids negative environmental impacts and promotes sustainable agriculture by providing a safe and low-cost substrate. Towards this goal, a field experiment was conducted over two successive seasons (2023 and 2024), on 13-year-old―Le-Conte‖ pear trees to investigate the effects of different organic mulch materials applied at two coverage areas (1 and 2 m2) on soil properties, vegetative growth, productivity, fruit quality, and weed growth. The results demonstrated an overall positive effect of mulching on evaluated parameters in general. Mulching with sugarcane stalks at 2 m2 showed the highest values of soil nutrients, i.e., P (0.006 and 0.0037 %) and K (0.017 and 0.009%) in the first and second seasons, respectively. On the other hand, mulching with rice straw at 2 m2 coverage area showed the greatest reduction in soil temperature approximately 3.25 °C in the first season and 3.42 °C in the second season, while increasing soil moisture content by about 3.49 and 5 % in both seasons, respectively. In addition, it increased leaf relative water content (RWC) by about 42.8 and 22.5 % in the first and second seasons, respectively. Moreover, mulching with rice straw at a 2 m2 coverage showed improvements in vegetative growth, and also increased tree yield by 60.27 and 43.18 % in the first and second seasons, respectively. In addition,it improved fruit quality, includingfirmness, vitamin C content, and soluble solids content(SSC) in both seasons, respectively. The study confirms that recycling agricultural residues into mulch supports key SDGs, including zero hunger (SDG 2) through increased yield and climate action (SDG 13) through improved soil health. Adopting this practice is a significant step towards sustainable food systems.
Keywords: Le-Conte" Pear, Organic mulching, Rice straw, Soil characteristics, Sugarcane stalks, weeds, yield
Received: 13 Nov 2025; Accepted: 30 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Mohammed, Mohamad, Mahgoub, Abou El Yazid, Khalafallah, Shokr, Utkina and Abo-Ogiala. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Nada E. Mohammed
Atef Abo-Ogiala
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