Sustainable mulching with agricultural residues enhances soil properties, fruit quality, growth, and yield of ‘Le-Conte’ pear

Recycling plant residues for use as mulch avoids negative environmental impacts and promotes sustainable agriculture by providing a safe and low-cost substrate. Toward 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 m 2 ) 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 m 2 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 a 2-m 2 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 approximately 3.49% and 5% in both seasons, respectively. In addition, it increased leaf relative water content (RWC) by approximately 42.8% and 22.5% in the first and second seasons, respectively. Moreover, mulching with rice straw at a 2-m 2 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, including firmness, vitamin C content, and soluble solids content (SSC) in both seasons. 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 toward sustainable food systems.