Abstract:
Biodegradable plastic mulch (BDPM) is considered as one of the important ways to solve the pollution of plastic mulching film residues, and has been used more and more widely in agricultural production. The bibliometric analysis combined with visualization tools were applied to quantitatively analyze the literature to review the research progress and future development trends in the field of global BDPM research, in terms of development path, main research forces, research hotspots and frontiers, by using "biodegradable plastic mulch" or "biodegradable mulching films" as the search keywords in Web of Science Core data sources. Results showed the number of publications was increasing, especially in recent years. China had the highest number of publications (177, 34.44% of global output) and occupied an important position in the international cooperation network. However, the quality and influence of publications still need to be improved through innovation and the expansion of research depth. The results of keyword co-occurrence analysis showed that the global BDPM research focused mainly on "preparation, properties and degradation behavior of biopolymer materials", "application of BDPM in sustainable agriculture", "effect on crop growth and yield of BDPM" and "effect on soil quality and the ecological environment of BDPM". From the analysis of burst terms, it can be seen that the evaluation of soil pollution caused by microplastics produced by BDPM as well as the potential environmental risks is an important direction and hot topic in the future.