A green garlic (Allium sativum L.) based intercropping system reduces the strain of continuous monocropping in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) by adjusting the micro-ecological environment of soil.

Xuemei Xiao,Jian Lv,Jianming Xie,Ning Ma,Zhihui Cheng,Jihua Yu

doi:10.7717/peerj.7267

Abstract

The continuous cropping obstacle of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) under facility cultivation is more prevalent in China. This is associated with an imbalance in soil microbial and ecological environment in long-term monocultures. It was postulated that intercropping with green garlic would relieve the continuous cropping obstacle of cucumber by altering the soil micro-ecology status. A pot-based experiment was conducted to investigate the green garlic-cucumber intercropping and cucumber monocropping systems. The results showed that the cucumber shoot biomass was improved by intercropping with green garlic. However, the population of soil bacteria and actinomycetes increased, while the fungal population decreased. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles indicated that soil contained more fungal FAME biomarkers (18:1ω9c, 18:2ω6, 9) and higher fungal:bacterial ratio in the monoculture system, whereas clustering of more bacterial FAME biomarkers (cy17:0, cy19:0, 16:1ω7c10, Me16:0, 10Me17:0, 10Me18:0) was observed under intercropping conditions. Moreover, significantly (P < 0.05) higher soil invertase and alkaline phosphatase activities, organic matter, and available N, P and K contents were observed under intercropping systems. These were high in both bulk and rhizosphere soils in the intercropping system when compared to monocropping system. These findings suggest that intercropping with green garlic can alleviate continuous cropping obstacle of cucumber by improving the diverse composition of soil microbial community, enzyme activities, and nutrient availability.

Highlights

The successive plantation of the same crop on the same land results in the reduction of crop yield and quality under normal cultivation management, and this is known as theHow to cite this article Xiao X, Cheng Z, Lv J, Xie J, Ma N, Yu J. 2019
A green garlic (Allium sativum L.) based intercropping system reduces the strain of continuous monocropping in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) by adjusting the micro-ecological environment of soil
While the higher root biomass of cucumber was observed in intercropping systems on days 30 and 45

Summary

Introduction

The successive plantation of the same crop on the same land results in the reduction of crop yield and quality under normal cultivation management, and this is known as theHow to cite this article Xiao X, Cheng Z, Lv J, Xie J, Ma N, Yu J. 2019. The successive plantation of the same crop on the same land results in the reduction of crop yield and quality under normal cultivation management, and this is known as the. A green garlic (Allium sativum L.) based intercropping system reduces the strain of continuous monocropping in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) by adjusting the micro-ecological environment of soil. Several lines of evidence suggest that increased soil-borne diseases, soil acidification, secondary salinization, and soil microbial ecology imbalance are the reasons for this phenomenon (Yao, Jiao & Wu, 2006; Zhou, Yu & Wu, 2012; Zhou et al, 2014). The problem is becoming increasingly severe in agricultural production, especially in facility cultivation, which certainly remains a crucial challenge for sustaining agriculture. It is necessary to seek an effective alternative method to overcome this shortfall

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