Abstract
With high rates of food and nonrenewable fossil fuel consumption worldwide, we are facing great challenges in ensuring food and energy security to satisfy the world population. Intercropping, as an important and sustainable cropping practice in agroecosystems, has been widely practiced around the world. Many studies have shown that some plants can deliver high yields when intercropped with other plants. Here, we review the biological mechanisms in improving resource utilization efficiency and illustrate the practical application of intercropping in ensuring food and energy security through improving production. Identifying suitable energy plants for marginal land, land not suitable for food crops growth, is an effective strategy to acquire high production of bioenergy, thus removing competition between the use of land for food and energy. The effective application of intercropping provides a potential pathway for production of food crops and energy plants by improving resource use efficiency and resistance to environmental stress.
Highlights
Food insecurity and energy risks have seriously increased from the 21st century and are likely to worsen with climate change and population growth[1]
The harvest index of intercropped peanut was about 13% lower than that of peanut alone, but monocultured peanut only produced 46% of the pods of peanut in intercropping system. These results indicated that maize/ peanut intercropping could help to increase yields through the efficient utilization of available light[18]
This review highlights the biological mechanisms involved in intercropping that improve natural resource utilization efficiency and control crop disease, pests and weeds to achieve higher crop production, and illustrates the practical application of intercropping in food and energy production
Summary
Food insecurity and energy risks have seriously increased from the 21st century and are likely to worsen with climate change and population growth[1]. The right combinations of crops can reduce pests and disease attack, and help in controlling weeds[16] This pattern applied in bioenergy production can probably improve the efficiency of marginal land use and enhance biomass production. The right combination of crops could increase the efficiency of solar radiation use by extending light time and improving light capture for high yields[13,17]. The harvest index of intercropped peanut was about 13% lower than that of peanut alone, but monocultured peanut only produced 46% of the pods of peanut in intercropping system These results indicated that maize/ peanut intercropping could help to increase yields through the efficient utilization of available light[18]. The combined water use efficiency was 52% higher than for single crops in a maize/sunhemp intercropping system[23]
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