Abstract
Global demand for food has always been on the increase due to the increase of the population in this world. Intercropping is one of the alternatives of agronomic practices that is widely practiced in ensuring food security and enhancing yield stability. Strip, mixed, and relay intercropping can be practiced to increase crop production. In addition to achieving a successful intercropping system, factors such as suitable crops, time of sowing, maturity of the crop, and plant density need to be considered before and during planting. Besides, practiced intercropping becomes a useful cropping system to increase efficient resource utilization, enhance biodiversity, promote soil health, enhance soil fertility, erosion control, yield advantage, weed, pest, and disease control, insurance against crop failure, ecosystem and modification of microclimate, market instability, and increase farmers income. Crop productivity in any types of cropping system implemented relies primarily on the interception of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of crop canopy and conversion of intercepted radiation into biomass or known as radiation use efficiency (RUE). Both PAR and RUE are important measurements that have significant roles in crop growth and development in which the accessibility of these radiation dynamics is connected with the leaf area index and crop canopy characteristics in maximizing yield as well as total productivity of the crop component in intercropping systems.
Highlights
Both photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) are important measurements that have significant roles in crop growth and development in which the accessibility of these radiation dynamics is connected with the leaf area index and crop canopy characteristics in maximizing yield as well as total productivity of the crop component in intercropping systems
Intercropping is recommended to increase the efficiency of resource utilization over sole cropping [10, 33]; at the same time, it promotes interspecific interaction between component crops [34, 35]
In observation-based research conducted by Liu et al [39] and Nur Arina [21], their findings suggested that soybean with lower leaf size has low leaf area index (LAI), which in turn would result in reduced light interception and low productivity in sole cropping compared to the intercropping system
Summary
Intercropped combination of maize and okra was reported to give better yield when planted at the same time [26]. Crops with different maturity dates usually have different peak demands on nutrient, water, and light, which make them suitable to be intercropped [21, 29]. Plant population is an important aspect to be considered to maintain high potential yield and reduce competition between intercrops [29]. Dry matter of maize was found to have decreased due to the increase of lablab population [30], and the number of leaves decreased as the plant density was high in maize-okra intercropping due to the presence of light and other resources’ competition [31]. Brintha and Seran [32] found that there was no significant effect shown by radish in radish-Amaranthus intercropping due to the constant plant density of radish
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