Abstract
To highlight the contribution of belowground interactions to biomass and N and P yields, field bean and triticale were grown in a P-poor soil as sole crops and as replacement intercrops at two N levels. The shoots were always in contact, while the roots of adjacent rows were free to interact or were completely separated. This allowed simultaneous testing the intraspecific and interspecific competition between rows, which to our knowledge has not been studied before. Root biomass, distribution in soil, morphometry, and functional traits were determined, together with the nodule number and biomass. The Land Equivalent Ratio for shoot biomass and N and P yield were higher than 1 when roots were in contact, and markedly lower when they were separated. This demonstrates the positive contribution of root interactions, which in field bean, consisted of increased root elongation without changes in biomass and nutrient status; in triticale, of increased N and P uptake efficiency and reduced biomass partitioning to roots. The soil-plant processes underlying intercrop advantage led to complementarity in N sources with low N inputs and facilitated N and P uptake with high N inputs, which demonstrates that intercropping could be profitable in both low and high input agriculture.
Highlights
The ecological intensification of crop production improves the environmental and economic sustainability of agricultural systems by better exploiting the ecological processes occurring in plant-soil systems, obtaining comparable yields to industrial agriculture but with lower external inputs [1,2].Intercropping is the coexistence of two or more crops in the same field at the same time
The only exception was for shoot N yield in Aerial-N120, demonstrating that root interactions played a primary role in advantaging intercrops over sole crops (Table 1)
The biomass advantage was more pronounced with the low N input, whereas the N and P yield advantages with high N input, and the differences were less pronounced in the Aerial treatments
Summary
The ecological intensification of crop production improves the environmental and economic sustainability of agricultural systems by better exploiting the ecological processes occurring in plant-soil systems, obtaining comparable yields to industrial agriculture but with lower external inputs [1,2]. Intercropping is the coexistence of two or more crops in the same field at the same time. It is a key strategy in ecological intensification, as it is hypothesized that the complementarity in resource acquisition of the mixed species better exploits the environmental resources [3]. Intercropping systems would seem to promote productivity, stability of outputs, and resilience to disturbance [3]
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