Times Cited: 0Jamont, Marie Piva, Guillaume Fustec, JoelleInternational audienceLegume-brassica intercrops may help to reduce N fertilizer input. We tested whether (i) intercropping with faba bean can improve N status of rapeseed, and (ii) root complementarity and/or N transfer is involved in such performance.Pre-germinated rapeseed and faba bean were grown either together or in monospecific rhizotrons (2 plants per rhizotron). Root growth was recorded. N rhizodeposition of the crops and N transferred between species were assessed using a 15N stem-labelling method.Intercropped rapeseeds accumulated 20 % higher amounts of N per plant than monocultures. Up to 32 days after sowing, root distribution in the rhizotrons was favourable to physical sharing of the soil N: 64 % of faba bean root length was located in the upper part, as 70 % was in the lower part for rapeseed. At late flowering of the faba bean (52 days after sowing), N rhizodeposition of the two crops were similar and reached 8 to 9 % of the plant N. N transferred from the faba bean to the rapeseed was similar to that transferred from the rapeseed to the faba bean.[b]Conclusions[/b]Niche complementarity benefits more intercropped rapeseed than net N fluxes between species in the early growth

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