Oil-palm yields in diversified plantations: Initial results from a biodiversity enrichment experiment in Sumatra, Indonesia

Drone‐based photogrammetry‐derived crown metrics for predicting tree and oil palm water use

“…This is also in line with a previous study showing 36% higher per-palm fruit yield in thinned agroforests than in untreated monocultures (Gérard et al, 2017). This is likely due to the reduction of oil palm stand density by previous thinning in the agroforest, which leads to increases in light, soil water, and nutrient availability for the remaining oil palms in the stand.…”

“…This is likely due to the reduction of oil palm stand density by previous thinning in the agroforest, which leads to increases in light, soil water, and nutrient availability for the remaining oil palms in the stand. This is also in line with a previous study showing 36% higher per-palm fruit yield in thinned agroforests than in untreated monocultures (Gérard et al, 2017). The mean individual tree water use in agroforest, on the other hand, was very low (1.1-19.8 kg day −1 ) compared with the water use of the surrounding oil palms.…”

Managing Oil Palm Plantations More Sustainably: Large-Scale Experiments Within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme

“…Further upcoming analyses that bring together the biodiversity, ecosystem function, yield, and profitability data from the BEFTA Understory Vegetation Project will provide further valuable information which can be used to inform vegetation management decisions. Other recent studies have also successfully manipulated vegetation structure and diversity within plantations, for example via intercropping with fruit trees and other crops (Teuscher et al, 2016;Gérard et al, 2017;Ashraf et al, 2018), and have found substantial impacts on birds and invertebrates (Teuscher et al, 2016), arthropod diversity and ecosystem functions (Ashraf et al, 2018), and potential benefits for yield (Gérard et al, 2017). Recent early results from a study testing the effects of herbicide and fertiliser inputs on oil palm ecosystems are indicating that lower intensity management can help support biodiversity, without significant harm to yield (Darras et al, 2019).…”

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) production in Indonesia: carbon footprint and diversification options

“…Beyond the existing systems studied, intercropping of oil palm and other tree crops that receives considerable attention among practitioners has not been widely explored yet. Gérard et al (2017), Stomph (2017) and Mignon (2018) initiated study on oil-palm yields in diversified plantations.…”

“…Interest in intercropping oil palm with cash crops received renewed attention recently. Gérard et al (2017), Stomph (2017) and Migeon (2018) initiated studies on oil-palm yields in diversified plantations and reported that considerable economic and environmental system improvements appear to be feasible through mixed oil palm systems in sub-optimal climates.…”