Temporal niche differentiation increases the land equivalent ratio of annual intercrops: A meta-analysis

Yu, Yang; Stomph, T.J.; Makowski, David; Werf, Wopke Van der

doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2015.09.010

Cited by 333 publications

(308 citation statements)

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“…cultivating more than one crop species on a field; Vandermeer 2011). Intercrops typically yield up to 20% more per land area than single crops grown proportionally (Yu et al 2015). Overyielding is likely due to, at least in part, enhanced light interception and nutrient availability, but potentially also to reduced disease incidence in plant mixtures compared to monocultures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking ecology and plant pathology to unravel the importance of soil-borne fungal pathogens in species-rich grasslands

et al. 2018

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Soil-borne fungal diseases are a major problem in agriculture. A century ago, the Dutch plant pathologist Johanna Westerdijk recognized the importance of linking fungal biology with ecology to understand plant disease dynamics. To explore new ways to manage soil-borne fungal disease in agriculture by 'learning from nature', we follow in her footsteps: we link below ground plant-fungal pathogen interactions to ecological settings, i.e. natural grasslands. Ecological research hypothesised that the build-up of 'enemies' is reduced in species-rich vegetation compared to monocultures. To understand how plant diversity can suppress soilborne fungal pathogens, we first need to identify fungal actors in species-rich grasslands. Next-generation sequencing revealed a first glimpse of the potential fungal actors, but their ecological functions often remain elusive. Databases are becoming available to predict the ecological fungal guild, but classic phytopathology studies that isolate and characterize -taxonomically and functionally -, remain essential. Secondly, we need to set-up experiments that reveal ecological mechanisms underlying the complex below ground interactions between plant diversity and fungal pathogens. Several studies suggested that disease incidence of (hostspecific) pathogens is related to abundance of the host plant species. However, recent studies suggest that next to host species density, presence of heterospecific species additionally affects disease dynamics. We explore the direct and indirect ways of these neighboring plants diluting pathogen pressure. We argue that combining the expertise of plant pathologists and ecologists will improve our understanding of belowground plant-fungal pathogen interactions in natural grasslands and contribute to the design of sustainable and productive intercropping strategies in agriculture.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking ecology and plant pathology to unravel the importance of soil-borne fungal pathogens in species-rich grasslands

et al. 2018

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“…Intercropping and agroforestry form spatial cropping patterns that may gain relevance in temperate regions, for example, due to ongoing research and market developments for lignocellulosic products (Chum et al, 2015;Fagerholm, Torralba, Burgess, & Plieninger, 2016;Pelzer, Hombert, Jeuffroy, & Makowski, 2014;Yu, Stomph, Makowski, & van der Werf, 2015).…”

Section: Agricultural Soil Management and Its Driving Forcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing soil functions for a sustainable bioeconomy—Assessment framework and state of the art

et al. 2018

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Bioeconomy strategies have been adopted in many countries around the world. Their sustainable implementation requires a management of soils that maintains soil functions and avoids land degradation. Only then, ecosystem services can be maintained and resources used efficiently. We present an analytical framework for impact assessment that links policy and technology driving forces for soil management decisions to soil processes, soil functional changes, and their impacts on ecosystem services and resource use efficiency, both being targets that have been set by society and are anchored in bioeconomy policy strategies and sustainable development goals. Although the resource use efficiency concept has a long-term tradition, most studies of agricultural management do not address the role of soils in their efficiency assessment. The concept of ecosystem services has received increasing attention over the last years; however, its link to soil functions and soil management practices is still not well established. This study is the first to conceptually link the socioeconomic processes of external drivers for soil management with the natural processes of soil functions and connect them back to impacts on the social system. Application of the framework helps strengthen the science-policy interface and to systemically assess and compare the opportunities and threats of soil management practices from the perspective of goals set by society at different spatial and temporal scales. Insights gained in this way can be applied in stakeholder decisionmaking processes and used to inform the design of governance instruments aimed at sustainable soil management within a bioeconomy. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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“…Their combination has a high potential to increase productivity, due to their physiological properties and the heterogeneous canopy structure. For example, Yu et al (2015) found that that temporal niche differentiation contributed substantially to high land equivalent ratio (LER) in systems combining a C3 and C4 species, while this is not the case in systems based on C3 species mixtures. However, the wheat-maize system is only practiced by Chinese farmers and not elsewhere.…”

Section: Wheat-maize Relay Strip Intercropping In Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples are the wheat−maize intercrop and wheat−soybean intercrop in northwest China (Li et al, 2001b;Knörzer et al, 2009), where wheat is sown in March and harvested in July, while maize and soybean are sown in April and harvested in September. A relay intercrop allows for a longer total growth duration compared to each sole crop, and the associated greater radiation capture over the whole season tends to increase yields compared to the sole crops (Fukai and Trenbath, 1993;Zhang et al, 2008;Yu et al, 2015). When relay intercrops are arranged as strips, the plants growing in border rows have more space and resources, especially during the time before or after the co-growth period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to complementary resource use in time and space among different species, intercropped species often achieve higher productivity than the same species in sole crops, i.e. the land equivalent ratio (LER) is greater than one (Lithourgidis et al, 2007;Malézieux et al, 2009;Li et al, 2013;Yu et al, 2015). When intercropped species have similar growing periods, the potential advantages of intercropping result from different strategies in resource acquisition or a decrease of the crop failure probability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On yield gains and yield gaps in wheat-maize intercropping : opportunities for sustainable increases in grain production

Gou¹

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Intercropping is the cultivation of two or more crop species simultaneously in the same field, while relay intercropping means that the growing periods of the crop species are only partially overlapping. Intercropping has advantages with respect to productivity, resource capture, build-up of soil organic matter, and pest and disease suppression. This thesis aims to quantify and explain the yield advantages in wheat-maize relay intercropping and to assess the importance of intercropping for food production and land use efficiency.Wheat-maize intercropping had land equivalent ratios around or above one in two experiments in the Netherlands. Wheat in border rows showed major yield increases, and this yield increase was due to increases in the number of tillers per plant and the number of kernels per ear. The yield advantage of intercropped wheat was associated with a high radiation interception and radiation use efficiency (RUE). Under Dutch growing conditions, maize performance in the intercrop was constrained. Intercropping had a negative effect on the yield per plant and radiation use efficiency of maize. A strip intercrop model was developed, parameterized and tested with data on wheat-maize intercropping in the Netherlands. The model simulates radiation interception and growth in relay-strip intercrops with two species in different planting configurations. The model also allows simulating the consequences of border row effects for total system productivity. Bayesian analysis was applied to calibrate radiation use efficiency of wheat and maize in sole crops and intercrop.Intercropped wheat had higher a RUE than sole wheat, while intercropped maize had a lower RUE than sole maize. Intercropped maize had less favourable leaf traits (e.g. nitrogen content) during the flowering stage than sole maize in 2014, but the leaves in the intercrop had a higher photosynthetic rate than those in the sole crop. Possible explanations for this finding include differences between sole and mixed crops in water acquisition from soil, light distribution in the canopy, nitrogen distribution within the leaf and the contribution of the ear leaf to the growth of the cob. The low radiation use efficiency in intercropped maize may relate to nitrogen deficiency during grain filling. New concepts for potential yield, yield gain and yield gap in intercropping were developed in this thesis. Using crop model simulations and farm survey data, those concepts were operationalized in the context of wheat and maize production in an oasis area (Zhangye city) in northwest China. Wheat-maize intercropping resulted in substantial yield gains under potential and actual growing conditions. A comparison of potential and actual yields indicated a yield gap of 33% for sole wheat, 49% for sole maize, 15% for intercropped wheat, and 51% for intercropped maize. The land use analysis showed that discontinuing the use of intercropping in this region will decrease grain production substantially.Overall, this thesis studied the growth and productivity of ...

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Temporal niche differentiation increases the land equivalent ratio of annual intercrops: A meta-analysis

Cited by 333 publications

References 41 publications

Linking ecology and plant pathology to unravel the importance of soil-borne fungal pathogens in species-rich grasslands

Linking ecology and plant pathology to unravel the importance of soil-borne fungal pathogens in species-rich grasslands

Managing soil functions for a sustainable bioeconomy—Assessment framework and state of the art

On yield gains and yield gaps in wheat-maize intercropping : opportunities for sustainable increases in grain production

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