COMPARING PERFORMANCE OF CROP SPECIES MIXTURES AND PURE STANDS

doi:10.15302/J-FASE-2021413

Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.

2021, Vol. 8

Issue (3) : 481-489 https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2021413

RESEARCH ARTICLE

COMPARING PERFORMANCE OF CROP SPECIES MIXTURES AND PURE STANDS

Wopke VAN DER WERF¹(

), Lizhen ZHANG², Chunjie LI³, Ping CHEN⁴, Chen FENG⁵, Zhan XU^1,³, Chaochun ZHANG³, Chunfeng GU¹, Lammert BASTIAANS¹, David MAKOWSKI⁶, TjeerdJan STOMPH¹

¹. Wageningen University, Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, 6700 AK Wageningen, the Netherlands
². College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
³. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
⁴. College of Agronomy/Sichuan Engineering Research Center for Crop Strip Intercropping System/Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in Southwest, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, Chengdu 611130, China
⁵. Tillage and Cultivation Research Institute, Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenyang 110161, China
⁶. INRAe, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Unit Applied Mathematics and Computer Science (UMR MIA 518), 16 rue Claude Bernard F-75231 Paris, France

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Abstract

•The literature on intercropping comprises thousands of papers.

•Evidence synthesis is needed to develop general conclusions.

•Quantitative evidence synthesis requires meaningful comparative performance metrics.

•The background, meaning, and limitations of some performance metrics is explained.

•Future challenges are identified.

Intercropping is the planned cultivation of species mixtures on agricultural land. Intercropping has many attributes that make it attractive for developing a more sustainable agriculture, such as high yield, high resource use efficiency, lower input requirements, natural suppression of pests, pathogens and weeds, and building a soil with more organic carbon and nitrogen. Information is needed which species combinations perform best under different circumstances and which management is suitable to bring out the best from intercropping in a given production situation. The literature is replete with case studies on intercropping from across the globe, but evidence synthesis is needed to make this information accessible. Meta-analysis requires a careful choice of metric that is appropriate for answering the question at hand, and which lends itself for a robust meta-analysis. This paper reviews some metrics that may be used in the quantitative synthesis of literature data on intercropping.

Keywords intercropping species mixtures meta-analysis metrics indicators

Corresponding Author(s): Wopke VAN DER WERF

Just Accepted Date: 26 July 2021 Online First Date: 25 August 2021 Issue Date: 26 September 2021

Cite this article:

Wopke VAN DER WERF,Lizhen ZHANG,Chunjie LI, et al. COMPARING PERFORMANCE OF CROP SPECIES MIXTURES AND PURE STANDS[J]. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. , 2021, 8(3): 481-489.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/10.15302/J-FASE-2021413
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/Y2021/V8/I3/481

Fig.1 Illustration of the land equivalent ratio (LER). A sole maize yield is presumed to be 12 t·ha⁻¹ and a soybean yield to be 3 t·ha⁻¹. Now suppose an intercrop with 50% maize and 50% soybean has a maize yield of 9 t·ha⁻¹ maize and a soybean yield of 1.5 t·ha⁻¹. Production of the same yields with sole crops would require 0.75 ha of maize and 0.5 ha of soybean. Hence, the land equivalent ratio is 1.25. Intercropping uses 20% less land than required for the same yield in sole crops.

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