Cereal-legumes intercropping is among the most economical and effective agronomic strategies to boost forage biomass production, nutritional quality and monetary returns. This review synthesizes the research findings on how intercropping affects productivity, quality, competitiveness and economic viability of sorghum-legumes mixed, row and strip intercropping systems under varied pedo-climatic conditions. Though component crops show yield reductions in row (additive and row-replacement series), mixed (seed blended crops) and strip intercropping systems, in general overall productivity per unit land area increases to a great extent. The significantly higher resource capturing with better utilization efficacy by intercrops in temporal and spatial dimensions helps explain their greater productivity. In addition, forage intercrops result in improved nutritional quality as legumes contain protein in double quantity than cereals. Cereal-legumes intercropping systems yield CROP PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT-Article
Core Ideas Cereal‐legume binary mixtures increased forage productivity per unit area compared to cereal‐cereal and legume‐legume binary mixtures. In binary mixtures, pearl millet was marginally more resistant to yield reduction in comparison to sorghum. Soybean suffered the highest yield losses in binary mixtures compared to cowpea and cluster bean. The assessment of competitive performance of mixture components is important for maximizing benefits of intercropping systems. This field study tested binary mixtures of two cereals {sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and pearl millet [Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone]} and three forage legumes {cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.], cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.], and soybean[Glycine max (L.) Merr.]}, along with their sole crops on competitive indices. Sorghum–cowpea binary mixture resulted in a lower green forage yield of sorghum and cowpea by 9 and 36%, respectively, but overall biomass production was increased by 30 and 117% compared to their sole crop equivalents. Partial land equivalent ratios (LER) of all component crops were higher than 0.50, indicating better land use efficiency, except of soybean in binary mixtures with cowpea and cluster bean. However, the highest LER was of sorghum–cowpea (1.55), followed by sorghum–soybean (1.48) and pearl millet–soybean (1.48) binary mixtures. Pearl millet dominated sorghum and all legumes, while cowpea remained a superior competitor among legumes as per aggressivity value (AV) index. The highest crowding ratio (CR) was exhibited by pearl millet in binary mixture with cluster bean indicating its higher competitive ability in comparison to other mixture components. Observed yield loss data indicated that pearl millet was the most resistant crop to yield loss in all binary mixtures, while soybean had the highest yield reduction. In a short term, the highest area time equivalent ratio (ATER) for sorghum–cowpea binary mixture indicated the maximum advantage for this binary mixture compared to other binary mixtures.
Abstract:The well-known detrimental effects of cadmium (Cd) on plants are chloroplast destruction, photosynthetic pigment inhibition, imbalance of essential plant nutrients, and membrane damage. Jasmonic acid (JA) is an alleviator against different stresses such as salinity and drought. However, the functional attributes of JA in plants such as the interactive effects of JA application and Cd on rapeseed in response to heavy metal stress remain unclear. JA at 50 µmol/L was observed in literature to have senescence effects in plants. In the present study, 25 µmol/L JA is observed to be a "stress ameliorating molecule" by improving the tolerance of rapeseed plants to Cd toxicity. JA reduces the Cd uptake in the leaves, thereby reducing membrane damage and malondialdehyde content and increasing the essential nutrient uptake. Furthermore, JA shields the chloroplast against the damaging effects of Cd, thereby increasing gas exchange and photosynthetic pigments. Moreover, JA modulates the antioxidant enzyme activity to strengthen the internal defense system. Our results demonstrate the function of JA in alleviating Cd toxicity and its underlying mechanism. Moreover, JA attenuates the damage of Cd to plants. This study enriches our knowledge regarding the use of and protection provided by JA in Cd stress.
Restoration, preservation and sustainability of agricultural resources including soil demands biologically and economically viable farming practices. For boosting physico-chemical properties of soil from 2012 to 2015, three legumes including cowpea, cluster bean and soybean were intercropped with sorghum in 40-60, 75-25 and 100-100 seed blending ratios, while pure stand of sorghum was kept for comparison. Correlation studies were also conducted to determine linear or inverse relationship between physiological and agronomic attributes with green forage yield of sorghum. Results revealed that intercropping systems were not effective in significantly improving the physical properties of soil, however soybean and sorghum mixed seeded crop in 100-100 seed ratio resulted in the highest total and available nitrogen especially during last two years of the study and it was followed by mixed seeded crop of cluster bean and sorghum (100-100 seed ratio), while pure stand of sorghum appeared to be the most exhaustive farming system. Correlation analysis depicted a linear relationship between all agronomic attributes (seedling count, plant population at harvest, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and leaf area per plant, fresh and dry weights per plant) and physiological growth parameters (leaf area index and leaf area duration, crop growth rate and net assimilation rate) with forage yield of sorghum. Thus, legumes inclusion was found to be effective in restoring soil fertility, while long term legumes inclusion by following rotation may be suggested.
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