Intercropping system plays a crucial role in improving crop yield, nitrogen utilisation efficiency (NUE) and economic benefit. The difference in crop yield and interspecific relationship under different bandwidth and row ratio allocation patterns are still unclear. A field experiment was carried out to explore change regularities between crop yield and interspecific relationships under maize soybean intercropping with different bandwidths and row ratios. The results showed that the yield of intercropped crops was lower than that of the sole crop. The nitrogen accumulation (NA), NUE and nitrogen competition ratio was the highest under the intercropping mode with a bandwidth of 2.0 m, which indicated that this mode was more conducive to the N uptake and utilisation in crops. In all intercropping systems, nitrogen equivalent ratio (NER) and land equivalent ratio (LER) were all greater than one, indicating that intercropping systems were conducive to improving land utilisation efficiency and NUE. Under the same bandwidth pattern, expanding the maize soybean row ratio from 2 : 4 to 3 : 4 was beneficial to the improvement of LER, NER, NUE, crop group yield. In conclusion, it was preferable in the NA, NUE, crop group yield under the system of bandwidth 2.0 m and row ratio 2 : 2, which could be a reference for maize soybean intercropping system.
The soil microbial community is not only driven by plant composition but is also disturbed by the soil environment. Intercropping affects the soil microenvironment through plant interaction, but the understanding of the relationship between soil microbial community and environment in intercropping is still weak. In this study, milk vetch intercropping with rapeseed was used to explore the interaction between soil microorganisms and environment. The results showed that the soil moisture content of intercropping was higher than that of monoculture during the reproductive period of rapeseed growth (flowering and podding stages). The contents of soil total nitrogen and alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen in intercropping were higher than those in monoculture. The dominant soil microbial communities in intercropping were the same as in monoculture and included Chloroflexi, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonates and Bacteroidetes. However, intercropping increased the Shannon index and decreased the Simpson’s index of the soil microbial community. The changes in the soil microbial community were mainly related to soil temperature, moisture, pH, total nitrogen, alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen and available potassium. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between soil moisture and microorganisms and a positive correlation between nitrogen and microorganisms. Thus, milk vetch–rapeseed intercropping could not only improve soil nitrogen content, but also change soil microbial community diversity. In dryland red soil, the effect of milk vetch–rapeseed intercropping on soil moisture and nitrogen was the key factor contributing to the changes in the soil microbial community. When planting rapeseed in the future, we could consider the application of intercropping with milk vetch, which can contribute to regulating the soil nitrogen pool and improving microbial diversity.
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