Effects of intercropping on quality and yield of maize grain, microorganism quantity, and enzyme activities in soils

Abstract

To increase our understanding of the advantages of intercropping gramineae crops with legume crops, we conducted a field trial comparing a maize monoculture system, a maize鄄peanut intercropping system, and a maize鄄soybean intercropping system with or without application of fertilizer. For each system, we determined maize grain quality (starch, protein, oil, and lysine content) , economic and biological yields per plant, crop yield per km 2 , abundance of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and nitrogen鄄fixing bacteria) and activities of various enzymes (invertase, dehydrogenase, urease, and phosphatase) in soils (pH = 6. 2). The field experiment was carried out on upland red soil at the Experimental Station of Jiangxi Agricultural University (latitude 28毅 46忆N, longitude 115毅 36忆E, altitude 22. 1 m above sea level) from 9 April 2011 to 25 July 2011. The experimental plan comprised six treatments (i. e. , 3 伊 2) and each

Sugarcane/peanut intercropping system improves physicochemical properties by changing N and P cycling and organic matter turnover in root zone soil

“…The study suggested that the content of catalase, sucrase and protease decreased significantly in intercropping treatments compared to the monocropping treatment. The content of acid phosphatase increased in intercropping treatments, which was also observed in legume/tomato (Dai et al, 2015), maize/peanut and maize/soybean (Zhang et al, 2012a) intercropping systems. The content of sucrase and urease increased in these systems.…”

“…Many studies have shown that the number of microbes, such as bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes, increased significantly in sugarcane/legume intercropping systems (Li et al, 2012;Solanki et al, 2019;Solanki et al, 2018;Solanki et al, 2016). A similar situation occurred in other intercropping systems, including maize (Chen et al, 2018a;Zhang et al, 2012a) and wheat (Dong et al, 2013). However, in the intercropping system of Chinese milk vetch and rape, the content of soil microbial communities decreased (Zhou et al, 2019).…”

Peer Review #1 of "Sugarcane/peanut intercropping system improves physicochemical properties by changing N and P cycling and organic matter turnover in root zone soil (v0.1)"

“…The study suggested that the content of catalase, sucrase and protease decreased significantly in intercropping treatments compared to the monocropping treatment. The content of acid phosphatase increased in intercropping treatments, which was also observed in legume/tomato (Dai et al 2015), maize/peanut and maize/soybean (Zhang et al 2012a) intercropping systems.…”

“…Many studies have shown that the number of microbes, such as bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes, increased significantly in sugarcane/legume intercropping systems (Li et al 2012;Solanki et al 2019;Solanki et al 2018;Solanki et al 2016). A similar situation occurred in other intercropping systems, including maize (Chen et al 2018a;Zhang et al 2012a) and wheat (Dong et al 2013). However, in the intercropping system of Chinese milk vetch and rape, the content of soil microbial communities decreased (Zhou et al 2019).…”

Intercropping Systems to Modify Bioactive Compounds and Nutrient Profiles in Plants: Do We Have Enough Information to Take This as a Strategy to Improve Food Quality? A Review

“…Most of the studies that were reviewed did not neglect these characteristics, since there is enough information to support the environmental benefits of polycultures and the measurable improvement in yield. Agroecological techniques have even been improved by adding different types of fertilizers and microorganisms, which improve soil health and nutrient management [ 4 , 70 , 83 ]. These same techniques should also be studied with a focus on their effect on the phytochemical profile of the plants.…”