Intercropping improves soil nutrient availability, soil enzyme activity and tea quantity and quality

Ma, Yanfei; Fu, Songling; Zhang, Xueping; Zhao, Kang; Chen, Han Y. H.

doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.06.028

Cited by 111 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…For example, Wu et al [22] found that rubber-tea intercropping can not only redistribute water sources well underground in this agroforestry system, but can also maintain plant root health underneath the soil of the terrace. Similarly, Ma et al [23] showed that Castanea mollissima Blume-tea intercropping can improve tea quantity and quality. Mortimer et al [24] have proven that alder trees (Alnus nepalensis) in tea plantations promote the growth and development of the soil microbial communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The Response of Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Structures in Long-Term Tea Plantations and Diverse Agroforestry Intercropping Systems

et al. 2021

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During tea cultivation, diverse agroforestry is an important and established intercropping measure, with most studies concentrating on ecological service provision and economic returns. However, the response of soil nutrients and microbial community structures in long-term tea plantations with diverse agroforestry intercropping systems is poorly understood. In the present field study (2015), three intercropping agroforestry-tea patterns (Osmanthus-Tea (OT), Michelia-Tea (MT), Osmanthus-Michelia-Tea (OMT)) along with a study control (C) were examined in terms of these two knowledge gaps. Results showed that, in terms of tea cultivation, the OMT system is more suitable than the OT and MT systems. The OMT system significantly increased the total nitrogen (TN, 16.4%), total potassium (TK, 10.5%), available nitrogen (AN, 14.2%), available phosphorus (AP, 26.7%) and soil organic matter (SOM, 28.9%). The OMT system increased phylum Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes abundance by 35.8% and 9.6%. In addition, the OMT system enhanced the abundance of class Bacteroidia (99.5%), Erysipelotrichia (96.9%), Clostridia (93.5%) and Actinobacteria (19.6%), respectively. In general, the phylum bacteria Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria accounted for the largest proportion of bacteria in all three intercropping systems. In this study, the abundance of Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were positively correlated with AN, SOM and TP. The results of the present study will help to develop a better understanding of the benefits imposed by different agroforestry intercropping systems on nutrient dynamics and microbial structural diversity during tea cultivation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The Response of Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Structures in Long-Term Tea Plantations and Diverse Agroforestry Intercropping Systems

et al. 2021

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“…Soil urease activities were determined using the sodium phenoxide-sodium hypochlorite method [ 23 ], sucrose activities were determined by the 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid method [ 24 ], and nitrate reductase activities were determined using the phenol disulfonic acid method [ 25 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consecutive soybean (Glycine max) planting and covering improve acidified tea garden soil

Gao

Lin

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Planting soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) in tea gardens decreased soil pH in theory but increased it in practice. This controversy was addressed in this study by treating the tea garden soil consecutively with different parts of a soybean cover crop: aboveground soybean (ASB) parts, underground soybean (USB) root residues, and the whole soybean (WSB) plants. In comparison with the control, the soil pH increased significantly after the third ASB and WSB treatments, but there was no significant change in the soil pH in the USB treatment. Concordantly, the soil exchangeable acidity decreased significantly and the soil exchangeable bases increased significantly in the ASB and WSB treatments. The exchangeable acidity increased in the USB treatment, but the amount of the increased acidity was less than that of the increased bases in the ASB treatment, resulting in a net increase in the exchangeable bases in the WSB treatment. Soybean planting and covering also increased the microbial richness and abundance significantly, which led to significantly more soil organic matters. Exchangeable K+ and Mg2+, and soil organic matters played significantly positive roles and exchangeable Al3+ played negative roles in improving soil pH. Our data suggest that consecutive plantings of soybean cover crop increase the pH of the acidified tea garden soil.

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“…Increased groundcover due to intercropping may also reduce runoff and soil erosion [22,23]. Other reported benefits of intercropping include reduction in pest and disease infestation [24,25], increase in soil organic matter, earthworm and soil microbial activity and improvement in soil structure [26][27][28][29]. Furthermore, incorporating legumes in intercropping promotes nitrogen fixation and improves soil fertility [30,31]; growing crops with different root depths further enhances the efficient use of below-ground resources [32,33].…”

Section: Intercropping Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intercropping—Evaluating the Advantages to Broadacre Systems

et al. 2021

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Intercropping is considered by its advocates to be a sustainable, environmentally sound, and economically advantageous cropping system. Intercropping systems are complex, with non-uniform competition between the component species within the cropping cycle, typically leading to unequal relative yields making evaluation difficult. This paper is a review of the main existing metrics used in the scientific literature to assess intercropping systems. Their strengths and limitations are discussed. Robust metrics for characterising intercropping systems are proposed. A major limitation is that current metrics assume the same management level between intercropping and monocropping systems and do not consider differences in costs of production. Another drawback is that they assume the component crops in the mixture are of equal value. Moreover, in employing metrics, many studies have considered direct and private costs and benefits only, ignoring indirect and social costs and benefits of intercropping systems per se. Furthermore, production risk and growers’ risk preferences were often overlooked. In evaluating intercropping advantage using data from field trials, four metrics are recommended that collectively take into account all important differences in private costs and benefits between intercropping and monocropping systems, specifically the Land Equivalent Ratio, Yield Ratio, Value Ratio and Net Gross Margin.

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Intercropping improves soil nutrient availability, soil enzyme activity and tea quantity and quality

Cited by 111 publications

References 29 publications

The Response of Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Structures in Long-Term Tea Plantations and Diverse Agroforestry Intercropping Systems

The Response of Soil Nutrients and Microbial Community Structures in Long-Term Tea Plantations and Diverse Agroforestry Intercropping Systems

Consecutive soybean (Glycine max) planting and covering improve acidified tea garden soil

Intercropping—Evaluating the Advantages to Broadacre Systems

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