Root traits with team benefits: understanding belowground interactions in intercropping systems

Homulle, Zohralyn; George, Timothy S.; Karley, Alison J.

doi:10.1007/s11104-021-05165-8

Cited by 100 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 149 publications

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“…legume root exudates (Homulle et al, 2021) and physical support to prevent lodging. One of the main challenges for improving intercrops is characterizing the trait combinations that maximize these positive interactions while minimizing negative interactions (Brooker et al, 2021;Homulle et al, 2021;Justes et al, 2021).…”

Section: Species Synergy Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main advantage of intercrops is often described as being the result of the “4C effects” ( Justes et al, 2021 ) corresponding to three positive interactions (complementarity, cooperation, and compensation) and one negative interaction (competition) occurring simultaneously and dynamically between species over the whole cropping cycle. Positive legume–cereal interactions are underpinned by mechanisms of niche differentiation, such as for soil mineral nitrogen vs. biological nitrogen fixation ( Bedoussac et al, 2015 ; Cowden et al, 2021 ), and facilitation, such as soil phosphate release by legume root exudates ( Homulle et al, 2021 ) and physical support to prevent lodging. One of the main challenges for improving intercrops is characterizing the trait combinations that maximize these positive interactions while minimizing negative interactions ( Brooker et al, 2021 ; Homulle et al, 2021 ; Justes et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Desirable Breeding Traits In Intercrop Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Positive legume–cereal interactions are underpinned by mechanisms of niche differentiation, such as for soil mineral nitrogen vs. biological nitrogen fixation ( Bedoussac et al, 2015 ; Cowden et al, 2021 ), and facilitation, such as soil phosphate release by legume root exudates ( Homulle et al, 2021 ) and physical support to prevent lodging. One of the main challenges for improving intercrops is characterizing the trait combinations that maximize these positive interactions while minimizing negative interactions ( Brooker et al, 2021 ; Homulle et al, 2021 ; Justes et al, 2021 ). The intercrop ideotypes that optimize these processes will vary with the intended outcome, whether to increase fertilizer use efficiency, minimize lodging, improve weed control, or promote biodiversity ( Brooker et al, 2015 ; Gu et al, 2021 ; Homulle et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Desirable Breeding Traits In Intercrop Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the main challenges for improving intercrops is characterizing the trait combinations that maximize these positive interactions while minimizing negative interactions ( Brooker et al, 2021 ; Homulle et al, 2021 ; Justes et al, 2021 ). The intercrop ideotypes that optimize these processes will vary with the intended outcome, whether to increase fertilizer use efficiency, minimize lodging, improve weed control, or promote biodiversity ( Brooker et al, 2015 ; Gu et al, 2021 ; Homulle et al, 2021 ). Identifying clear goals to be achieved by intercropping is crucial when choosing candidate germplasm in the selection process, as different goals may necessitate separate breeding programs or simply the correct selection of existing genotypes.…”

Section: Desirable Breeding Traits In Intercrop Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supply Chain Perspectives on Breeding for Legume–Cereal Intercrops

et al. 2022

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Compared to sole crops, intercropping—especially of legumes and cereals—has great potential to improve crop yield and resource use efficiency, and can provide many other ecosystem services. However, the beneficial effects of intercrops are often greatly dependent on the end use as well as the specific species and genotypes being co-cultivated. In addition, intercropping imposes added complexity at different levels of the supply chain. While the need for developing crop genotypes for intercropping has long been recognized, most cultivars on the market are optimized for sole cropping and may not necessarily perform well in intercrops. This paper aims to place breeding targets for intercrop-adapted genotypes in a supply chain perspective. Three case studies of legumes and cereals intercropped for human consumption are used to identify desirable intercrop traits for actors across the supply chains, many of which are not targeted by traditional breeding for sole crops, including certain seed attributes, and some of which do not fit traditional breeding schemes, such as breeding for synchronized maturity and species synergies. Incorporating these traits into intercrop breeding could significantly reduce complexity along the supply chain. It is concluded that the widespread adoption and integration of intercrops will only be successful through the inclusion and collaboration of all supply chain actors, the application of breeding approaches that take into account the complexity of intercrop supply chains, and the implementation of diversification strategies in every process from field to fork.

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Section: Species Synergy Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Desirable Breeding Traits In Intercrop Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Desirable Breeding Traits In Intercrop Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Desirable Breeding Traits In Intercrop Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supply Chain Perspectives on Breeding for Legume–Cereal Intercrops

et al. 2022

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“…The ecological interactions of trees and crops are very complex that could be complementary or competitional (Querné et al 2017;Hombegowda et al 2020). For instance, trees take up nutrients from deep soil layers while crops drawing nutrients from topsoil layers, thereby shaping a complementary interaction in resource utilization (Hombegowda et al 2020;Homulle et al 2021). Furthermore, these nutrients absorbed by trees will return to the topsoil of arable land by litter decomposition (Isaac and Borden 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities Response Differently to Bombax Ceiba (Malvaceae) in a Traditional Agroforestry System

Wang

Wen

Malabrigo

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background Agroforestry system is one of promising directions for developing sustainable agriculture because the intercropping of crops and trees may facilitate resource cycling and avoid soil degradation. Bombax ceiba (Malvaceae), a tall tree with red flowers blooming in Spring, is traditionally planted in rice paddies in tropical Asia, while the roles of B. ceiba in the agroecosystem remain unexplored.Methods In this paper, we investigated and assessed spatiotemporal variations of soil nutrient contents and soil bacterial and fungal communities along the distance gradients to B. ceiba during three reproductive stages of rice, i.e. booting, heading, mature, in a typical Bombax-dominated rice paddy on Hainan Island, South China.Results B. ceiba in rice paddy could improve the soil nutrient conditions, particularly available K and soil organic carbons. The relative abundance of Chloroflexi and Ascomycota increased while Actinobacteria decreased along the distance gradient to B. ceiba. In addition, the relative abundance of Firmicutes was highest at harvesting stage of rice, while Acidobacteria was richer in the early reproductive stage of rice. Soil potassium content was the principal driver in shaping soil bacterial diversity and composition, while fungal community was mainly affected by soil nitrogen.Conclusions Our results provide evidences for positive influences of B. ceiba on biotic and abiotic traits of rice paddy soils and thus lend supports to the ecological basis of this tropical Asian endemic traditional Agroforestry system, which could increase resource cycling and paddy stability and have the potential to reduce carbon emission.

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Wheat root exudates suppress faba bean Fusarium wilt disease

Yang,

Zheng,

Cen

et al. 2024

Food and Energy Security

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Continuous cultivation of faba beans often results in a high occurrence of Fusarium wilt. Nevertheless, this issue can be successfully managed through wheat‐faba bean intercropping. Our objective is to elucidate the function of non‐host wheat in combating faba bean Fusarium wilt. We assessed the impact of wheat on the development of faba bean Fusarium wilt through field and pot experiments, and examined and identified the compounds in the root exudates of wheat. The influence of wheat root exudates on Fusarium commun mycelial growth and spore multiplication was investigated through indoor culture experiments. Wheat‐faba bean intercropping significantly reduced the occurrence of Fusarium wilt in field trials. Root separation experiments in pots indicated that wheat root exudates might play a vital role in this outcome. The exogenous addition of wheat root exudates to faba bean grown alone notably decreased the occurrence and severity of Fusarium wilt. Furthermore, the exogenous addition of wheat root exudates effectively hindered the growth and reproduction of Fusarium commun's mycelium. And, wheat root exudates contained six compounds with relatively high concentrations, including salicylic acid, p‐hydroxybenzoic acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, glutamic acid, and threonine, all of which inhibited the growth and spore formation of Fusarium commun. In a wheat‐faba bean intercropping system, these six compounds found in the root exudate of non‐host wheat can help control Fusarium wilt in faba bean by inhibiting the mycelial growth and sporulation of Fusarium commun.

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Root traits with team benefits: understanding belowground interactions in intercropping systems

Cited by 100 publications

References 149 publications

Supply Chain Perspectives on Breeding for Legume–Cereal Intercrops

Supply Chain Perspectives on Breeding for Legume–Cereal Intercrops

Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities Response Differently to Bombax Ceiba (Malvaceae) in a Traditional Agroforestry System

Wheat root exudates suppress faba bean Fusarium wilt disease

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