Sunflower–Soybean Intercrop Productivity under Different Water Conditions and Sowing Managements

Abstract

Th e sunfl ower (Helianthus annus L.)-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] intercrop has emerged as an option that increases land productivity in the southern Pampas of Argentina, compared with sole crops, because of complementary use of resources between species. A common management practice for this intercrop consists of delay soybean sowing, although delayed planting reduces the capacity of soybean to capture resources. Simultaneous sowing could improve total intercrop productivity because of an increase in soybean grain yield with no or little detrimental eff ects on sunfl ower grain yield. Th e objectives of this study were to analyze the response of the sunfl ower-soybean intercrop and of their component species under diff erent sowing management (i.e., relay or simultaneous sowing) and water availability conditions. Th ree experiments were conducted at Balcarce, Argentina. Four cropping systems were evaluated: (i) sunfl ower-soybean intercrop with simultaneous sowing management (I00), (ii) sunfl owersoybean intercrop with 30 d of delay between sunfl ower and soybean sowing (I30), (iii) sunfl ower sole crop (SUN), and (iv) soybean sole crop (SOY). Sunfl ower-soybean intercrop grain yield tend to be higher than that for sole crops of the component species.Th is yield advantage for intercrop increased with water availability and was associated with an increase in intercropped soybean productivity. Intercrop sowing management had no eff ect on total intercrop grain yield. However, simultaneous sowing increased soybean contribution to intercrop yield. Finally, our results indicate that agronomic practices that promote intercropped soybean performance increase intercrop productivity relative to the sole crops of their component species.

Intercropping maintains soil fertility in terms of chemical properties and enzyme activities on a timescale of one decade

“…Faba bean and wheat were sown at roughly the same time and were mature at about the same time (faba bean maturity 15-20 days later than wheat), thus there are neither interspecific facilitation nor competition-recovery processes in the wheat/faba bean intercropping. Other intercropping systems in other regions have also shown yield advantage of intercropping over monocultures (de Carvalho, Nunes, and de Oliveira 2009;Andrade et al 2012;Rusinamhodzi et al 2012). For instance, maize-based intercropping with ecological intensification increased productivity by 42.1 and 88.9 % in central Mozambique compared with monoculture (Rusinamhodzi et al 2012).…”

Responses to shade and subsequent recovery of soya bean in maize-soya bean relay strip intercropping

“…In maize-soya bean relay strip intercropping, maize is superior component crop, the detrimental effects of soya bean over maize was ignorable (Echarte et al, 2011). The increase of total yield of intercropping was associated with the increase in intercropped soya bean yield when planted with tall component crops in relay intercropping (Andrade et al, 2012). Increases of soya bean yield without losses of maize yield are proper plants per hole.…”

“…In intercropping situations, two or more crops are grown simultaneously in the same field during a part or the entire growing season (Francis, 1989;Willey, 1979). Relay intercropping is one type of intercropping (Duval, 2005;Nelson et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2008b); many studies described the high productivity of relay strip intercropping (INT) and resource use efficiency levels (Andrade et al, 2012;Bedoussac & Justes, 2010;Echarte et al, 2011;Gao et al, 2009;Mushagalusa et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2008b). In INT, the component crops are planted in different strips, and the late-planted crop is sown after the early-planted crop has reached its reproductive stage but before its harvest (Francis, 1989).…”

Sunflower crop: environmental-friendly and agroecological

“…insects) in conventional cropping systems in temperate regions (de la Fuente et al, 2014). Relatively few researches dealing with sunflower-soybean intercropping are available, mainly based on experiments in African, Asian and South American conditions (Olowe and Adebimpe, 2009;Shivaramu and Shivashankar, 1992;Calvino and Monzon, 2009;Miao et al, 2016) and mainly focusing on the agronomic functioning and efficiency (Echarte et al, 2011;Andrade et al, 2012). These researches show that the land equivalent ratio (LER) À the surface needed in sole crops to produce the same yield as in the intercrop À was generally ranging from 1.2 to 1.6.…”

“…This clearly emphasized that there are various possibilities for improving interspecific interactions and the use of abiotic resources within the growth cycle. Therefore, there is a potential in exploring earliness, aerial plant architecture of genotypes for both species, but also adapting intercrop row structure and management practices (Robinson, 1984;Andrade et al, 2012). The risk of infection with pathogens common to both crops, such as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, must be mentioned.…”