Intercropping of oat and pea to address field-scale soil heterogeneity

Abstract

Growing grain legumes is challenging due to a high spatial and temporal variability in yield caused by various biotic and abiotic factors, which may be compensated and/or minimised by intercropping (IC) with cereals. However, little is known about the effect of field-scale soil spatial variability on competitive interactions between the IC components, resource use and crop yield performance. A field experiment was conducted to determine how intercropping (IC) of oat (Avena sativa L.) and field pea (Pisum sativum L.) affects crop yield, and balances the field-scale heterogeneity in soil conditions compared to sole crops (SCs). The soil parameters and crop yields varied considerably across the field. The oat-pea IC showed less field-scale variability in yield and suppressed weeds more strongly than pea SC. The study will provide an important insight into how IC can address the issue of crop yield variability and weed growth arising from the variable soil conditions.

Keywords

grain legume; cereal; crop diversification:resource use efficiency; ecosystem services; ecological precision farming

Published in

Aspects of Applied Biology
2021, volume: 146, pages: 275-280
Title: Intercropping for sustainability : research developments and their application
Publisher: Association of Applied Biologists

Conference

Intercropping for sustainability Research developments and their application, Virtual conference, 18–20 January 2021

SLU Authors

• Dhamala, Nawa Raj

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Chongtham Iman, Raj

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Jensen, Erik Steen

  • Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Soil Science
Agricultural Science

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/115491