Weih, Martin and Karley, Alison J. and Newton, Adrian C. and Kiaer, Lars P. and Scherber, Christoph and Rubiales, Diego and Adam, Eveline and Ajal, James and Brandmeier, Jana and Pappagallo, Silvia and Villegas-Fernandez, Angel and Reckling, Moritz and Tavoletti, Stefano
(2021).
Grain Yield Stability of Cereal-Legume Intercrops Is Greater Than Sole Crops in More Productive Conditions.
Agriculture. 11
, 11030255
[Research article]
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Abstract
The intercropping of two or more crop species on the same piece of land at a given time has been hypothesized to enhance crop yield stability. To address this hypothesis, we assessed the grain yield stability of various barley-pea and wheat-faba bean mixtures grown in seven experimental field trials (locations) across Europe during two years with contrasting weather (2017 and 2018). Three different yield stability measures were used, all based on the expected yield variability of the mixture components grown as sole crops, and the corresponding observed yield variability of the same components grown in 50:50 mixtures in a replacement design. Stability indices were calculated as ratios between the expected and observed variabilities, with values > 1 indicating greater stability of the intercrops. Mean grain yields tended to be higher in intercrops than sole crops. However, in contrast to our hypothesis, the observed (intercrop) yield stability was similar or lower than the expected (sole crop) stability in most locations except one. Furthermore, yield stability significantly increased with increasing mean yields when assessed across differentially productive locations. The results are relevant for the designing of intercropping systems as a means to increase yield stability and the resilience of cropping systems.
Authors/Creators: | Weih, Martin and Karley, Alison J. and Newton, Adrian C. and Kiaer, Lars P. and Scherber, Christoph and Rubiales, Diego and Adam, Eveline and Ajal, James and Brandmeier, Jana and Pappagallo, Silvia and Villegas-Fernandez, Angel and Reckling, Moritz and Tavoletti, Stefano | ||||||
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Title: | Grain Yield Stability of Cereal-Legume Intercrops Is Greater Than Sole Crops in More Productive Conditions | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Agriculture | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2021 | ||||||
Volume: | 11 | ||||||
Article number: | 11030255 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 18 | ||||||
Publisher: | MDPI | ||||||
ISSN: | 2077-0472 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 4 Agricultural Sciences > 401 Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries > Agricultural Science | ||||||
Keywords: | barley (Hordeum vulgare), crop diversification, faba bean (Vicia faba), pea (Pisum sativum), wheat (Triticum aestivum), yield stability, intercropping | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-111441 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-111441 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 23275 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Crop Production Ecology | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 15 Apr 2021 11:43 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 15 Apr 2021 11:51 |
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