Seasonal soil health dynamics in soy-wheat relay intercropping
Abstract There is growing interest in intercropping as a practice to increase productivity per unit area and ecosystem functioning in agricultural systems. Relay intercropping with soy and winter wheat may benefit soil health due to increased diversity and longer undisturbed soil cover, yet this rem...
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Nature Portfolio
2024-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-69903-5 |
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| author | Jennifer B. Thompson Thomas F. Döring Timothy M. Bowles Steffen Kolb Sonoko D. Bellingrath-Kimura Moritz Reckling |
| author_facet | Jennifer B. Thompson Thomas F. Döring Timothy M. Bowles Steffen Kolb Sonoko D. Bellingrath-Kimura Moritz Reckling |
| author_sort | Jennifer B. Thompson |
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| description | Abstract There is growing interest in intercropping as a practice to increase productivity per unit area and ecosystem functioning in agricultural systems. Relay intercropping with soy and winter wheat may benefit soil health due to increased diversity and longer undisturbed soil cover, yet this remains largely unstudied. Using a field experiment in Eastern Germany, we studied the temporal dynamics of chemical, biological, and physical indicators of soil health in the topsoil over a year of cultivation to detect early effects of soy-wheat relay intercropping compared to sole cropping. Indicators included microbial abundance, permanganate-oxidizable carbon, carbon fractions, pH, and water infiltration. Relay intercropping showed no unique soil health benefits compared to sole cropping, likely affected by drought that stressed intercropped soy. Relay intercropping did, however, maintain several properties of both sole crops including an increased MAOM C:N ratio and higher soil water infiltration. The MAOM C:N ratio increased by 4.2 and 6.2% in intercropping and sole soy and decreased by 5% in sole wheat. Average near-saturated soil water infiltration rates were 12.6, 14.9, and 6.0 cm hr−1 for intercropping, sole wheat, and sole soy, respectively. Cropping system did not consistently affect other indicators but we found temporal patterns of these indicators, showing their sensitivity to external changes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e6a5ae23982845278b42d750d9ff2ab6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| spelling | doaj-art-e6a5ae23982845278b42d750d9ff2ab62025-01-19T12:24:49ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-08-0114111210.1038/s41598-024-69903-5Seasonal soil health dynamics in soy-wheat relay intercroppingJennifer B. Thompson0Thomas F. Döring1Timothy M. Bowles2Steffen Kolb3Sonoko D. Bellingrath-Kimura4Moritz Reckling5Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Agroecology and Organic Farming, University of BonnDepartment of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of CaliforniaLeibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)Abstract There is growing interest in intercropping as a practice to increase productivity per unit area and ecosystem functioning in agricultural systems. Relay intercropping with soy and winter wheat may benefit soil health due to increased diversity and longer undisturbed soil cover, yet this remains largely unstudied. Using a field experiment in Eastern Germany, we studied the temporal dynamics of chemical, biological, and physical indicators of soil health in the topsoil over a year of cultivation to detect early effects of soy-wheat relay intercropping compared to sole cropping. Indicators included microbial abundance, permanganate-oxidizable carbon, carbon fractions, pH, and water infiltration. Relay intercropping showed no unique soil health benefits compared to sole cropping, likely affected by drought that stressed intercropped soy. Relay intercropping did, however, maintain several properties of both sole crops including an increased MAOM C:N ratio and higher soil water infiltration. The MAOM C:N ratio increased by 4.2 and 6.2% in intercropping and sole soy and decreased by 5% in sole wheat. Average near-saturated soil water infiltration rates were 12.6, 14.9, and 6.0 cm hr−1 for intercropping, sole wheat, and sole soy, respectively. Cropping system did not consistently affect other indicators but we found temporal patterns of these indicators, showing their sensitivity to external changes.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-69903-5Spatial diversificationCrop mixtureSoil carbonSoil microbial communities |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer B. Thompson Thomas F. Döring Timothy M. Bowles Steffen Kolb Sonoko D. Bellingrath-Kimura Moritz Reckling Seasonal soil health dynamics in soy-wheat relay intercropping Scientific Reports Spatial diversification Crop mixture Soil carbon Soil microbial communities |
| title | Seasonal soil health dynamics in soy-wheat relay intercropping |
| title_full | Seasonal soil health dynamics in soy-wheat relay intercropping |
| title_fullStr | Seasonal soil health dynamics in soy-wheat relay intercropping |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seasonal soil health dynamics in soy-wheat relay intercropping |
| title_short | Seasonal soil health dynamics in soy-wheat relay intercropping |
| title_sort | seasonal soil health dynamics in soy wheat relay intercropping |
| topic | Spatial diversification Crop mixture Soil carbon Soil microbial communities |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-69903-5 |
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