IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v226y2019ics0378377419303336.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can intercropping with the Chinese medicinal herbs change the water use of the aged rubber trees?

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Junen
  • Zeng, Huanhuan
  • Chen, Chunfeng
  • Liu, Wenjie

Abstract

Intercropping the medicine herbs (i.e., Amomum villosum and Clerodendranthus spicatus) with rubber tree in Xishuangbanna prefecture of southwestern China is regarded as a promising solution to reduce the negative hydrological effects which were caused by the monocultural cultivation of rubber tree and improve the sustainability of aged rubber plantation. However, the water-use characteristics of rubber tree in these agroforestry systems (AFSs) were still rarely reported, and our current understanding of the below-ground competition in such tree and herb AFSs is also insufficient. Therefore, we adopted the techniques of stable isotopes to study the water use efficiency (WUE; through leaf δ13C) and the water-absorbing patterns (through δ2H and δ18O) of the aged rubber trees and the intercropped herbs for the investigation of their water competition, and we also measured the contents of their leaf carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to check the competition effects on the nutrient status of rubber tree. As the results of Bayesian mixing model (MixSIAR) suggested, the aged rubber trees in the rubber monoculture still absorbed the surface and shallow soil water (0–15 cm depths) mainly, same as the intercropped herbs in these AFSs, but rubber trees in the AFSs prefer to absorb the middle and deep soil water (below 15 cm depths). Such phenomenon verified that the water-absorbing patterns of these aged rubber trees were still flexible. However, the leaf δ13C of the rubber trees in these AFSs indicated their WUE was not improved through the intercropping, and thus the soil water content decreased in the AFSs. In short, intercropping the shallow roots medicine herbs (i.e., A. villosum and C. spicatus) can help the aged rubber trees use deeper soil water, and thus help the rubber tree and intercrops form complementary water-absorbing patterns in the pronounced dry season, but there is no improvement in their WUE and the soil water conditions. In addition, the decreased leaf N of rubber trees in the AFSs suggests that the N absorption of rubber trees was limited. Therefore, intercropping the medicine herbs with rubber tree still need more consideration on the design of such AFSs, especially in terms of the soil water conservation and management.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Junen & Zeng, Huanhuan & Chen, Chunfeng & Liu, Wenjie, 2019. "Can intercropping with the Chinese medicinal herbs change the water use of the aged rubber trees?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:226:y:2019:i:c:s0378377419303336
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105803
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377419303336
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105803?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew C. Parnell & Donald L. Phillips & Stuart Bearhop & Brice X. Semmens & Eric J. Ward & Jonathan W. Moore & Andrew L. Jackson & Jonathan Grey & David J. Kelly & Richard Inger, 2013. "Bayesian stable isotope mixing models," Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 387-399, September.
    2. Zhu, Yixin & Xu, Jianchu & Li, Qiaohong & Mortimer, Peter E., 2014. "Investigation of rubber seed yield in Xishuangbanna and estimation of rubber seed oil based biodiesel potential in Southeast Asia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 837-842.
    3. Zhang, Le & Kono, Yasuyuki & Kobayashi, Shigeo, 2014. "The process of expansion in commercial banana cropping in tropical China: A case study at a Dai village, Mengla County," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 32-38.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Bin & Meng, Xianjing & Zhu, Xiai & Zakari, Sissou & Singh, Ashutosh K. & Bibi, Farkhanda & Mei, Nan & Song, Liang & Liu, Wenjie, 2021. "Coffee performs better than amomum as a candidate in the rubber agroforestry system: Insights from water relations," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Napoleón Vargas Jurado & Kent M. Eskridge & Stephen D. Kachman & Ronald M. Lewis, 2018. "Using a Bayesian Hierarchical Linear Mixing Model to Estimate Botanical Mixtures," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 23(2), pages 190-207, June.
    2. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Adesugba, Margaret Abiodun, 2014. "Irrigation potential in Nigeria: Some perspectives based on factor endowments, tropical nature, and patterns in favorable areas:," IFPRI discussion papers 1399, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Yongyun Zhang & Min Gao & Xi Sun & Baoling Liang & Cuizhi Sun & Qibin Sun & Xue Ni & Hengjia Ou & Shixin Mai & Shengzhen Zhou & Jun Zhao, 2024. "The Isotopic Characteristics, Sources, and Formation Pathways of Atmospheric Sulfate and Nitrate in the South China Sea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Huan Zhang & Yuyu Wang & Jun Xu, 2023. "Influence of Seasonal Water Level Fluctuations on Food Web Structure of a Large Floodplain Lake in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-12, July.
    5. Xinyi Li & Xiong Wang & Xiaoqing Song, 2021. "Impacts of Agricultural Capitalization on Regional Paddy Field Change: A Production-Factor Substitution Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-18, February.
    6. Song, Xiaoqing & Wang, Xiong & Li, Xinyi & Zhang, Weina & Scheffran, Jürgen, 2021. "Policy-oriented versus market-induced: Factors influencing crop diversity across China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    7. Wang, Zhong-Jun & Yue, Fu-Jun & Wang, Yu-Chun & Qin, Cai-Qing & Ding, Hu & Xue, Li-Li & Li, Si-Liang, 2022. "The effect of heavy rainfall events on nitrogen patterns in agricultural surface and underground streams and the implications for karst water quality protection," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    8. Li, Jing & Zhang, Zelie & Jin, Xianfeng & Chen, Jiaquan & Zhang, Shaojia & He, Zong & Li, Sheng & He, Zhiming & Zhang, Haipeng & Xiao, He, 2018. "Exploring the socioeconomic and ecological consequences of cash crop cultivation for policy implications," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 46-57.
    9. Upadhaya, Suraj & Dwivedi, Puneet, 2019. "Conversion of forestlands to blueberries: Assessing implications for habitat quality in Alabaha river watershed in Southeastern Georgia, United States," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Hua, Xiaobo & Kono, Yasuyuki & Zhang, Le & Xu, Erqi & Luo, Renshan, 2019. "How transnational labor migration affects upland land use practices in the receiving country: Findings from the China-Myanmar borderland," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 163-176.
    11. Zhang, Jian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Hirsch, Stefan, 2021. "Market-oriented agriculture and farm performance: Evidence from rural China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:226:y:2019:i:c:s0378377419303336. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.