IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i10p5484-d554363.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Crop and Grass Intercropping on the Soil Environment in the Karst Area

Author

Listed:
  • Qinqin Xu

    (School of Karst Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China
    State Engineering Technology Institute for Karst Desertfication Control, Guiyang 550001, China)

  • Kangning Xiong

    (School of Karst Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China
    State Engineering Technology Institute for Karst Desertfication Control, Guiyang 550001, China)

  • Yongkuan Chi

    (School of Karst Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China
    State Engineering Technology Institute for Karst Desertfication Control, Guiyang 550001, China)

  • Shuzhen Song

    (School of Karst Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, China
    State Engineering Technology Institute for Karst Desertfication Control, Guiyang 550001, China)

Abstract

The karst area in Southwest China is facing the challenges of environmental degradation and agricultural safety. Intercropping is a green and efficient planting mode that can make full use of the differences in crops’ physiological and ecological characteristics and land and climate resources while considering the environmental and yield benefits. This study selected five treatments: Salvia miltiorrhiza monoculture, Dactylis glomerata intercropped with S. miltiorrhiza , Cichorium intybus intercropped with S.miltiorrhiza , Trifolium repens intercropped with S.miltiorrhiza , and Lolium perenne intercropped with S.miltiorrhiza . Using one-way ANOVA, principle component analysis (PCA), and linear correlation analysis, we analyzed the changes in the soil physicochemical factors and the coupling relationship between them in the intercropping mode. The results showed that at different soil depths, the soil bulk density in the intercropping mode was significantly lower than that in the single cropping mode ( p < 0.05), and the soil water content and total porosity were significantly increased ( p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in soil pH among the five models ( p > 0.05), the content of soil organic matter was significantly higher than that in the single cropping mode ( p < 0.05), and the content of nitrogen and phosphorus also showed different changes. The correlation analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between the pH and soil physical properties ( p > 0.05); bulk density and chemical properties were negatively correlated, while the soil water content, field water-holding capacity, and total porosity were significantly positively correlated with the chemical properties ( p > 0.05). Therefore, it is suggested to strengthen the management of agricultural grass intercropping, improve soil pore structure, regulate the distribution of soil water and fertilizer, and improve the resilience of agricultural systems in the karst area of southwest China.

Suggested Citation

  • Qinqin Xu & Kangning Xiong & Yongkuan Chi & Shuzhen Song, 2021. "Effects of Crop and Grass Intercropping on the Soil Environment in the Karst Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5484-:d:554363
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5484/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5484/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yin, Wen & Chai, Qiang & Zhao, Cai & Yu, Aizhong & Fan, Zhilong & Hu, Falong & Fan, Hong & Guo, Yao & Coulter, Jeffrey A., 2020. "Water utilization in intercropping: A review," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    2. Madembo, Connie & Mhlanga, Blessing & Thierfelder, Christian, 2020. "Productivity or stability? Exploring maize-legume intercropping strategies for smallholder Conservation Agriculture farmers in Zimbabwe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    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. Guodong Chen & Yunlong Zhai & Jianguo Zhou & Yanfang Li & Jiao Lin & Sumei Wan & Quanzhong Wu, 2022. "Optimizing Maize Belt Width Enhances Productivity in Wheat/Maize Intercropping Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-16, December.

    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. Tshering Choden & Bhim Bahadur Ghaley, 2021. "A Portfolio of Effective Water and Soil Conservation Practices for Arable Production Systems in Europe and North Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Sara Balestri, 2024. "Revitalising smallholder agriculture: the impact of technical training in rural Lebanon," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 41(2), pages 361-393, July.
    3. Wenwen Wei & Tingting Liu & Lei Shen & Xiuyuan Wang & Shuai Zhang & Wei Zhang, 2022. "Effect of Maize ( Zeal mays ) and Soybean ( Glycine max ) Intercropping on Yield and Root Development in Xinjiang, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Xin, Wang & Yanping, Song & Tan, Li, 2021. "Small farmer's planting confidence and willingness to pay for leguminous green fertilizer: environmental attributes perspective," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 25(1), August.
    5. Kinyua, M.W. & Kihara, J. & Bekunda, M. & Bolo, P. & Mairura, F.S. & Fischer, G. & Mucheru-Muna, M.W., 2023. "Agronomic and economic performance of legume-legume and cereal-legume intercropping systems in Northern Tanzania," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    6. Raymond Mugandani & Liboster Mwadzingeni & Paramu Mafongoya, 2021. "Contribution of Conservation Agriculture to Soil Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-11, September.
    7. Herdis Herdiansyah & Ernoiz Antriyandarti & Amrina Rosyada & Nor Isnaeni Dwi Arista & Tri Edhi Budhi Soesilo & Ninin Ernawati, 2023. "Evaluation of Conventional and Mechanization Methods towards Precision Agriculture in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-21, June.
    8. Qin, Shujing & Li, Sien & Cheng, Lei & Zhang, Lu & Qiu, Rangjian & Liu, Pan & Xi, Haiyang, 2023. "Partitioning evapotranspiration in partially mulched interplanted croplands by improving the Shuttleworth-Wallace model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    9. Zheng, Chenghao & Wang, Ruoshui & Zhou, Xuan & Li, Chaonan & Dou, Xiaoyu, 2021. "Effects of mulch and irrigation regimes on water distribution and root competition in an apple–soybean intercropping system in Loess Plateau, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    10. Liu, Ziqi & Li, Kaiping & Xiong, Kangning & Li, Yuan & Wang, Jin & Sun, Jian & Cai, Lulu, 2021. "Effects of Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting on soil hydraulic properties and soil moisture in a karst area," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    11. Wang, Wei & Li, Meng-Ying & Gong, Dong-Shan & Zhou, Rui & Khan, Aziz & Zhu, Ying & Zhu, Hao & Abrar, Muhammad & Zhu, Shuang-Guo & Wang, Bao-Zhong & Song, Chao & Xiong, You-Cai, 2022. "Water use of intercropped species: Maize-soybean, soybean-wheat and wheat-maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    12. Tarirai Muoni & Blessing Mhlanga & Ingrid Öborn & Christian Thierfelder, 2024. "Management of maize-legume conservation agriculture systems rather than varietal choice fosters human nutrition in Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 16(5), pages 1067-1080, October.
    13. Zheng, Chenghao & Wang, Ruoshui & Zhou, Xuan & Li, Chaonan & Dou, Xiaoyu, 2022. "Photosynthetic and growth characteristics of apple and soybean in an intercropping system under different mulch and irrigation regimes in the Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    14. Liang Feng & Wenting Yang & Quan Zhou & Haiying Tang & Qiaoying Ma & Guoqin Huang & Shubin Wang, 2021. "Effects of interspecific competition on crop yield and nitrogen utilisation in maize-soybean intercropping system," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 67(8), pages 460-467.
    15. Mohamed Lazali & Simon Boudsocq & Elisa Taschen & Mohamed Farissi & Wissem Hamdi & Parthenopi Ralli & Hervé Sentenac, 2021. "CROSYMED Project: Enhancing Nutrient Use Efficiency through Legumes in Agroecosystems of the Mediterranean Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-10, April.
    16. Wen Lv & Xining Zhao & Pute Wu & Jialong Lv & Hailong He, 2021. "A Scientometric Analysis of Worldwide Intercropping Research Based on Web of Science Database between 1992 and 2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, February.
    17. Daniel Oscar Soares & Karla Gabrielle Pinto & Prasanta Chitta Bhowmik & Sônia Maria Albertino, 2022. "Chemical Properties of Soil and Cassava Yield as a Function of Weed Management by Cover Crops in the Amazon Ecosystem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-13, February.
    18. Wang, Maojian & Shi, Wei & Kamran, Muhammad & Chang, Shenghua & Jia, Qianmin & Hou, Fujiang, 2024. "Effects of intercropping and regulated deficit irrigation on the yield, water and land resource utilization, and economic benefits of forage maize in arid region of Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 298(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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5484-:d:554363. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.