IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i15p12054-d1211901.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intercropping Perennial Fruit Trees and Annual Field Crops with Aromatic and Medicinal Plants (MAPs) in the Mediterranean Basin

Author

Listed:
  • Ilaria Marotti

    (Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 46, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Anne Whittaker

    (Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 46, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Reyhan Bahtiyarca Bağdat

    (Field Crops Central Research Institute, Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ankara 06170, Türkiye)

  • Pervin Ari Akin

    (Field Crops Central Research Institute, Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ankara 06170, Türkiye
    Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, University Centre, 50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada)

  • Namuk Ergün

    (Field Crops Central Research Institute, Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ankara 06170, Türkiye)

  • Giovanni Dinelli

    (Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 46, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

The Mediterranean basin (MB), a “climate hotspot”, is experiencing faster than average increases in global temperature and water deficit, as well as soil degradation, with detrimental impacts on food crop yield and pest/pathogen incidence. Hence, there is an urgent requisite for sustainable crop diversification strategies to promote crop resilience, soil quality conservation and pest/pathogen control. Intercropping is a strategy that has yet to be widely adopted. Presently, cereal–legume combinations represent the most common intercrops. Of relevance, a large number of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), native to the MB, serve as potentially profitable indigenous resources for intercropping with food crops. Environmentally sustainable benefits of MB MAP intercropping with food crops have ironically been reported largely from research outside the MB. The present study aims to review the published literature from 2003 to 2023 on MAP intercropping with perennial nut/fruit crops and annual field crops in the MB. Published research is scarce but shows a promising upward trend, with 70% and 47% of intercropping studies with perennials and annual field crops, respectively, dated between 2020 and 2023. MAP intercropping shows potential in augmenting yield, pest/pathogen and weed control, soil health and cash crop quality, warranting further research with more widespread adoption in the MB.

Suggested Citation

  • Ilaria Marotti & Anne Whittaker & Reyhan Bahtiyarca Bağdat & Pervin Ari Akin & Namuk Ergün & Giovanni Dinelli, 2023. "Intercropping Perennial Fruit Trees and Annual Field Crops with Aromatic and Medicinal Plants (MAPs) in the Mediterranean Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-23, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:12054-:d:1211901
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/12054/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/12054/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wolfgang Cramer & Joël Guiot & Marianela Fader & Joaquim Garrabou & Jean-Pierre Gattuso & Ana Iglesias & Manfred A. Lange & Piero Lionello & Maria Carmen Llasat & Shlomit Paz & Josep Peñuelas & Maria , 2018. "Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(11), pages 972-980, November.
    2. Hanan Ali Alrteimei & Zulfa Hanan Ash’aari & Farrah Melissa Muharram, 2022. "Last Decade Assessment of the Impacts of Regional Climate Change on Crop Yield Variations in the Mediterranean Region," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-21, October.
    3. K. Ann Bybee-Finley & Matthew R. Ryan, 2018. "Advancing Intercropping Research and Practices in Industrialized Agricultural Landscapes," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-24, June.
    4. Felix Dittrich & Thomas Iserloh & Cord-Henrich Treseler & Roman Hüppi & Sophie Ogan & Manuel Seeger & Sören Thiele-Bruhn, 2021. "Crop Diversification in Viticulture with Aromatic Plants: Effects of Intercropping on Grapevine Productivity in a Steep-Slope Vineyard in the Mosel Area, Germany," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Emmanouil Tziolas & Stefanos Ispikoudis & Konstantinos Mantzanas & Dimitrios Koutsoulis & Anastasia Pantera, 2022. "Economic and Environmental Assessment of Olive Agroforestry Practices in Northern Greece," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, June.
    6. Antonelli, Marta & Basile, Linda & Gagliardi, Francesca & Isernia, Pierangelo, 2022. "The future of the Mediterranean agri-food systems: Trends and perspectives from a Delphi survey," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(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. Bruna Moreira & Alexandre Gonçalves & Luís Pinto & Miguel A. Prieto & Márcio Carocho & Cristina Caleja & Lillian Barros, 2024. "Intercropping Systems: An Opportunity for Environment Conservation within Nut Production," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, July.

    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. Leonardo V. Noto & Giuseppe Cipolla & Antonio Francipane & Dario Pumo, 2023. "Climate Change in the Mediterranean Basin (Part I): Induced Alterations on Climate Forcings and Hydrological Processes," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(6), pages 2287-2305, May.
    2. D. Santillán & L. Garrote & A. Iglesias & V. Sotes, 2020. "Climate change risks and adaptation: new indicators for Mediterranean viticulture," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 881-899, May.
    3. David Hidalgo García, 2023. "Evaluation and Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Main Mitigation Measures against Surface Urban Heat Islands in Different Local Climate Zones through Remote Sensing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Morán-Ordóñez, Alejandra & Ameztegui, Aitor & De Cáceres, Miquel & de-Miguel, Sergio & Lefèvre, François & Brotons, Lluís & Coll, Lluís, 2020. "Future trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services in Mediterranean forests under global change scenarios," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    5. Clément, Rigal & Tuan, Duong & Cuong, Vo & Le Van, Bon & Trung, Hoang quôc & Long, Chau Thi Minh, 2023. "Transitioning from Monoculture to Mixed Cropping Systems: The Case of Coffee, Pepper, and Fruit Trees in Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    6. Heider, Katharina & Quaranta, Emanuele & García Avilés, José María & Rodriguez Lopez, Juan Miguel & Balbo, Andrea L. & Scheffran, Jürgen, 2022. "Reinventing the wheel – The preservation and potential of traditional water wheels in the terraced irrigated landscapes of the Ricote Valley, southeast Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    7. Vasileios A. Tzanakakis & Andrea G. Capodaglio & Andreas N. Angelakis, 2023. "Insights into Global Water Reuse Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-30, August.
    8. Emmanouil Tziolas & Eleftherios Karapatzak & Ioannis Kalathas & Chris Lytridis & Spyridon Mamalis & Stefanos Koundouras & Theodore Pachidis & Vassilis G. Kaburlasos, 2023. "Comparative Assessment of Environmental/Energy Performance under Conventional Labor and Collaborative Robot Scenarios in Greek Viticulture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, February.
    9. Siakou, M. & Bruggeman, A. & Eliades, M. & Zoumides, C. & Djuma, H. & Kyriacou, M.C. & Emmanouilidou, M.G. & Spyros, A. & Manolopoulou, E. & Moriana, A., 2021. "Effects of deficit irrigation on ‘Koroneiki’ olive tree growth, physiology and olive oil quality at different harvest dates," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    10. Anupama Shantharaju & Md Aminul Islam & Jarrod M. Kath & Shahbaz Mushtaq & Arun Muniyappa & Lila Singh-Peterson, 2024. "Understanding Constraints and Enablers of Climate Risk Management Strategies: Evidence from Smallholder Dairy Farmers in Regional South India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, February.
    11. Andreas N. Angelakis & Mohammad Valipour & Abdelkader T. Ahmed & Vasileios Tzanakakis & Nikolaos V. Paranychianakis & Jens Krasilnikoff & Renato Drusiani & Larry Mays & Fatma El Gohary & Demetris Kout, 2021. "Water Conflicts: From Ancient to Modern Times and in the Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-31, April.
    12. Antonelli, Marta & Basile, Linda & Gagliardi, Francesca & Isernia, Pierangelo, 2022. "The future of the Mediterranean agri-food systems: Trends and perspectives from a Delphi survey," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    13. Aina Maimó-Far & Alexis Tantet & Víctor Homar & Philippe Drobinski, 2020. "Predictable and Unpredictable Climate Variability Impacts on Optimal Renewable Energy Mixes: The Example of Spain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-25, October.
    14. Prado de Nicolás, Amanda & Molina-García, Ángel & García-Bermejo, Juan Tomás & Vera-García, Francisco, 2023. "Desalination, minimal and zero liquid discharge powered by renewable energy sources: Current status and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    15. Claudia Di Bene & Rosa Francaviglia & Roberta Farina & Jorge Álvaro-Fuentes & Raúl Zornoza, 2022. "Agricultural Diversification," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-6, March.
    16. Yanting Zheng & Jing He & Wenxiang Zhang & Aifeng Lv, 2023. "Assessing Water Security and Coupling Coordination in the Lancang–Mekong River Basin for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Susana Toboso‐Chavero & Gara Villalba & Xavier Gabarrell Durany & Cristina Madrid‐López, 2021. "More than the sum of the parts: System analysis of the usability of roofs in housing estates," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1284-1299, October.
    18. Manoranjan Ghosh & Somnath Ghosal, 2021. "Climate change vulnerability of rural households in flood-prone areas of Himalayan foothills, West Bengal, India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 2570-2595, February.
    19. Sugenith Arteaga & Lourdes Yabor & José Torres & Eva Solbes & Enrique Muñoz & María José Díez & Oscar Vicente & Monica Boscaiu, 2019. "Morphological and Agronomic Characterization of Spanish Landraces of Phaseolus vulgaris L," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-16, July.
    20. Mugula, Joseph J & Ahmad, Athman Kyaruzi & Msinde, John & Kadigi, Michael, 2023. "Determinants of Adoption of Bundled Sustainable Agriculture Practices among Small-Scale Maize Farmers in Mvomero and Kilosa Districts, Tanzania," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 11(4), September.

    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:15:y:2023:i:15:p:12054-:d:1211901. 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.