Evaluating water use advantage of wheat/maize relay intercropping under rainfed condition based on same period

• Published in: Plant and soil Vol. 499; no. 1-2; pp. 9 - 21
• Main Authors: Ma, Longshuai, Li, Yinjuan, Wu, Pute, Zhao, Xining, Chen, Xiaoli, Gao, Xiaodong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.06.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural practices; Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Corn; Crop yield; Cropping systems; Ecology; Field tests; Intercropping; Life Sciences; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Relay; Research Article; Revisions; Soil Science & Conservation; Sole cropping; Triticum aestivum; Water; Water consumption; Water use; Wheat; Zea mays; Water use; Non-growth period; Intercropping; Fallow
• ISSN: 0032-079X; 1573-5036
• DOI: 10.1007/s11104-022-05772-z

Aim Assessing water consumption in intercropping systems relative to sole crop systems is important for planting system planning. Methods This study focused on wheat/maize ( Triticum aestivum L./ Zea mays L.) relay intercropping to evaluate water use advantage of relay intercropping system based on the same period. Field experiments were conducted from 2014 to 2016, and three cropping patterns were designed: sole wheat, sole maize, wheat/maize intercrops. Method for evaluating water use advantage in intercropping was revised by considering water consumption of sole crops during the fallow period (periods where no plants are grown). Results Intercropping grain yield was higher than sole cropping yield. Based on the existing method, the intercropping system had 20.4% greater water use than the sole cropping system and the water equivalent ratio (WER) was lower than 1; after revision, intercropping had 7.7% less water use than sole cropping, and the WER was greater than 1. Before revision, intercropped wheat used 3.1% more water than sole wheat, and the intercropped maize used 38.8% more water than sole maize; after revision, intercropped wheat used 24.4% less water than sole wheat, and intercropped maize used 11.0% more water than sole maize. Conclusion These results indicated that the revised method can be better used to evaluate water use advantage of relay intercropping system. This study implied that wheat/maize intercropping increased both yield and water use based on revised method, and relay intercropping can be a suitable production practice employed in fallow policy, especially in areas with limited water.