Mix‐cropping of rice and water mimosa (Neptunia oleracea Lour.) increases rice photosynthetic efficiency, yield, grain quality and soil available nutrients

• Published in: Journal of the science of food and agriculture Vol. 102; no. 10; pp. 3972 - 3982
• Main Authors: Hei, Zewen, Xiang, Huimin, Zhang, Jiaen, Liang, Kaiming, Zhong, Jiawen, Li, Meijuan, Ren, Xiaoqiao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 15.08.2022; John Wiley and Sons, Limited
• Subjects: Agricultural practices; Aquatic plants; Biodiversity; Cereal crops; Chlorophyll; Continuous cropping; Crop production; Crop yield; Cropping systems; Cultivation; Efficiency; Grain; Grain cultivation; Intercropping; Legumes; Leguminous plants; mix‐cropping; Neptunia; Nitrogen; Nutrient availability; Nutrient uptake; Nutrients; Photochemicals; Photosynthesis; Potassium; Quenching; Rice; Rice fields; Soil nutrients; Soils; yield; soil nutrients; mix-cropping; intercropping; rice; yield
• ISSN: 0022-5142; 1097-0010
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.11744

BACKGROUND Cereal cultivation with legumes plays an important role in improving biodiversity and productivity. However, there are limited references concerning rice/legume mix‐cropping in paddy fields. An aquatic leguminous plant, water mimosa (Neptunia oleracea Lour.), was introduced and a related field experiment of two seasons (early and late seasons in 2019) was carried out to explore the effects of rice/water mimosa mix‐cropping on rice growth, yield, grain quality and soil nutrients in the present study. Three treatments – rice monocropping, rice/water mimosa intercropping and mix‐cropping – were employed in this study. RESULTS Results showed that rice grew better with greater height, tiller number, chlorophyll content, actual photosynthetic efficiency [Y(II)], maximum photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) and photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) in the intercropping and mix‐cropping treatments. In addition, the intercropping and mix‐cropping treatments increased nutrient uptake of nitrogen (N) by11.89–24.42%, phosphorous (P) by 17.75–36.61% and potassium (K) by 19.22–47.44%, and rice yield by 19.9% and 21.8%. Conversely, the non‐photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ), chalkiness degree and chalky rate of rice were lower in the intercropping and mix‐cropping treatments relative to those in the monocropping treatments. Notably, soil alkali‐hydrolysable N (AN), available P (AP) and K (AK) contents were the highest in the mix‐cropping treatments among the three cropping systems. CONCLUSION We suggest that rice/water mimosa mix‐cropping is an environmentally friendly agroecological system with a higher output and can be extended for green rice production and largely applied in the paddy field. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.