Crop Species Diversity Affects Productivity and Weed Suppression in Perennial Polycultures under Two Management Strategies
Species diversity can increase natural grasslands productivity but the effect of diversity in agricultural systems is not well understood. Our objective was to measure the effects of species composition, species richness, and harvest management on crop and weed biomass in perennial herbaceous polycu...
Saved in:
Published in | Crop science Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 331 - 342 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Madison
Crop Science Society of America
01.01.2008
American Society of Agronomy |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | Species diversity can increase natural grasslands productivity but the effect of diversity in agricultural systems is not well understood. Our objective was to measure the effects of species composition, species richness, and harvest management on crop and weed biomass in perennial herbaceous polycultures. In 2003, 49 combinations of seven species (legumes, C3 and C4 grasses) including all monocultures and selected two to six species polycultures were sown in small plots at two Iowa, USA, locations in a replicated field design. Plots were split in half and managed with either one or three harvests in each of 2004 and 2005. Biomass increased log-linearly with species richness in all location-management environments and the response was not different between managements. Polycultures outyielded monocultures on average by 73%. The most productive species in monoculture for each management best explained the variation in biomass productivity. The biomass of plots containing this species did not increase with richness in most environments but biomass of plots without this species increased log-linearly in all cases. Weed biomass decreased exponentially with richness in all environments. On average, increasing species richness in perennial herbaceous polycultures increased productivity and weed suppression, but well-adapted species produced high biomass yield regardless of richness. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2007.04.0225 All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permission for printing and for reprinting the material contained herein has been obtained by the publisher. |
ISSN: | 0011-183X 1435-0653 |
DOI: | 10.2135/cropsci2007.04.0225 |