The productive performance of intercropping

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 120; no. 2; p. e2201886120
• Main Authors: Li, Chunjie, Stomph, Tjeerd-Jan, Makowski, David, Li, Haigang, Zhang, Chaochun, Zhang, Fusuo, van der Werf, Wopke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 10.01.2023
• Subjects: Agricultural practices; Agricultural production; Agricultural sciences; Agriculture - methods; Agronomy; Biological Sciences; Calories; Crop diversification; Crop resilience; Crops; Crops, Agricultural; Ecosystem; Ecosystem services; Edible Grain; Environmental impact; Fabaceae; Grain; Intercropping; Legumes; Life Sciences; Proteins; Sole cropping; Statistics; Sustainable agriculture; Sustainable development; Sustainable production; intercropping; productivity; land-use efficiency; transgressive overyielding; food security
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2201886120

Crop diversification has been put forward as a way to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture without penalizing its productivity. In this context, intercropping, the planned combination of two or more crop species in one field, is a promising practice. On an average, intercropping saves land compared with the component sole crops, but it remains unclear whether intercropping produces a higher yield than the most productive single crop per unit area, i.e., whether intercropping achieves transgressive overyielding. Here, we quantified the performance of intercropping for the production of grain, calories, and protein in a global meta-analysis of several production indices. The results show that intercrops outperform sole crops when the objective is to achieve a diversity of crop products on a given land area. However, when intercropping is evaluated for its ability to produce raw products without concern for diversity, intercrops on average generate a small loss in grain or calorie yield compared with the most productive sole crop (−4%) but achieve similar or higher protein yield, especially with maize/legume combinations grown at moderate N supply. Overall, although intercropping does not achieve transgressive overyielding on average, our results show that intercropping performs well in producing a diverse set of crop products and performs almost similar to the most productive component sole crop to produce raw products, while improving crop resilience, enhancing ecosystem services, and improving nutrient use efficiency. Our study, therefore, confirms the great interest of intercropping for the development of a more sustainable agricultural production, supporting diversified diets.