Abstract
Alley cropping allows the famer to effectively use available resources and yield more benefits. Choosing suitable associated crop and mitigating the competition between trees and crops are crucial for designing the alley cropping systems. We conducted a long-term experiment, including apple (Malus pumila)/peanut (Arachis hypogaea), apple/millet (Setaria italica) and apple/maize (Zea mays) alley cropping systems with conventional intercropping distance, and corresponding monocultures (Exp.1), and a short-term experiment with improved intercropping distance in the same three combinations (Exp.2) in the Loess Plateau, China. The results showed crop yields in three alley cropping systems were lower than the corresponding monocultures. Apple yields were significantly constrained by millet and maize in the alley cropping systems, but not sensitive to the presence of peanut. Land equivalent ratios (LERs) ranged from 0.44 to 0.89 before the tree bore fruit. The LERs were greater than 1.0 after the tree bore fruit, and the apple trees made a decisive contribution to the land use advantage. Net present values of three alley cropping systems were on average 60.1% higher than the corresponding monocultures across the alley cropping period. The maximum annual present value in the first–fifth, sixth and seventh–ninth years after the alley cropping establishment was observed in the apple/maize, apple/millet and apple/peanut system, respectively. These results highlight that choosing the optimal alley cropping management and suitable associated crops at different years after establishment may allow farmers to increase the land use efficiency and economic profitability.
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Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Crop yields in the three apple alley cropping systems were lower than in the corresponding monocultures.
- Taxon
- apple
Malus domesticae0 - Treatment
- alley cropping systemse1
- Outcome
- crop yieldse1
- Direction
- lowere1
- Comparator
- corresponding monoculturese1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e1“crop yields in three alley cropping systems were lower than the corresponding monocultures”
Claim · model-written summary
Apple yields were significantly constrained by intercropping with millet.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Treatment
- millete2
- Outcome
- Apple yieldse2
- Direction
- constrainede2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e2“Apple yields were significantly constrained by millet and maize in the alley cropping systems”
Claim · model-written summary
Apple yields were significantly constrained by intercropping with maize.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Treatment
- maizee2
- Outcome
- Apple yieldse2
- Direction
- constrainede2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e2“Apple yields were significantly constrained by millet and maize in the alley cropping systems”
Claim · model-written summary
Apple yields were not sensitive to the presence of peanut in the alley cropping system.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Treatment
- peanute3
- Outcome
- Apple yieldse2
- Direction
- not sensitivee3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e2“Apple yields were significantly constrained by millet and maize in the alley cropping systems”
e3“but not sensitive to the presence of peanut”
Claim · model-written summary
Land equivalent ratios ranged from 0.44 to 0.89 before the tree bore fruit.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Outcome
- Land equivalent ratios (LERs)e4
- Value
- 0.44 to 0.89e4
- Qualifier
- before the tree bore fruite4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e4“Land equivalent ratios (LERs) ranged from 0.44 to 0.89 before the tree bore fruit”
Claim · model-written summary
Land equivalent ratios were greater than 1.0 after the tree bore fruit.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae5
- Outcome
- LERse5
- Value
- greater than 1.0e5
- Qualifier
- after the tree bore fruite5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e5“The LERs were greater than 1.0 after the tree bore fruit, and the apple trees made a decisive contribution to the land use advantage”
Claim · model-written summary
The apple trees made a decisive contribution to the land use advantage of the alley cropping systems.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae5
- Outcome
- land use advantagee5
- Qualifier
- the apple trees made a decisive contributione5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e5“The LERs were greater than 1.0 after the tree bore fruit, and the apple trees made a decisive contribution to the land use advantage”
Claim · model-written summary
Net present values of the three alley cropping systems were on average 60.1% higher than in the corresponding monocultures.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Treatment
- alley cropping systemse6
- Outcome
- Net present valuese6
- Direction
- highere6
- Value
- 60.1%e6
- Comparator
- corresponding monoculturese6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e6“Net present values of three alley cropping systems were on average 60.1% higher than the corresponding monocultures”
Claim · model-written summary
The apple/maize system had the maximum annual present value in the first to fifth years after establishment.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Treatment
- apple/maizee7
- Outcome
- maximum annual present valuee7
- Qualifier
- first–fifthe7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e7“The maximum annual present value in the first–fifth, sixth and seventh–ninth years after the alley cropping establishment was observed in the apple/maize, apple/millet and apple/peanut system, respectively. These results highlight that choosing the optimal alley cropping management and suitable associated crops at different years after establishment”
Claim · model-written summary
The apple/millet system had the maximum annual present value in the sixth year after establishment.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Treatment
- apple/millete7
- Outcome
- maximum annual present valuee7
- Qualifier
- sixthe7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e7“The maximum annual present value in the first–fifth, sixth and seventh–ninth years after the alley cropping establishment was observed in the apple/maize, apple/millet and apple/peanut system, respectively. These results highlight that choosing the optimal alley cropping management and suitable associated crops at different years after establishment”
Claim · model-written summary
The apple/peanut system had the maximum annual present value in the seventh to ninth years after establishment.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Treatment
- apple/peanute7
- Outcome
- maximum annual present valuee7
- Qualifier
- seventh–ninthe7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e7“The maximum annual present value in the first–fifth, sixth and seventh–ninth years after the alley cropping establishment was observed in the apple/maize, apple/millet and apple/peanut system, respectively. These results highlight that choosing the optimal alley cropping management and suitable associated crops at different years after establishment”
Claim · model-written summary
Choosing the optimal alley cropping management and suitable associated crops at different years after establishment may increase land use efficiency and economic profitability of apple.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticae0
- Outcome
- choosing the optimal alley cropping management and suitable associated cropse7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“apple (Malus pumila)”
e7“These results highlight that choosing the optimal alley cropping management and suitable associated crops at different years after establishment”
The same questions in other papers
cultivation system · yield · Malus domestica (apple)Positive and negative results
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