Abstract
We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions. In addition, the effect of the intensity of tillage practices (conventional tillage vs. reduced tillage) in the almond monocultures was also tested. The study was carried out in two farms located in the province of Murcia (South East Spain) and the experimental design consisted of nine plots (49 m long and 7 m wide) in a randomized-block design, with three replicates for each treatment: inter-crop, (IRT), monoculture under conventional tillage (MCT), and monoculture under reduced tillage (MRT). Each plot comprised five almond trees: the three central trees were used for soil measurements and the other two trees constituted guard rows (a buffer zone to avoid edge effects). The conventional tillage consists in a chisel plowing to 15 cm depth using a cultivator between three and five times a year while the reduced tillage treatments (MRT and IRT) implies ploughing only twice a year (autumn and spring), to control weeds. The tillage affects the whole plot area, including the area around the trunk base. In the monoculture, weeds are the only vegetation present between the rows. The inter-crop consists of a mix (3:1) of common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) and common oat (Avena sativa L.), sown annually during early autumn at 150 kg seeds ha-1 and mowed in May. After manually mowing, it is incorporated into the soil using a cultivator. During ten years (2009-2018) the effects of crop diversification and reduced tillage on a range of soil quality indicators (including soil physical, chemical and biological properties) were monitored allowing the evaluation of different support, regulating and provisioning ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration, water availability, crop yield). An improvement in soil quality with the inter-crop management (IRT) was detected after three years from its implementation, after which it was maintained or slightly increased for ten years. When comparing the inter-cropping system with the monoculture one, an improvement in soil quality indicators for regulating and supporting ecosystem services was observed at the plow layer (e.g., soil bulk density decrease, as well as increases in soil water retention capacity, plant water availability, infiltration capacity, fertility, microbial activity, and OC stabilized in aggregates). During the first seven years of inter-cropping implementation, an average reduction of about 30% in the crop yield (provisioning ecosystem service) in the inter-crop treatment respect to the monoculture was observed. However, those differences decreased, or even were reversed after eight years, suggesting that the observed positive effect on crop production with inter-crops does not occur at the same time than the improvement on soil quality but several years after that. All together, these results highlight the potential of inter-cropping in woody crops as a good option to be adopted by farmers and for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Soil quality under inter-cropping improved after three years and was then maintained or slightly increased for ten years.
- Taxon
- almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.)
Prunus dulcise0 - Treatment
- inter-crop management (IRT)e2
- Outcome
- soil qualitye2
- Value
- after three yearse2
- Qualifier
- maintained or slightly increased for ten yearse2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions”
e2“An improvement in soil quality with the inter-crop management (IRT) was detected after three years from its implementation, after which it was maintained or slightly increased for ten years”
Claim · model-written summary
Inter-cropping decreased soil bulk density at the plow layer relative to monoculture.
- Taxon
- almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.)Prunus dulcise0
- Treatment
- inter-cropping systeme3
- Outcome
- soil bulk densitye3
- Direction
- decreasee3
- Qualifier
- at the plow layere3
- Comparator
- monoculturee3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions”
e3“When comparing the inter-cropping system with the monoculture one, an improvement in soil quality indicators for regulating and supporting ecosystem services was observed at the plow layer (e.g., soil bulk density decrease, as well as increases in soil water retention capacity, plant water availability, infiltration capacity, fertility, microbial activity, and OC stabilized in aggregates)”
Claim · model-written summary
Inter-cropping increased soil water retention capacity, plant water availability and infiltration capacity at the plow layer relative to monoculture.
- Taxon
- almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.)Prunus dulcise0
- Treatment
- inter-cropping systeme3
- Outcome
- soil water retention capacity, plant water availability, infiltration capacitye3
- Direction
- increasese3
- Qualifier
- at the plow layere3
- Comparator
- monoculturee3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions”
e3“When comparing the inter-cropping system with the monoculture one, an improvement in soil quality indicators for regulating and supporting ecosystem services was observed at the plow layer (e.g., soil bulk density decrease, as well as increases in soil water retention capacity, plant water availability, infiltration capacity, fertility, microbial activity, and OC stabilized in aggregates)”
Claim · model-written summary
Inter-cropping increased fertility, microbial activity and OC stabilized in aggregates at the plow layer relative to monoculture.
- Taxon
- almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.)Prunus dulcise0
- Treatment
- inter-cropping systeme3
- Outcome
- fertility, microbial activity, and OC stabilized in aggregatese3
- Direction
- increasese3
- Qualifier
- at the plow layere3
- Comparator
- monoculturee3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions”
e3“When comparing the inter-cropping system with the monoculture one, an improvement in soil quality indicators for regulating and supporting ecosystem services was observed at the plow layer (e.g., soil bulk density decrease, as well as increases in soil water retention capacity, plant water availability, infiltration capacity, fertility, microbial activity, and OC stabilized in aggregates)”
Claim · model-written summary
During the first seven years, inter-cropping reduced crop yield by about 30% relative to monoculture.
- Taxon
- almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.)Prunus dulcise0
- Treatment
- inter-crop treatmente4
- Outcome
- crop yielde4
- Direction
- reductione4
- Value
- about 30%e4
- Qualifier
- During the first seven years of inter-cropping implementatione4
- Comparator
- monoculturee4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions”
e4“During the first seven years of inter-cropping implementation, an average reduction of about 30% in the crop yield (provisioning ecosystem service) in the inter-crop treatment respect to the monoculture was observed”
Claim · model-written summary
The yield difference between inter-crops and monoculture decreased or was reversed after eight years, which the authors suggest lags behind the soil quality improvement.
- Taxon
- almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.)Prunus dulcise0
- Treatment
- inter-cropse5
- Outcome
- crop productione5
- Direction
- decreasede5
- Qualifier
- or even were reversed after eight yearse5
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions”
e5“However, those differences decreased, or even were reversed after eight years, suggesting that the observed positive effect on crop production with inter-crops does not occur at the same time than the improvement on soil quality but several years after that”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend inter-cropping in woody crops as a good option for farmers and for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
- Taxon
- almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.)Prunus dulcise0
- Outcome
- potential of inter-cropping in woody crops as a good optione6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We assess the long-term environmental impacts and delivery of several ecosystem services of crop diversification (inter-crop with legumes/cereal) in two rainfed almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) orchards under semiarid Mediterranean conditions”
e6“All together, these results highlight the potential of inter-cropping in woody crops as a good option to be adopted by farmers and for climate change mitigation and adaptation”
The same questions in other papers
intercropping · yield · Prunus dulcis (almond)Results agree
2 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.