Abstract
Abstract Cereal/legume intercropping enables complementary nitrogen (N) uptake, whereas relay intercropping allows temporal complementarity. However, how these mechanisms contribute to N uptake under moderate, species-tailored N fertilization remains unclear, and clarifying this could inform intercropping practices aligned with Good Agricultural Practices in Europe. We therefore determined N uptake of maize ( Zea mays L.), wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.), faba bean ( Vicia faba L.), and pea ( Pisum sativum L.) in six bi-specific strip intercrops and corresponding monocrops. We compared relay intercrops involving maize (late sown) with simultaneous intercrops without maize, across cereal/legume, cereal/cereal, and legume/legume combinations. All species received locally recommended fertilizer amounts for conventional agriculture in the Netherlands. In relay strip intercrops, the early-sown wheat, faba bean, and pea had higher N uptake than the respective monocrops, especially in the border rows of strips. Maize N uptake increased when intercropped with wheat or pea in a year with substantial temporal complementarity. Intercropping with faba bean did not result in increased N uptake for either cereals or pea. Relay intercrops showed land equivalent ratios for N uptake and fertilizer N equivalent ratios mostly above one, while for simultaneous intercrops these were mostly close to one. Therefore, relay intercrops used land more efficiently for N uptake and saved fertilizer N for yield compared to monocrops, whereas simultaneous intercrops did not. We investigated, for the first time, the relative importance of temporal complementarity and cereal-legume N acquisition complementarity for N uptake in strip intercropping under conventional European agriculture, showing that complementary N uptake was strongly associated with temporal complementarity. While inclusion of legumes in intercropping was not required to achieve complementary N capture, it allowed for reduced N input. Relay strip intercropping with species-tailored N input is a pathway toward more sustainable N use in agriculture that can complement cereal-legume complementarity.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Early-sown wheat, faba bean and pea had higher N uptake in relay strips than in monocrops, especially at strip borders.
- Taxon
- wheat, faba bean, and pea
Lathyrus oleraceus
Vicia faba
Triticum aestivume0 - Treatment
- relay strip intercropse0
- Outcome
- N uptakee0
- Direction
- highere0
- Qualifier
- especially in the border rows of stripse0
- Comparator
- respective monocropse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In relay strip intercrops, the early-sown wheat, faba bean, and pea had higher N uptake than the respective monocrops, especially in the border rows of strips.”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize N uptake increased with wheat intercropping in a year with substantial temporal complementarity.
- Treatment
- intercropped with wheate0
- Outcome
- Maize N uptakee0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- in a year with substantial temporal complementaritye0
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Maize N uptake increased when intercropped with wheat or pea in a year with substantial temporal complementarity.”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize N uptake increased with pea intercropping in that year.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Maize N uptake increased when intercropped with wheat or pea in a year with substantial temporal complementarity.”
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping with faba bean did not increase N uptake for cereals or pea.
- Taxon
- peaLathyrus oleraceuse0
- Treatment
- Intercropping with faba beane0
- Outcome
- N uptakee0
- Direction
- did not result in increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Intercropping with faba bean did not result in increased N uptake for either cereals or pea.”
Claim · model-written summary
Relay strips had land equivalent ratios for N uptake and fertilizer N equivalent ratios mostly above one.
- Outcome
- land equivalent ratios for N uptake and fertilizer N equivalent ratiose0
- Direction
- above onee0
- Value
- above onee0
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“Relay intercrops showed land equivalent ratios for N uptake and fertilizer N equivalent ratios mostly above one, while for simultaneous intercrops these were mostly close to one.”
Claim · model-written summary
Simultaneous strips had the same ratios mostly close to one.
- Outcome
- land equivalent ratios for N uptake and fertilizer N equivalent ratiose0
- Direction
- close to onee0
- Value
- close to onee0
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“Relay intercrops showed land equivalent ratios for N uptake and fertilizer N equivalent ratios mostly above one, while for simultaneous intercrops these were mostly close to one.”
Claim · model-written summary
Complementary N uptake was strongly associated with temporal complementarity.
- Treatment
- temporal complementaritye0
- Outcome
- complementary N uptakee0
- Qualifier
- temporal complementaritye0
Not reportedTaxonDirection
Verbatim
e0“complementary N uptake was strongly associated with temporal complementarity.”
Claim · model-written summary
Legumes allowed reduced N input in intercropping.
Verbatim
e0“While inclusion of legumes in intercropping was not required to achieve complementary N capture, it allowed for reduced N input.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend relay strip intercropping with tailored N input for sustainable N use.
- Outcome
- Relay strip intercropping with species-tailored N inpute0
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“Relay strip intercropping with species-tailored N input is a pathway toward more sustainable N use in agriculture that can complement cereal-legume complementarity.”
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