Abstract
ABSTRACT Modern agriculture faces the dual challenge of maintaining high yields while minimising environmental impact, all under increasingly difficult climatic conditions. Practices such as intercropping and mulching have demonstrated potential to improve resource use efficiency, but their effects on crop performance and soil microbial communities remain insufficiently understood. We examined how both factors affect lettuce ( Lactuca sativa cv. Grazer Krauthäuptel) growth performance, soil conditions, and the rhizosphere microbiome for three cropping cycles over a growing season in Styria, Austria. Four production systems were compared: unmulched monoculture, mulched monoculture, and two intercropping with either bush bean or broccoli, sweet corn, and wildflower strips. Intercropping increased lettuce fresh weight at early and late stages in comparison to monoculture, while mulching consistently enhanced biomass. However, increased yield losses were observed in the mulched systems under extreme weather conditions. The regulating effect of mulching and intercropping was reflected in the main soil parameters. Rhizosphere microbial communities profiled using 16S rRNA gene fragments and ITS region amplicon sequencing revealed contrasting effects for bacteria and fungi. Bacterial alpha diversity was significantly higher in intercropped systems, particularly at the last cropping cycle, with community structure most strongly driven by timepoint and further shaped by production system and mulching. Enriched genera under intercropping included Pseudomonas and Bacillus , both potential plant growth‐promoting bacteria. Interestingly, fungal diversity was generally reduced by mulching and intercropping, with unmulched monoculture showing the highest fungal diversity later in the season. Saprotrophic genera were associated with intercropping and mulching, whereas unmulched monocultures were linked to several potential plant or animal pathogens. The results demonstrate that intercropping and mulching can enhance lettuce yield and bacterial diversity, while modulating soil moisture and microclimate. Selecting appropriate companion crops and implementing optimised mulch management is key to enhancing productivity and resilience amid increasing climate variability.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 13
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping increased lettuce fresh weight early and late relative to monoculture.
- Taxon
- lettuce
Lactuca sativae0 - Organ / stage
- early and late stagese0
- Treatment
- Intercroppinge0
- Outcome
- lettuce fresh weighte0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- monoculturee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Intercropping increased lettuce fresh weight at early and late stages in comparison to monoculture”
Claim · model-written summary
Mulching consistently enhanced lettuce biomass.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- mulchinge0
- Outcome
- biomasse0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“mulching consistently enhanced biomass.”
Claim · model-written summary
Mulched systems had increased yield losses under extreme weather.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- mulched systemse0
- Outcome
- yield lossese0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- under extreme weather conditionse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“increased yield losses were observed in the mulched systems under extreme weather conditions.”
Claim · model-written summary
Mulching and intercropping affected main soil parameters.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- mulching and intercroppinge0
- Outcome
- main soil parameterse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“The regulating effect of mulching and intercropping was reflected in the main soil parameters.”
Claim · model-written summary
Bacterial alpha diversity was significantly higher in intercropped systems, especially in the last cycle.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- intercropped systemse0
- Outcome
- Bacterial alpha diversitye0
- Direction
- highere0
- Qualifier
- last cropping cyclee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“Bacterial alpha diversity was significantly higher in intercropped systems, particularly at the last cropping cycle”
Claim · model-written summary
Bacterial community structure was driven most by timepoint and also shaped by production system and mulching.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- production system and mulchinge0
- Outcome
- community structuree0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“community structure most strongly driven by timepoint and further shaped by production system and mulching.”
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping enriched Pseudomonas and Bacillus.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- intercroppinge0
- Interactor
- Pseudomonas
Pseudomonase0other - Second interactor
- Bacilluse0other
- Outcome
- Enriched generae0
- Direction
- Enrichede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“Enriched genera under intercropping included Pseudomonas and Bacillus”
Claim · model-written summary
Mulching reduced fungal diversity.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- mulchinge0
- Outcome
- fungal diversitye0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“fungal diversity was generally reduced by mulching and intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Intercropping reduced fungal diversity.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- intercroppinge0
- Outcome
- fungal diversitye0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“fungal diversity was generally reduced by mulching and intercropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Unmulched monoculture had the highest fungal diversity later in the season.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- unmulched monoculturee0
- Outcome
- fungal diversitye0
- Direction
- higheste0
- Qualifier
- later in the seasone0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“unmulched monoculture showing the highest fungal diversity later in the season”
Claim · model-written summary
Saprotrophic genera were associated with intercropping and mulching.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- intercropping and mulchinge0
- Outcome
- Saprotrophic generae0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“Saprotrophic genera were associated with intercropping and mulching”
Claim · model-written summary
Unmulched monocultures were linked to several potential plant or animal pathogens.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- unmulched monoculturese0
- Outcome
- potential plant or animal pathogense0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“unmulched monocultures were linked to several potential plant or animal pathogens”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend companion crop selection and optimized mulch management for productivity and resilience.
- Taxon
- LettuceLactuca sativat0
- Outcome
- Selecting appropriate companion crops and implementing optimised mulch managemente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Lettuce”
e0“Selecting appropriate companion crops and implementing optimised mulch management is key to enhancing productivity and resilience amid increasing climate variability.”
The same questions in other papers
intercropping · growth · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
1 paper in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction
- negative
- negative
- no effect
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →mulching · growth · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
12 papers in the same direction as this paper · 8 in the opposite direction
- negative
- no effect
- no effect
17 papers more in this group
See all 21 papers →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.