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Dynamic analysis of competition and complementarity for light and N use to understand the yield and the protein content of a durum wheat–winter pea intercrop

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Abstract

In a previous paper [Bedoussac L, Justes E (2009) Plant Soil, doi: 10.1007/s11104-009-0082-2], we showed that intercropping of durum wheat and winter pea increased the yield and protein concentration of durum wheat when early N availability was less than 120 kg N ha−1. The aim of the present work was to understand these results by analysing intercrop species dynamics for growth, light and N acquisition. A 2-year field experiment was carried out in southwest France with different fertilizer-N levels in order to compare wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) grown as sole crops and as an intercrop in a row substitutive design. The advantages of intercropping in low N conditions were due mainly to: (1) better light use (up to 10%), thanks to species dynamic complementarity for leaf area index and height; (2) growth complementarity over time (higher growth rate of wheat until pea flowering and then of pea until wheat flowering); and (3) dynamic complementary N acquisition associated with better wheat N status throughout growth. Disadvantages, underlining poorer complementarity within the intercrop stand, were observed with ample available N in early growth. This induced higher cereal growth during winter, which led to increase interspecies competition by reducing pea light absorption and, consequently, its biomass production.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Compte d’Affectation Spéciale du Développement Agricole et Rural (invitation to tender 2005 n°431) coordinated by l’Union Nationale Interprofessionnelle des Plantes Riches en Protéines. The authors would like to thank Alan Scaife and Daniel Wallach for their helpful comments and for English revision. We are also very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers and the editor-in-chief for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

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  1. INPT; UMR AGIR; ENSAT, Université de Toulouse, 31320, Castanet Tolosan, France

    Laurent Bedoussac

  2. INRA; UMR AGIR, 31320, Castanet Tolosan, France

    Eric Justes

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  1. Laurent Bedoussac
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  2. Eric Justes
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Correspondence to Eric Justes.

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Bedoussac, L., Justes, E. Dynamic analysis of competition and complementarity for light and N use to understand the yield and the protein content of a durum wheat–winter pea intercrop. Plant Soil 330, 37–54 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0303-8

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