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Water use assessment in alley cropping systems within subtropical China

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Abstract

Alley cropping systems may influence soil water movement and the water budget because of its complex interactions between crop and tree rooting systems. The objective of this paper was to evaluate water balance and water competition in an alley cropping system, consisting of deciduous tree wild jujube (Choerospondias axillaris) and economic crop peanut (Arachis hypogaea) within subtropical China. Five treatments (20- by 6-m plots) with three replications were included in this study. The treatments were monoculture peanut cropping (P), monoculture younger trees (T1), monoculture older trees (T2), peanut intercropped with younger trees (T1P), and peanut intercropped with older trees (T2P). A multi-layered water balance model, with water movement between soil layers, was implemented by the measurement of soil water potential using sets of tensiometers during the periods from March 1999 to December 2002. The spatial and temporal variations of soil water regime indicated that the trees used soil water below the 60-cm soil depth and alleviated the water stress. The direction of soil water movement indicated that soil water moved to the tree row, which indicated that trees competed with peanuts for water, especially during the seasonal drought period. Water competition was related to the tree spacing and tree age. Compared to the tree monoculture systems, the alley cropping system significantly influenced water budget components and water use patterns, as indicated by the increased evapotranspiration (6–11%), and decreased net drainage (7–45%), water storage (6–29%), and runoff (50–60%). Furthermore, alley cropping systems encouraged the rapid growth of trees, and depressed the biomass and yield of peanuts by 20–50% associated with tree shading effects. The results suggest that competition for water and light must be taken into account when optimizing the alley cropping system.

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Acknowledgments

The grants have been provided by the International Foundation of Sciences (IFS) (Grant No. D2872–1), the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) (Grant No. CPR-10407) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49701008). Profs. Mingzhu Wang, Xingxiang Wang and Mr. Huachun Zhao are acknowledged for their involvement in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 821, Nanjing, 210008, People’s Republic of China

    Ying Zhao & Bin Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Ying Zhao

  3. Key Laboratory of Crop Nutrition and Fertilization of Ministry of Agriculture of China, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Bin Zhang

  4. Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Robert Hill

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  1. Ying Zhao
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Correspondence to Ying Zhao.

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Zhao, Y., Zhang, B. & Hill, R. Water use assessment in alley cropping systems within subtropical China. Agroforest Syst 84, 243–259 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-011-9458-4

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