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The efficiency of a durum wheat-winter pea intercrop to improve yield and wheat grain protein concentration depends on N availability during early growth

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Abstract

Grain protein concentration of durum wheat is often too low, particularly in low-N-input systems. The aim of our study was to test whether a durum wheat-winter pea intercrop can improve relative yield and durum wheat grain protein concentration in low-N-input systems. A 2-year field experiment was carried out in SW France with different fertilizer-N levels to compare wheat (Triticum turgidum L., cv. Nefer) and pea (winter pea, Pisum sativum L., cv. Lucy) grown as sole crops or intercrops in a row-substitutive design. Without N fertilization or when N was applied late (N available until pea flowering less than about 120 kg N ha−1), intercrops were up to 19% more efficient than sole crops for yield and up to 32% for accumulated N, but were less efficient with large fertilizer N applications. Wheat grain protein concentration was significantly higher in intercrops than in sole crops (14% on average) because more N was remobilized into wheat grain due to: i) fewer ears per square metre in intercrops and ii) a similar amount of available soil N as in sole crops due to the high pea N2 fixation rate in intercrops (88% compared to 58% in sole crops).

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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 to Hans Lambers (Editor in chief of Plant and Soil) for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Université de Toulouse, UMR 1248 Agir, F-31326, Castanet Tolosan, France

    Laurent Bedoussac

  2. INRA, UMR 1248 Agir, F-31326, 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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Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers.

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Bedoussac, L., Justes, E. The efficiency of a durum wheat-winter pea intercrop to improve yield and wheat grain protein concentration depends on N availability during early growth. Plant Soil 330, 19–35 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-0082-2

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