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Performance of alfalfa rather than maize stimulates system phosphorus uptake and overyielding of maize/alfalfa intercropping via changes in soil water balance and root morphology and distribution in a light chernozemic soil

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Abstract

Aims

To investigate whether legume-dominated cereal/legume intercropping could facilitate phosphorus acquisition and yield enhancement via changes in root morphology and distribution.

Methods

A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years in a split-plot design with main plots treated with two phosphorus levels and subplots treated with maize and alfalfa grown alone or intercropped.

Results

In maize/alfalfa intercropping, alfalfa was 3.0–5.7 times more competitive than maize. Compared to monoculture, soil water balance of intercropped maize was significantly reduced by 115%, while that of alfalfa was dramatically enhanced by 469%. Thus, intercropped maize had pronouncedly reduced root growth by 17–36%, phosphorus uptake by 24%, and yield by 12%, but the associated alfalfa had significantly increased root growth by 26%–175%, phosphorus uptake by 208%, and yield by 137%, leading to significantly improved phosphorus uptake and yield of the composite population. Among root morphological and distribution traits, crown root surface area and lateral root volume were the best predictors of maize and alfalfa phosphorus uptake, respectively.

Conclusions

Legume-dominated maize/alfalfa intercropping can significantly improve phosphorus acquisition and yield production through modifications in soil water balance and root morphology and distribution, and the system overyielding was performed via alfalfa rather than maize.

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Fig. 1: Comparisons of yield and phosphorus uptake in different cropping patterns at two P levels.
Fig. 2: Comparisons of land equivalent ratios and phosphorus competitive ratios of two intercropping modes at two P levels in 2014 and 2015.
Fig. 3: Comparisons of crown root growth angle (a), number (b), dry weight (c), length (d), surface area (e), and volume (f) of maize in different cropping patterns at two P levels.
Fig. 4: Comparisons of taproot dry weight (a), surface area (b) and volume (c), crown branch diameter (d), depth (e), and branch number (f), as well as lateral root number (g), dry weight (h), length (i), surface area (j), and volume (k) of alfalfa in different cropping patterns at two P levels.
Fig. 5: Comparisons of root length density of maize (a-b) and alfalfa (c-d) at different soil depths in different cropping patterns at two P levels.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2016YFC0500703), Human Resources and Social Security Department of Jilin Province (2016-28), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670446, 31270444), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Y821RE1001), and the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (2015CB150801).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China

    Baoru Sun, Yingzhi Gao & Zhijian Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Science (IBCAS), Beijing, 100093, China

    Baoru Sun

  3. School of Biology and Geography Science, Yili Normal University, Yining, 835000, Xinjiang, China

    Yingzhi Gao, Haijun Yang & Wei Zhang

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  1. Baoru Sun
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  2. Yingzhi Gao
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  4. Wei Zhang
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Correspondence to Yingzhi Gao or Zhijian Li.

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Responsible Editor: Yinglong Chen.

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Sun, B., Gao, Y., Yang, H. et al. Performance of alfalfa rather than maize stimulates system phosphorus uptake and overyielding of maize/alfalfa intercropping via changes in soil water balance and root morphology and distribution in a light chernozemic soil. Plant Soil 439, 145–161 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3888-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3888-y

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