Key Laboratory of Agro-Biodiversity and Pest Management of Education Ministry of China, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
PLoS One. 2009 Nov 26;4(11):e8049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008049.
Traditional farming practices suggest that cultivation of a mixture of crop species in the same field through temporal and spatial management may be advantageous in boosting yields and preventing disease, but evidence from large-scale field testing is limited. Increasing crop diversity through intercropping addresses the problem of increasing land utilization and crop productivity. In collaboration with farmers and extension personnel, we tested intercropping of tobacco, maize, sugarcane, potato, wheat and broad bean--either by relay cropping or by mixing crop species based on differences in their heights, and practiced these patterns on 15,302 hectares in ten counties in Yunnan Province, China. The results of observation plots within these areas showed that some combinations increased crop yields for the same season between 33.2 and 84.7% and reached a land equivalent ratio (LER) of between 1.31 and 1.84. This approach can be easily applied in developing countries, which is crucial in face of dwindling arable land and increasing food demand.
传统的农业实践表明，通过时间和空间管理在同一块土地上种植多种作物的混合种植方式可能有利于提高产量和预防疾病，但大规模田间试验的证据有限。通过间作增加作物多样性可以解决提高土地利用率和作物生产力的问题。我们与农民和推广人员合作，在中国云南省的 10 个县的 15302 公顷土地上，通过轮作或根据作物高度的差异混合种植烟草、玉米、甘蔗、土豆、小麦和蚕豆，测试了这些间作模式。这些地区的观测地块的结果表明，一些组合在同一季节使作物产量增加了 33.2%至 84.7%，土地当量比（LER）达到 1.31 至 1.84。这种方法可以很容易地应用于发展中国家，在耕地不断减少和粮食需求不断增加的情况下，这一点至关重要。
