Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), 15374, Müncheberg, Germany.
Faculty of Life Science, Thaer-Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science, Humboldt-University of Berlin, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 16;14(1):18989. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-69903-5.
There is growing interest in intercropping as a practice to increase productivity per unit area and ecosystem functioning in agricultural systems. Relay intercropping with soy and winter wheat may benefit soil health due to increased diversity and longer undisturbed soil cover, yet this remains largely unstudied. Using a field experiment in Eastern Germany, we studied the temporal dynamics of chemical, biological, and physical indicators of soil health in the topsoil over a year of cultivation to detect early effects of soy-wheat relay intercropping compared to sole cropping. Indicators included microbial abundance, permanganate-oxidizable carbon, carbon fractions, pH, and water infiltration. Relay intercropping showed no unique soil health benefits compared to sole cropping, likely affected by drought that stressed intercropped soy. Relay intercropping did, however, maintain several properties of both sole crops including an increased MAOM C:N ratio and higher soil water infiltration. The MAOM C:N ratio increased by 4.2 and 6.2% in intercropping and sole soy and decreased by 5% in sole wheat. Average near-saturated soil water infiltration rates were 12.6, 14.9, and 6.0 cm hr for intercropping, sole wheat, and sole soy, respectively. Cropping system did not consistently affect other indicators but we found temporal patterns of these indicators, showing their sensitivity to external changes.
间作作为一种提高农业系统单位面积生产力和生态系统功能的实践，越来越受到关注。大豆-冬小麦轮作可能会由于多样性增加和更长时间未受干扰的土壤覆盖而有益于土壤健康，但这在很大程度上仍未得到研究。我们利用德国东部的田间试验，在一年的种植过程中研究了表土中土壤健康的化学、生物和物理指标的时间动态，以检测与单作相比，大豆-小麦轮作的早期影响。指标包括微生物丰度、高锰酸盐可氧化碳、碳分数、pH 值和水入渗。与单作相比，轮作并没有显示出独特的土壤健康益处，这可能是由于干旱对间作大豆造成了压力。然而，轮作确实维持了两种单作的几个特性，包括增加的 MAOM C:N 比和更高的土壤水入渗。MAOM C:N 比在间作和单作大豆中分别增加了 4.2%和 6.2%，而在单作小麦中则减少了 5%。间作、单作小麦和单作大豆的平均近饱和土壤水入渗速率分别为 12.6、14.9 和 6.0 cm/hr。种植系统并不总是影响其他指标，但我们发现了这些指标的时间模式，表明它们对外部变化的敏感性。
