PAR Interception and Utilization in Different Maize and Soybean Intercropping Patterns

Xin Liu; Tanzeelur Rahman; Feng Yang; Chun Song; Taiwen Yong; Jiang Liu; Cuiying Zhang; Wenyu Yang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0169218

PAR Interception and Utilization in Different Maize and Soybean Intercropping Patterns

PLoS One. 2017 Jan 5;12(1):e0169218. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169218. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Xin Liu¹, Tanzeelur Rahman¹, Feng Yang^{1

2

3}, Chun Song^{2

3

4}, Taiwen Yong^{1

2

3}, Jiang Liu^{1

2

3}, Cuiying Zhang⁵, Wenyu Yang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Agronomy, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
² Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in the Southwest, Ministry of Agriculture, Chengdu, China.
³ Sichuan Engineering Research Center for Crop Strip Intercropping System, Chengdu, China.
⁴ Institute of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
⁵ Meteorological Bureau, Heze, China.

Abstract

The crop intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) vary markedly in different intercropping systems. The HHLA (horizontally homogeneous leaf area) and ERCRT (extended row crop radiation transmission) models have been established to calculate the intercepted PAR for intercrops. However, there is still a lack of study on the intercepted PAR and RUE under different intercropping configurations using different models. To evaluate the intercepted PAR and RUE in maize and soybean under different intercropping systems, we tested different strip intercropping configurations (SI1, SI2, and SI3 based on ERCRT model) and a row intercropping configurations (RI based on HHLA model) in comparison to monoculture. Our results showed that the intercepted PAR and RUE of intercropping systems were all higher than those of monoculture. The soybean intercepted PAR in strip intercropping was 1.35 times greater than that in row intercropping. In row intercropping (RI), the lack of soybean intercepted PAR resulted in a significant reduction of soybean dry matter. Therefore, it is not the recommended configuration for soybean. In strip intercropping patterns, with the distance between maize strip increased by 0.2 m, the intercepted PAR of soybean increased by 20%. The SI2 (maize row spacing at 0.4 m and the distance between maize strip at 1.6 m) was the recommended configuration to achieve the highest value of intercepted PAR and RUE among tested strip intercropping configurations. The method of dry matter estimation using intercepted PAR and RUE is useful in simulated experiments. The simulated value was verified in comparison with experimental data, which confirmed the credibility of the simulation model. Moreover, it also provides help in the development of functional-structural plant model (FSPM).

MeSH terms

Agriculture / methods
Crops, Agricultural / growth & development
Crops, Agricultural / physiology
Glycine max / growth & development*
Glycine max / physiology*
Photosynthesis / physiology
Zea mays / growth & development*
Zea mays / physiology*

Grants and funding

The research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant numbers 2016YFD0300209, 2016YFD0300602), the National Natural Science Foundation (grant number 31571615), and Program on Industrial Technology System of National Soybean (grant number CARS-04-PS19). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.