Journal
PLANT AND SOIL
Volume 371, Issue 1-2, Pages 641-653Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11104-013-1712-2
Keywords
Legume; Facilitation; Niche separation; Intercropping; Biological fixation; Root complementarity
Categories
Funding
- Region Pays-de-la-Loire in France (INTRANBA Project)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Legume-brassica intercrops may help to reduce N fertilizer input. We tested whether (i) intercropping with faba bean can improve N status of rapeseed, and (ii) root complementarity and/or N transfer is involved in such performance. Pre-germinated rapeseed and faba bean were grown either together or in monospecific rhizotrons (2 plants per rhizotron). Root growth was recorded. N rhizodeposition of the crops and N transferred between species were assessed using a N-15 stem-labelling method. Intercropped rapeseeds accumulated 20 % higher amounts of N per plant than monocultures. Up to 32 days after sowing, root distribution in the rhizotrons was favourable to physical sharing of the soil N: 64 % of faba bean root length was located in the upper part, as 70 % was in the lower part for rapeseed. At late flowering of the faba bean (52 days after sowing), N rhizodeposition of the two crops were similar and reached 8 to 9 % of the plant N. N transferred from the faba bean to the rapeseed was similar to that transferred from the rapeseed to the faba bean. Niche complementarity benefits more intercropped rapeseed than net N fluxes between species in the early growth.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available