Maize/peanut intercropping has greater synergistic effects and home-field advantages than maize/soybean on straw decomposition.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The decomposition of plant litter mass is responsible for substantial carbon fluxes and remains a key process regulating nutrient cycling in natural and managed ecosystems. Litter decomposition has been addressed in agricultural monoculture systems, but not in intercropping systems, which produce species-diverse litter mass mixtures. The aim here is to quantify how straw type, the soil environment and their combined effects may influence straw decomposition in widely practiced maize/legume intercropping systems.

Methods

Three decomposition experiments were conducted over 341 days within a long-term intercropping field experiment which included two nitrogen (N) addition levels (i.e. no-N and N-addition) and five cropping systems (maize, soybean and peanut monocul

SUBMITTER: Surigaoge S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10020597 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature