Leaf, plant, to canopy: A mechanistic study on aboveground plasticity and plant density within a maize-soybean intercrop system for the Midwest, USA.

ABSTRACT: Plants have evolved to adapt to their neighbours through plastic trait responses. In intercrop systems, plant growth occurs at different spatial and temporal dimensions, creating a competitive light environment where aboveground plasticity may support complementarity in light-use efficiency, realizing yield gains per unit area compared with monoculture systems. Physiological and architectural plasticity including the consequences for light-use efficiency and yield in a maize-soybean solar corridor intercrop system was compared, empirically, with the standard monoculture systems of the Midwest, USA. The impact of reducing maize plant density on yield was investigated in the following year. Intercropped maize favoured physiological plasticity over architectural plasticity, which maintained h

SUBMITTER: Pelech EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10100491 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature