IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i9p3022-d165721.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Below-Ground Interspecific Competition of Apple ( Malus pumila M.)–Soybean ( Glycine max L. Merr.) Intercropping Systems Based on Niche Overlap on the Loess Plateau of China

Author

Listed:
  • Yubo Sun

    (College of Water and Soil Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Huaxing Bi

    (College of Water and Soil Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
    Ji County Station, Chinese National Ecosystem Research Network (CNERN), Beijing 100083, China
    Beijing Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-environmental Improvement with Forestry and Fruit Trees, Beijing 102206, China
    Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Huasen Xu

    (College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China)

  • Hangqi Duan

    (College of Water and Soil Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Ruidong Peng

    (College of Water and Soil Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Jingjing Wang

    (College of Water and Soil Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

To provide a scientific basis and technical support for agroforestry management practices, such as interrow configuration and soil water and fertilizer management, a stratified excavation method was performed both to explore the fine-root spatial distribution and niche differentiation and to quantify the below-ground interspecific competition status of 3-, 5-, and 7-year-old apple ( Malus pumila M.)–soybean ( Glycine max L. Merr.) intercropping systems and monocropping systems. The fine roots of older trees occupied a larger soil space and had both a greater fine-root biomass density (FRMD) and a greater ability to reduce the FRMD of soybean, but this ability decreased with the distance from the apple tree row. Similarly, the FRMD of apple trees was also adversely affected by soybean plants, but this effect gradually increased with a decrease in tree age or with the distance from the tree row. Compared with that of the 3- and 5-year-old monocropped apple trees, the FRMD of the 3- and 5-year-old intercropped apple trees increased in the 40–100 cm and 60–100 cm soil layers, respectively. However, compared with that of the 7-year-old apple and soybean monocropping systems, the FRMD of the 7-year-old intercropped apple trees and soybean plants decreased in each soil layer. Compared with that of the corresponding monocropped systems, the fine-root vertical barycenter (FRVB) of the intercropped apple trees displaced deeper soil and that of the intercropped soybean plants displaced shallower soil. Furthermore, the FRVB of both intercropped apple trees and intercropped soybean plants displaced shallower soil with increasing tree age. Intense below-ground interspecific competition in the 3-, 5-, and 7-year-old apple–soybean intercropping systems occurred in the 0–40 cm soil layer at distances of 0.5–0.9, 0.5–1.3, and 0.5–1.7 m from the apple tree row, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Yubo Sun & Huaxing Bi & Huasen Xu & Hangqi Duan & Ruidong Peng & Jingjing Wang, 2018. "Below-Ground Interspecific Competition of Apple ( Malus pumila M.)–Soybean ( Glycine max L. Merr.) Intercropping Systems Based on Niche Overlap on the Loess Plateau of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3022-:d:165721
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3022/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3022/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dou, Xiaoyu & Wang, Ruoshui & Li, Chaonan & Zheng, Chenghao & Zhou, Xuan, 2022. "Spatial distribution of soil water, plant roots, and water use pattern under different drip fertigation regimes in an apple-soybean intercropping system on the Loess Plateau, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    2. Zheng, Chenghao & Wang, Ruoshui & Zhou, Xuan & Li, Chaonan & Dou, Xiaoyu, 2022. "Photosynthetic and growth characteristics of apple and soybean in an intercropping system under different mulch and irrigation regimes in the Loess Plateau of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    3. Zheng, Chenghao & Wang, Ruoshui & Zhou, Xuan & Li, Chaonan & Dou, Xiaoyu, 2021. "Effects of mulch and irrigation regimes on water distribution and root competition in an apple–soybean intercropping system in Loess Plateau, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    4. Jingjing Wang & Huaxing Bi & Yubo Sun & Hangqi Duan & Ruidong Peng, 2018. "The Improved Canopy Shading Model Based on the Apple Intercropping System (Case Study: Loess Plateau, China)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, September.
    5. Luo, Chengwei & Wang, Ruoshui & Li, Chaonan & Zheng, Chenghao & Dou, Xiaoyu, 2023. "Photosynthetic characteristics, soil nutrients, and their interspecific competitions in an apple–soybean alley cropping system subjected to different drip fertilizer regimes on the Loess Plateau, Chin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    6. Wang, Xiuyuan & Shen, Lei & Liu, Tingting & Wei, Wenwen & Zhang, Shuai & Tuerti, Tayir & Li, Luhua & Zhang, Wei, 2023. "Juvenile plumcot tree can improve fruit quality and economic benefits by intercropping with alfalfa in semi-arid areas," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3022-:d:165721. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.