| Crop yield has long been limited by low temperature,the less rainfall and the poor soil quality in Loess Plateau semi-arid areas of China.In order to improve the crop yield and economic benefit,the effects of planting patterns,crop composition and species diversity on total yield of the crops were investigated.A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of intercropping combination and row ratio for maize/pea/potato intercropping,and to screen out the suitable planting pattern in the semi-arid area for two consecutive growing seasons in 2015-2016.The agronomic characters and benefits of different planting patterns were studied.The objective of this study was to determine whether different intercropping combinations and row ratios would affect crop yield,species diversity and the relationship between species diversity and crop yield in Loess Plateau semi-arid areas of China.We carried out an experiment with combinations of three crops under different row ratios.We set two crops intercropping with row ratio 1:1,1:2,2:1 and 2:2,respectively;three crops intercropping with row ratio 1:1:1 and 2:2:2,respectively.17 planting patterns were designed with 3 times repeated by randomized block design.The main results were as follows:In 2015 and 2016,compared to monoculture of maize(MT),the total crop yield of different intercropping patterns was decreased.Moreover,the total crop yield of maize/potato intercropping patterns was significantly higher than pea/potato intercropping patterns.The planting density had a great influence on the total crop yield.In 2015,the land equivalent ratios(LERs)of different intercropping combination were greater than 1,improving the land use efficiency of the intercropping.Compared to potato monoculture(PT),the total crop yield of maize/potato intercropping was significantly increased,but there was no significant difference with maize monoculture.In 2016,compared to maize monoculture(MT),the total crop yield of maize/pea intercropping systems with row ratio 2:1 and 2:2 had no significantly difference.In 2015,there was no significant difference in maize yield per plant,but had some effect on maize yield per plant in 2016.In the two growing seasons,intercropping patterns had a certain effect on the yield per plant of pea and potato.Compared with maize monoculture(MT),expect for plant height,the agronomic characters of maize had no significant difference in maize/pea and maize/potato intercropping patterns,while in the pea/potato intercropping pattern,some agronomic characters of potato were significantly improved.The number of pods per plant and number of branches changed in maize/pea and pea/potato intercropping patterns.In 2015,the intercropping of pea/potato with row ratio 2:2(P2S2)had the highest economic benefit,in which the output value was up to 10002 yuan/ hectare,increased by 205.6% and 25.6%,respectively,compared with monoculture of pea and potato.In 2016,the intercropping of maize/potato with row ratio 2:2(M2S2)was the best treatment in terms of output value,while the output value was up to 9583 yuan/ hectare.Compared to monoculture of maize and potato,the output value of maize/potato intercropping with row ratio 2:2 increased by 6.8% and 79.9%,respectively.The main reason for the difference in the economic benefit of the two-year experiment is the difference in precipitation during the growing season and the significant reduction in crop production in extreme dry weather in 2016.The results showed that there was no necessary relationship between species diversity and total crop yield,and total crop yield does not necessarily relate to species diversity,but relates to crop combinations and row ratio. |
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