The productive performance of intercropping
China Agricultural University · Wageningen University & Research · +3 more institutions
Abstract
Crop diversification has been put forward as a way to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture without penalizing its productivity. In this context, intercropping, the planned combination of two or more crop species in one field, is a promising practice. On an average, intercropping saves land compared with the component sole crops, but it remains unclear whether intercropping produces a higher yield than the most productive single crop per unit area, i.e., whether intercropping achieves transgressive overyielding. Here, we quantified the performance of intercropping for the production of grain, calories, and protein in a global meta-analysis of several production indices. The results show that…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 77.69
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 71
Authors
7Topics & keywords
- Intercropping
- Crop diversity
- Crop
- Agriculture
- Agronomy
- Crop yield
- Productivity
- Agricultural diversification
- Zero hunger