Mitt. Ges. Pflanzenbauwiss. 28: 32-33 (2016)
Re-thinking research on intercropping systems Thomas F. Döring1 1
Fachgebiet Acker- und Pflanzenbau, Lebenswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 5, 14195 Berlin-Dahlem; E-Mail:
[email protected]
Introduction For a long time it has been known that enhancing crop diversity in agro-ecosystems entails several benefits (Wollny 1885, Vandermeer 1989), including reduced crop damage from pests and diseases, increased crop yield and higher yield stability. Indeed, intercropping is a well-researched approach of increasing crop diversity in the field. Over the past few decades, researchers have paid particular attention to intercropping systems combining grain legumes and cereals, e.g. species mixtures of pea and barley, pea and oats, or faba bean and wheat. However, despite decades of research on such mixtures, adoption in practice has still remained relatively low; in fact, adoption rates of intercropping, when viewed over longer periods (the past two centuries), appear to have decreased. Further, applied and on-farm research shows that intercrops, despite their great potential, are still frequently characterised by occasional yield disadvantages when compared to monocultures, e.g. as expressed by land equivalent ratios (LER)
