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Review on: Inter-Cropping System and Its Advantages

Published in Reports (Volume 1, Issue 4)
Received: 22 November 2021    Accepted: 16 December 2021    Published: 29 December 2021
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Abstract

The only way to increase agricultural production in the small or marginal units of farming is to increase the productivity per unit time and area. One method of increasing productivity is by using multiple cropping systems. It uses management practices where the total crop production from a single piece of land is achieved by growing single crops in close sequence, growing several crops simultaneously, or combining single and mixed crops in some sequence. Intercropping which is one of the multiple cropping systems is a growth of two crops in the same field, where the component crops are not necessarily sown at the same time nor harvested at the same time, but they are grown simultaneously for a portion of their growing periods. The objective of this paper is to revise intercropping systems and its advantages across the world. Some of the advantages of intercropping are increase productivity, greater stability of yield over different seasons, better use of growth resources, better control of weeds, pests and diseases, control erosion, fixation of nitrogen by the legume component and others. In Ethiopia, maize intercropped with common bean reduced the severity of Angular leaf spot (ALS) disease. When susbtaible faba bean cultivar was grown with either barley, oat, triticale or wheat, on average there was 47.2% reduction of disease severity for intercrops compared to that of the faba bean monocrop and 29.6% less disease area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) for intercrops compared to the faba bean monocrop. Disease spread was reduced in mixed cropping because physical barriers against aerial pathogens and their vectors, trapping effect, altering microclimate (shading and humidity) and by spacing effect. The prevalence of the legume-based intercropping systems improves soil fertility by biological N fixation. Biological N; fixation (BNF) is a natural process in legume crops, where atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is fixed into ammonia (NH3) in plant root nodules by a symbiotic form of Rhizobia. At the end yield advantage occurs because component crops differ in their use of growth resources in such a way that when they are grown in combination they are able to ‘complement’ each other and so make better overall use of resources than when grown separately. For example Sorghum and common bean row intercropping gave the highest agronomic advantage (43%) at Babile and 40% at Alemaya over sole cropping of the component crops.

Published in Reports (Volume 1, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.reports.20210104.12
Page(s) 36-42
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Intercropping, Component Crops, Yield, Nitrogen Fixation, Land Equivalent Ratio

References
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  • @article{10.11648/j.reports.20210104.12,
      author = {Debela Bekele},
      title = {Review on: Inter-Cropping System and Its Advantages},
      journal = {Reports},
      volume = {1},
      number = {4},
      pages = {36-42},
      doi = {10.11648/j.reports.20210104.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.reports.20210104.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.reports.20210104.12},
      abstract = {The only way to increase agricultural production in the small or marginal units of farming is to increase the productivity per unit time and area. One method of increasing productivity is by using multiple cropping systems. It uses management practices where the total crop production from a single piece of land is achieved by growing single crops in close sequence, growing several crops simultaneously, or combining single and mixed crops in some sequence. Intercropping which is one of the multiple cropping systems is a growth of two crops in the same field, where the component crops are not necessarily sown at the same time nor harvested at the same time, but they are grown simultaneously for a portion of their growing periods. The objective of this paper is to revise intercropping systems and its advantages across the world. Some of the advantages of intercropping are increase productivity, greater stability of yield over different seasons, better use of growth resources, better control of weeds, pests and diseases, control erosion, fixation of nitrogen by the legume component and others. In Ethiopia, maize intercropped with common bean reduced the severity of Angular leaf spot (ALS) disease. When susbtaible faba bean cultivar was grown with either barley, oat, triticale or wheat, on average there was 47.2% reduction of disease severity for intercrops compared to that of the faba bean monocrop and 29.6% less disease area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) for intercrops compared to the faba bean monocrop. Disease spread was reduced in mixed cropping because physical barriers against aerial pathogens and their vectors, trapping effect, altering microclimate (shading and humidity) and by spacing effect. The prevalence of the legume-based intercropping systems improves soil fertility by biological N fixation. Biological N; fixation (BNF) is a natural process in legume crops, where atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is fixed into ammonia (NH3) in plant root nodules by a symbiotic form of Rhizobia. At the end yield advantage occurs because component crops differ in their use of growth resources in such a way that when they are grown in combination they are able to ‘complement’ each other and so make better overall use of resources than when grown separately. For example Sorghum and common bean row intercropping gave the highest agronomic advantage (43%) at Babile and 40% at Alemaya over sole cropping of the component crops.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Review on: Inter-Cropping System and Its Advantages
    AU  - Debela Bekele
    Y1  - 2021/12/29
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.reports.20210104.12
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2994-7146
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.reports.20210104.12
    AB  - The only way to increase agricultural production in the small or marginal units of farming is to increase the productivity per unit time and area. One method of increasing productivity is by using multiple cropping systems. It uses management practices where the total crop production from a single piece of land is achieved by growing single crops in close sequence, growing several crops simultaneously, or combining single and mixed crops in some sequence. Intercropping which is one of the multiple cropping systems is a growth of two crops in the same field, where the component crops are not necessarily sown at the same time nor harvested at the same time, but they are grown simultaneously for a portion of their growing periods. The objective of this paper is to revise intercropping systems and its advantages across the world. Some of the advantages of intercropping are increase productivity, greater stability of yield over different seasons, better use of growth resources, better control of weeds, pests and diseases, control erosion, fixation of nitrogen by the legume component and others. In Ethiopia, maize intercropped with common bean reduced the severity of Angular leaf spot (ALS) disease. When susbtaible faba bean cultivar was grown with either barley, oat, triticale or wheat, on average there was 47.2% reduction of disease severity for intercrops compared to that of the faba bean monocrop and 29.6% less disease area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) for intercrops compared to the faba bean monocrop. Disease spread was reduced in mixed cropping because physical barriers against aerial pathogens and their vectors, trapping effect, altering microclimate (shading and humidity) and by spacing effect. The prevalence of the legume-based intercropping systems improves soil fertility by biological N fixation. Biological N; fixation (BNF) is a natural process in legume crops, where atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is fixed into ammonia (NH3) in plant root nodules by a symbiotic form of Rhizobia. At the end yield advantage occurs because component crops differ in their use of growth resources in such a way that when they are grown in combination they are able to ‘complement’ each other and so make better overall use of resources than when grown separately. For example Sorghum and common bean row intercropping gave the highest agronomic advantage (43%) at Babile and 40% at Alemaya over sole cropping of the component crops.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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  • Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Asella, Ethiopia

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