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Given the growing interest in ecological intensification directed towards sustainable crop production, a study was conducted to assess the biological and production response of pea intercropped with spring wheat or linseed under various growing conditions. The experiment was conducted in 2009–2011 on a Haplic Phaeozem soil in the western part of Poland. Intercropping of pea significantly reduced the green area index and the normalized difference vegetation index values, but growing pea with linseed caused a significant increase in the number of nodes with pods, pods per stem, and seeds per stem. Intercropping with wheat increased the seed number per pod. Seed inoculation with Nitragina significantly increased the number of pea pods and seeds per stem. Wheat intercropped with pea, with inoculation and foliar fertilization, attained significantly lower straw weight and spike length. Intercropping of linseed significantly reduced the features of the yield structure. Bacterial inoculation increased the production potential of pea at the expense of the supporting plants.

Root competition for below-ground resources between edible plants may provide for long-term sustainability of agriculture systems. Intercropping can be more productive than a pure crop due to taking advantage of the morphological differences between species. In pure cropping, all biophysical interactions between plants occur through soil conditions. In intercropping, competition for water and nutrients is of major importance, but if the roots of one species occupy the zone just underneath the roots of the other crop, they can better use the resources of the root zone of the crop. The root system demonstrates a high degree of plasticity in its development in response to local heterogeneity of the soil profile and plant density. This study aimed at determining: (i) the morphological characteristics of the root systems of linseed, pea and vetch depending on the method of sowing; (ii) the root distribution in various soil types and at different soil profile depths (0–15 cm, 15–30 cm). Two three-year field experiments were conducted on two soil types in south Poland: soil A – Luvic Phaeozem (s1) and soil B – Eutric Cambisol (s2). These results show that linseed was more aggressive toward both legumes in mixture, but it produced lower yield compared to pure cropping. The environmental stress of plants in mixtures increased the relative weight of roots, which resulted in decreasing the root-shoot ratio (RSR).

Given the growing interest in ecological intensification directed towards sustainable crop production, a study was conducted to assess the biological and production response of pea intercropped with spring wheat or linseed under various growing conditions. The experiment was conducted in 2009-2011 on a Haplic Phaeozem soil in the western part of Poland. Intercropping of pea significantly reduced the green area index and the normalized difference vegetation index values, but growing pea with linseed caused a significant increase in the number of nodes with pods, pods per stem, and seeds per stem. Intercropping with wheat increased the seed number per pod. Seed inoculation with Nitragina significantly increased the number of pea pods and seeds per stem. Wheat intercropped with pea, with inoculation and foliar fertilization, attained significantly lower straw weight and spike length. Intercropping of linseed significantly reduced the features of the yield structure. Bacterial inoculation increased the production potential of pea at the expense of the supporting plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root competition for below-ground resources between edible plants may provide for long-term sustainability of agriculture systems. Intercropping can be more productive than a pure crop due to taking advantage of the morphological differences between species. In pure cropping, all biophysical interactions between plants occur through soil conditions. In intercropping, competition for water and nutrients is of major importance, but if the roots of one species occupy the zone just underneath the roots of the other crop, they can better use the resources of the root zone of the crop. The root system demonstrates a high degree of plasticity in its development in response to local heterogeneity of the soil profile and plant density. This study aimed at determining: (i) the morphological characteristics of the root systems of linseed, pea and vetch depending on the method of sowing; (ii) the root distribution in various soil types and at different soil profile depths (0-15 cm, 15-30 cm). Two three-year field experiments were conducted on two soil types in south Poland: soil A - Luvic Phaeozem (s1) and soil B - Eutric Cambisol (s2). These results show that linseed was more aggressive toward both legumes in mixture, but it produced lower yield compared to pure cropping. The environmental stress of plants in mixtures increased the relative weight of roots, which resulted in decreasing the root-shoot ratio (RSR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]