How is intercropping beneficial to farmers?

How is intercropping beneficial to farmers?

Intercropping is the growth of two or more crops, simultaneously (Vandermeer, 1989). The major benefits of intercropping are (1) increasing the rate of crop production, with the advantage of simultaneously decreasing the risk of total crop reduction, and (2) controlling weeds (Liebman and Dyck, 1993).

What is the purpose of intercropping with legumes?

Thus, intercropping a cereal and a legume at low N input reduces nitrogen stress of the cereal and strengthens the biological capture of atmospheric nitrogen by the legume (Hauggaard-Nielsen and Jensen 2001).

What are the benefits of intercrop?

Advantages of intercropping

• The fertility of the soil is maintained.
• The spread of diseases and pests is controlled.
• Optimum utilization of resources.
• The space and time of growing more than one crop are saved.
• Maximum utilization of nutrients present in the soil.

How effective is intercropping?

The authors found that intercropping increased yields in almost all instances over their monoculture counterparts. Furthermore, the intercropping systems more efficiently removed nitrogen from the soils – indicating increased resource use efficiency in the intercropped systems.

What are the importance of leguminous plants?

Leguminous plants have a special relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria called Rhizobium. By biologically fixing nitrogen levels in the soil, legumes provide a relatively low-cost method of replacing nitrogen in the soil, enhancing soil fertility and boosting subsequent crop yields.

What is the effect of weeding?

Presence of weeds increases the cost of agriculture and hinders the progress of work. It increases the irrigation requirement. They reduce the value of produce or otherwise adds the cost of cleaning. Some weeds when eaten (Cleome viscosa) by milch animals will produce an undesirable odour in the milk.

What are the benefits of planting legumes?

Soil quality benefits of legumes include: increasing soil organic matter, improving soil porosity, recycling nutrients, improving soil structure, decreasing soil pH, diversifying the microscopic life in the soil, and breaking disease build-up and weed problems of grass-type crops.

What is intercrop and what are the advantages of intercropping?

Intercropping is a practice involving growing two or more crops simultaneously on a same piece of land. The main advantage of inter cropping is getting higher returns from the same piece of land which otherwise not be utilized by a single crop.

What is intercrop farming?

Intercropping is an all-encompassing term for the practice of growing two or more crops in close proximity: in the same row or bed, or in rows or strips that are close enough for biological interaction.

What are the advantages of intercropping and crop rotation?

Inter-cropping helps in preventing pests and diseases to spread throughout the field. It also increases soil fertility, whereas crop rotation prevents soil depletion, increases soil fertility, and reduces soil erosion. Both these methods reduce the need for fertilizers.

Is intercropping good for the primary crops?

Intercropping is good for the primary crops. The secondary crops can provide shelter and even protect the primary crops. Intercropping also allows you to grow cash crops or any crop that will actually supplement the primary crop in some way. Difference between Intercropping and Crop Rotation

Why intercropping cereals and legumes?

Other important contribution of intercropping involving cereals and legumes is a lower requirement of nitrogen fertilisation (e.g. Fujita et al., 1992; Li et al., 2001; see also Section 4.1 ). Khawar Jabran, Per Kudsk, in Advances in Agronomy, 2017

Are legume crops good for conservation agriculture?

Based on these multiple functions, legume crops have high potential for conservation agriculture, being functional either as growing crop or as crop residue. .

Does intercropping allelopathic crops with other crops improve weed management?

Intercropping allelopathic crops with other crops may provide better weed suppression due to biochemical effects and, thus, may improve weed management in main crop ( Cheema et al., 2013; Jabran et al., 2015 ).