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| DOI：10.13522/j.cnki.ggps.2026060 |
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| Effects of maize and mung bean intercropping on soil water-salt dynamics and crop water use efficiency in coastal saline-alkali soil |
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Gai Shaoyang, Xue Zhu, Zhang Kai, Shen Xiaojun, Liu Hongquan, Gao Huiyan
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1. College of Water Conservancy Engineering, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin 300392, China;
2. College of Urban and Rural Construction, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, China
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| Abstract: |
| 【Objective】Intercropping is an anomic practice that could mitigate the adverse effects of salinity on crops cultivated in coastal saline-alkali soil, yet its effect on water-salt regulation and crop growth remains unclear. This paper investigates the effects of maize-mung bean intercropping on soil water and salt distribution, growth and water use efficiency (WUE) of the crops in a coastal saline-alkali soil.【Method】A two-year field experiment was conducted from 2022 to 2023 in a coastal saline-alkali area in Tianjin. It consisted of three treatments: monocultured maize (T1), monocultured mung bean (T2), and maize-mung bean intercropping (T12). During the experiment, we measured the spatiotemporal changes in soil water content, soil electrical conductivity (ECe), agronomic traits and grain yields of the crops, land equivalent ratio (LER), and WUE for each treatment.【Result】Compared with monoculture, intercropping not only significantly increased maize plant height by 3.4% and 12.7% in 2022 and 2023, respectively, but also markedly increased its stem diameter, with no significant effect on ear length. In contrast, plant height and stem diameter of the intercropped and monocultured mung bean showed no significant difference. Compared with monoculture, intercropping increased the 1 000-grain weight of maize by 13.98% in 2022 and had no significant effect in 2023. The land equivalent ratio (LER) of the intercropping system was 1.43 in 2022 and 1.68 in 2023. At the same soil depth, soil water content in the mung bean strips was higher than that in the maize strips, and soil water content in the topsoil (0-40 cm) was lower than that in the subsoil (40-100 cm). Throughout the crop growth period, topsoil water content increased while its ECe declined, compared with their pre-planting values.【Conclusion】Maize-mung bean intercropping can effectively optimize the spatial distribution of soil water and salt to facilitate maize growth, and improve its water use efficiency in coastal saline-alkali soils. It can thus be adopted as an improved agronomic practice for maize and mung bean production in coastal saline-alkali soils. |
| Key words: coastal saline-alkali soil; intercropping; soil water and salt; water use efficiency; land equivalent ratio |
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