Intercropping Gramineae Herbage in Semiarid Jujube Cultivar ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) Orchard Improves Productivity, Plant Nutritional Quality, and Soil Quality
Forest-grass intercropping has great advantages in exploiting the potential of biological resources, improving the productivity of agriculture. Nevertheless, research on intercropping of ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) with Gramineae...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Horticulturae |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/8/9/834 |
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| author | Xiaojia Wang Bing Cao Jin Zou Aiyun Xu Xuerui Feng |
| author_facet | Xiaojia Wang Bing Cao Jin Zou Aiyun Xu Xuerui Feng |
| author_sort | Xiaojia Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forest-grass intercropping has great advantages in exploiting the potential of biological resources, improving the productivity of agriculture. Nevertheless, research on intercropping of ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) with Gramineae herbage is less frequently reported. In this study, we measured the land equivalent ratio (LER), the nutritional quality of fruit and forage, and soil properties when ‘LingwuChangzao’ jujube was intercropped with Gramineae herbage compared to when grown in a corresponding monoculture, using clean tillage as a control. The results indicated that ‘LingwuChangzao’ jujube/Gramineae herbage intercropping significantly improved the LER in the system, the appearance traits, and the quality of jujube fruit (e.g., the total soluble solids, soluble sugar, vitamin C, anthocyanin, and flavonoids). Conversely, some nutritional quality indicators, such as dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, and neutral detergent fiber of forage, were lower than the corresponding monoculture. The physical properties in the soil improved with increased soil water content, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, etc. Further, intercropping systems had significant effects on soil organic carbon fractions and most of the C-N cycling enzyme activities. Redundancy analyses (RDA) revealed that electrical conductivity and total nitrogen were the dominant soil factors that influenced the C-N cycling enzyme activities and four soil organic carbon fractions correlated with C-N cycling soil enzyme activities. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that ‘LingwuChangzao’ jujube/Gramineae herbage intercropping significantly altered C-N cycling enzyme activities by driving the soil physicochemical properties and soil organic carbon fractions. Our findings show how to improve the productivity of ‘LingwuChangzao’ jujube and they provide insights into the mechanisms underlying healthy, biodiverse soils in agroecosystems. |
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| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:50:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
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| series | Horticulturae |
| spelling | doaj.art-189e3c30bf2d4487bb78940d687030672023-11-23T16:34:24ZengMDPI AGHorticulturae2311-75242022-09-018983410.3390/horticulturae8090834Intercropping Gramineae Herbage in Semiarid Jujube Cultivar ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) Orchard Improves Productivity, Plant Nutritional Quality, and Soil QualityXiaojia Wang0Bing Cao1Jin Zou2Aiyun Xu3Xuerui Feng4School of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, ChinaSchool of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, ChinaSchool of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, ChinaSchool of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, ChinaSchool of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, ChinaForest-grass intercropping has great advantages in exploiting the potential of biological resources, improving the productivity of agriculture. Nevertheless, research on intercropping of ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) with Gramineae herbage is less frequently reported. In this study, we measured the land equivalent ratio (LER), the nutritional quality of fruit and forage, and soil properties when ‘LingwuChangzao’ jujube was intercropped with Gramineae herbage compared to when grown in a corresponding monoculture, using clean tillage as a control. The results indicated that ‘LingwuChangzao’ jujube/Gramineae herbage intercropping significantly improved the LER in the system, the appearance traits, and the quality of jujube fruit (e.g., the total soluble solids, soluble sugar, vitamin C, anthocyanin, and flavonoids). Conversely, some nutritional quality indicators, such as dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, and neutral detergent fiber of forage, were lower than the corresponding monoculture. The physical properties in the soil improved with increased soil water content, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, etc. Further, intercropping systems had significant effects on soil organic carbon fractions and most of the C-N cycling enzyme activities. Redundancy analyses (RDA) revealed that electrical conductivity and total nitrogen were the dominant soil factors that influenced the C-N cycling enzyme activities and four soil organic carbon fractions correlated with C-N cycling soil enzyme activities. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that ‘LingwuChangzao’ jujube/Gramineae herbage intercropping significantly altered C-N cycling enzyme activities by driving the soil physicochemical properties and soil organic carbon fractions. Our findings show how to improve the productivity of ‘LingwuChangzao’ jujube and they provide insights into the mechanisms underlying healthy, biodiverse soils in agroecosystems.https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/8/9/834fruit qualityland equivalent ratiosoil enzyme activitysoil organic carbon fractionssoil properties |
| spellingShingle | Xiaojia Wang Bing Cao Jin Zou Aiyun Xu Xuerui Feng Intercropping Gramineae Herbage in Semiarid Jujube Cultivar ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) Orchard Improves Productivity, Plant Nutritional Quality, and Soil Quality Horticulturae fruit quality land equivalent ratio soil enzyme activity soil organic carbon fractions soil properties |
| title | Intercropping Gramineae Herbage in Semiarid Jujube Cultivar ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) Orchard Improves Productivity, Plant Nutritional Quality, and Soil Quality |
| title_full | Intercropping Gramineae Herbage in Semiarid Jujube Cultivar ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) Orchard Improves Productivity, Plant Nutritional Quality, and Soil Quality |
| title_fullStr | Intercropping Gramineae Herbage in Semiarid Jujube Cultivar ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) Orchard Improves Productivity, Plant Nutritional Quality, and Soil Quality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Intercropping Gramineae Herbage in Semiarid Jujube Cultivar ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) Orchard Improves Productivity, Plant Nutritional Quality, and Soil Quality |
| title_short | Intercropping Gramineae Herbage in Semiarid Jujube Cultivar ‘LingwuChangzao’ (<i>Ziziphus jujuba</i> Mill. <i>cv</i>. LingwuChangzao) Orchard Improves Productivity, Plant Nutritional Quality, and Soil Quality |
| title_sort | intercropping gramineae herbage in semiarid jujube cultivar lingwuchangzao i ziziphus jujuba i mill i cv i lingwuchangzao orchard improves productivity plant nutritional quality and soil quality |
| topic | fruit quality land equivalent ratio soil enzyme activity soil organic carbon fractions soil properties |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/8/9/834 |
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