Growth and development of soybean under changing light environments in relay intercropping system

作者：Muhammad Ali Raza, Ling Feng, Nasır Iqbal, Mukhtar Ahmed, Yuan Kai Chen, Muhammad Hayder Bin Khalid, Atta Mohi Ud Din, Ahsin Khan, Waqas Ijaz, Anwaar Hussain, Muhammad Atif Jamil, Muhammd Naeem, Sadam Hussain Bhutto, Muhammad Ansar, Feng Yang, Wenyu Yang · 发表于：PeerJ · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.7717/peerj.7262 · 被引用次数：68 · 研究领域：Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems、Plant Molecular Biology Research、Plant pathogens and resistance mechanisms

Background Maize-soybean relay-intercropping (MS R ) is a famous system of crop production in developing countries. However, maize shading under this system directly affects the light quality and intensity of soybean canopy. This is a challenging scenario in which to implement the MS R system, in terms of varieties selection, planting pattern, and crop management since the duration of crop resource utilization clearly differs. Methods Therefore, this experiment aimed to elucidate the effect of leaf excising treatments from maize top to fully clarify the needs and balance of light quality and intensity of intercrop-soybean under MS R in field conditions. The effects of different leaf excising treatments (T0, no removal of leaves; T2, removal of two topmost leaves; T4, removal of four topmost leaves; T6, removal of six topmost leaves from maize plants were applied at first-trifoliate stage (V 1 ) of soybean) on photosynthetically active radiation transmittance (PAR T ), red to far-red ratio (R:FR), morphological and photosynthetic characteristics and total biomass production at second-trifoliate stage (V 2 ), fifth-trifoliate stage (V 5 ), and flowering-stage (R 1 ) of soybean were investigated through field experiments for 2-years under MS R . Results As compared to T0, treatment T6 increased the PAR T and R:FR ratio at soybean canopy by 77% and 37% (V 2 ), 70% and 34% (V 5 ), and 41% and 36% (R 1 ), respectively. This improved light environment in T6 considerably enhanced the...