Abstract:
Objectives Reasonable intercropping patterns with maize as the main crop can maintain stable maize yield while harvesting a season of companion crops. Screening suitable intercropping patterns can provide practical and technical support for black soil protection and productivity enhancement.
Methods To clarify the effects of intercropping patterns on agronomic traits, economic benefits, and soil nutrients of maize in the black soil region, three planting patterns maize monoculture (MM), maize intercropped with mung bean (MB), and maize intercropped with rape (MR) were set up in typical black soil farmland in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province during 2021–2022. We analyzed maize agronomic traits, yield components, economic benefits, land equivalent ratio (LER), and changes in soil water content (SWC), organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK) at different soil layers.
Results Compared with maize monoculture (MM), both intercropping systems demonstrated significant advantages. The average annual net economic income increased by 17.6%–40.3%, and the land equivalent ratios (LER) reached 1.31 and 1.34, indicating 31% and 34% improvements in land use efficiency, respectively. Maize–mung bean intercropping (MB) significantly enhanced soil organic matter (SOM) by 13.1%–14.9% in the 0–40 cm layer, total nitrogen (TN) by 7.9%–9.3% in the 0–20 cm layer, and available phosphorus (AP) by 37.0%–45.3% and available potassium (AK) by 10.1%–44.6% in the 0–40 cm layer. Maize–rape intercropping (MR) significantly increased soil water content (SWC) by 13.1%–22.0% in the 0–40 cm layer, TN by 10.5% in the 20–40 cm layer, and AK by 10.1%–44.6% in the 0–40 cm layer, although its AP content was significantly lower than that of MM. Notable differences between the two intercropping patterns were also observed. Compared with MR, MB increased maize stem diameter and plant dry weight by 6.0% and 16.9%, respectively; elevated maize yield (9,260 kg/ha) and net income (15,623 yuan/ha) by 14.7% and 19.3%, respectively; and enhanced SOM and AP in the 0–40 cm layer by 13.1%–14.9% and 37.0%–69.3%, respectively. Conversely, MR significantly increased SWC in the 0–40 cm layer by 11.0%–16.4% compared with MB.
Conclusions Intercropping significantly improves land-use efficiency and economic benefits compared with monoculture. Maize intercropped with mung bean exhibits superior synergistic effects in yield improvement, income enhancement, and soil fertility, and is recommended as the priority intercropping system in black soil regions. Maize intercropped with rape demonstrates prominent water retention capacity and can be selectively adopted in arid or semi-arid black soil areas.