Objectives Position is greatly concerned in fertilization of precise agricultural production. This study was to investigate the effects of fertilizer placement and weed management on the growth and yield of intercropped maize and potato.
Methods A field experiment was conducted using maize and potato intercropping system with 2 : 2 row ratio. In both plots of with and without weed control, 3 fertilizer placements were designed as: homogeneous fertilization in all rows (HF), fertilization in interspecific rows (TERF), and fertilization in intraspecific rows (TRAF). There were total 6 treatments with triplications. The plant height, biomass, root total biomass and yields of the intercropped maize and potato were measured. So was the weed biomass.
Results Both the fertilizer placement and weed management had significant effects on yield (P < 0.001), biomass (P = 0.002) and plant height (P = 0.007) of maize. Without weeds control, compared to the HF, both the TERF and TRAF significantly increased the yield, biomass and plant height of maize, while with weeds control, only the yield and biomass of maize were significantly increased by the TRAF, and the plant height significantly increased by TERF.Weeds control did not significantly affect plant height (P = 0.494), but significantly increased the yield and biomass of tomato (P < 0.001). Fertilizer placements had no significant effect on potato yield (P = 0.114), biomass (P = 0.580) and plant height (P = 0.772). For both the maize and potato, weeds control significantly increased the total root biomass of maize and potato under the condition of HF and TRAF (P < 0.001), but had no significant influence under TERF. The TRAF significantly increased the total root biomass of maize and potato with and without weeds control (P < 0.001). Weed biomass was affected significantly by fertilizer placement (P = 0. 001) and growth row (P < 0.001). Compared with the HF, the TRAF significantly decreased the weed biomass of the rows between maize and potato and rows inside potato, while the TERF had no significant influence on the weed biomass in the rows between maize and potato, but significantly reduced the weed biomass in rows inside maize or potato.
Conclusions In maize and potato intercropping system, it is recommended applying fertilizer inside the rows of each crop, and weeds control is strongly recommended for good root development and high fertilizer use efficiency by crops for high yield.
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