AUTHOR=Te Xiao , Hassan Muhammad Jawad , Cui Kuoshu , Xiao Jiahui , Aslam Muhammad Naveed , Saeed Amjad , Yang Wenyu , Ali Safdar 

TITLE=Effect of different planting pattern arrangements on soil organic matter and soil nitrogen content under a maize/soybean strip relay intercropping system

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.995750

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.995750

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=Assessing the spatial distribution of organic matter and total nitrogen in soil is essential for management and optimum utilization of fertilizers in order to obtain better crop yield with minimum fertilizers cost. Subsequently, this field experiment has studied the impact of different planting patterns arrangements of maize and soybean strip relay intercropping on spatial distribution of soil total nitrogen and organic matter contents. The planting was arranged in a manner that soil sampling could be done from continuous maize/soybean relay strip intercropping (MS1), maize/soybean relay strip intercropping in rotations (MS2), Traditional maize/soybean intercropping (MS3), sole maize (M), sole soybean (S), and fallow land (FL) from 2018 to 2020. The results showed significant variations for soil organic matter and total nitrogen under different planting patterns of maize and soybean in intercropping. The highest soil organic matter (29.19 g/kg) and total nitrogen (10.19 g/kg) were MS2. In contrast the minimum organic matter (1.69 g/kg) and total nitrogen (0.64 g/kg) were FL. Soil organic matter and total nitrogen in MS2 increased by 186.45% and 164.06%, respectively, compared with FL.  Furthermore, under MS2, the spatial distribution of soil organic matter was higher in both maize and soybean crop rows as compared with other cropping patterns, whereas the soil total nitrogen was higher under soybean rows as compared with maize in all other treatment. However, the correlation analysis of the treatments showed variations for organic matter. It can be concluded that different planting patterns can have other effects on soil organic matter and total nitrogen distribution under intercropping. Moreover, it is recommended from this study that MS2 is a better planting pattern for strip intercropping, that can increase spatial distribution of soil organic matter and total nitrogen, consequently it can improving the soil fertility and C:N ratio.