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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1533211
This article is part of the Research Topic The Dynamics of Environmental Stresses and Seed Physiology: A Complex Interaction in Plant Systems View all articles
Optimizing plant density to improve the soil microenvironment and enhance crop productivity in cotton/cumin intercropping systems
Provisionally accepted
Humei Zhang 1,2 Liwen Tian 3 Xianzhe Hao 4 Nannan Li 2 Xiaojuan Shi 2 Feng Shi 2
Yu Tian 2 Wenbo Wang 5
Honghai Luo 2*- 1 Center for Western Agricultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Changji, China
- 2 Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
- 3 Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi, China
- 4 Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Sciences (XAARS), Shihezi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
- 5 Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
Residual film pollution has become a key factor that affects the sustainable development of cotton, and intercropping may be an economical and environmentally friendly method to reduce the negative effects of nonmulched conditions on cotton growth. We hypothesized that optimizing the cotton/cumin intercropping density would improve the soil environment and increase crop productivity and resource utilization. Therefore, in this study, single-cropping cotton (CK) was used as the control, and three intercropping cumin seeding densities were used (plants ha -1 : 5×10 5 , ID1; 8×10 5 , ID2; and 11×10 5 , ID3). Through a two-year field experiment, the effects of cotton-cumin intercropping on the soil moisture, temperature, salt, respiration rate, weed density, cotton yield formation and intercropping advantages were studied. Compared with the CK treatment, the ID2 treatment decreased the water content in the 0-30 cm soil layer by 8.3%, increased the water consumption by 9.1%, increased the soil temperature by 0.5°C, and decreased the electrical conductivity of the 0-15 cm soil layer by 17.7%.
Keywords: Cotton/cumin intercropping, density, soil environment, crop productivity, Nonfilm cotton
Received: 23 Nov 2024; Accepted: 20 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Tian, Hao, Li, Shi, Shi, Tian, Wang and Luo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Honghai Luo, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
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