Comparison

Increasing on-farm biodiversity by growing two or more types of crops together (i.e., intercropping) has the potential to provide multiple benefits, including increased crop yield. This comparison looks at the yield effects of intercropping legumes—plants that make atmospheric nitrogen available to other plants—with cereal crops. The comparison focuses on European studies that evaluate how intercropping legumes with cereal crops affects cereal crop grain yield relative to cereal crop monocultures, cropping systems where individuals of the same crop species are planted together. Papers included in the comparison were identified through a Web of Science search that included the following search terms: "legum* intercrop*" OR "legum* polyculture" AND ("grain yield" OR "cereal yield" OR "grain productivity" OR "cereal productivity" OR "grain biomass" OR "cereal biomass") AND (effective* OR performance* OR assessment* OR evaluation* OR estimate* OR comparison* OR contrast*) AND Europe*. Selected papers include those that were either open access or accessible through the University of Leibniz, Hannover Technical Information Library, and that provided information on cereal crop yields in the text or in tables; data presented in figures or plots that required extraction were not included in this comparison. The search yielded 34 papers; data from four papers met the eligibility criteria and were included in the comparison.