Zhang, L., 2007. Productivity and resource use in cotton and wheat intercropping systems. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 198 pp. With Summaries in English, Dutch and Chinese.
Crop growth, phenology, productivity, quality, resource use efficiencies and profitability of mono- and intercrops were studied. Field experiments were carried out during three consecutive years with the monocultures and four intercropping designs differing in strip and path width as well as number of rows per strip.
All intercropping systems showed an advantage in land productivity compared to growing of monocrops. The fiber quality of cotton was not affected by intercropping. The land equivalence ratio was 1.39 in the 3:1, 3:2 and 4:2 systems, and significantly lower, 1.28, in the 6:2 system. For intercropped cotton, light use efficiencies were similar to the monoculture; the amount of light intercepted decreased due to a delay in development and growth during the seedling stage and by the extent of canopy closure after the wheat harvest. It is concluded that the intercropping systems increase farmers’ income under a wide range of wheat and cotton prices.