Service crops are crops grown to provide services to other cash crops, rather than for production purposes, with the ultimate aim of improving the environmental and production performances of cropping systems. Service crops can be intercropped with cash crops to facilitate interactions between crops and to optimize the use of the cropping season. Many terms exist to describe these practices, which highlights their diversity. However, this diversity of terms may be a source of confusion. Here, we present an overview of the current uses of intercropped service plants in temperate cropping systems, with the main services they provide and their management. (1) First, we show that a limited range of service crop species, mostly from the Fabaceae family, have been studied to date. This finding suggests that the diversity of species and cultivar resources that can be used as service crops has been poorly explored in the literature. In contrast, the combinations of service and cash crops tested appear wider. We address this diversity by defining synchronous intercropping, living mulch and relay intercropping. (2) Then, we show that intercropped service crops can efficiently reduce weed biomass and pest attacks and improve nitrogen cycling, thereby increasing soil fertility and improving crop nutrition. The intensity of these services is positively associated with service crop biomass, but excessive service crop biomass increases the risk of competition with cash crops. (3) The balance between the services and disservices provided can primarily be interpreted in terms of biomass production of coexisting crops. The resulting effect of service crops on cash crop yield is variable and reflects the integration of the effects of the various individual services, together with possible disservices. (4) The diversity in management methods makes it possible to manage this trade-off and to adapt the system to different conditions with a few tested species.

服务作物是为其他经济作物提供服务而不是为了生产目的而种植的作物，其最终目的是改善种植系统的环境和生产绩效。服务作物可以与经济作物间作，以促进作物之间的相互作用并优化种植季节的利用。存在许多术语来描述这些做法，这突出了它们的多样性。然而，这种术语的多样性可能会造成混淆。在这里，我们概述了温带种植系统中间作服务植物的当前用途，以及它们提供的主要服务及其管理。(1) 首先，我们表明迄今为止研究的服务作物种类有限，主要来自豆科。这一发现表明，文献中很少探索可用作服务作物的物种和栽培品种资源的多样性。相比之下，所测试的服务作物和经济作物的组合似乎更广泛。我们通过定义同步间作、活覆盖和接力间作来解决这种多样性问题。(2) 然后，我们表明间作服务作物可以有效减少杂草生物量和害虫侵袭，改善氮循环，从而提高土壤肥力和改善作物营养。这些服务的强度与服务作物生物量呈正相关，但过度的服务作物生物量增加了与经济作物竞争的风险。(3) 所提供的服务和损害之间的平衡主要可以解释为共存作物的生物量生产。服务作物对经济作物产量的最终影响是可变的，反映了各种单独服务的影响以及可能的损害的综合。(4) 管理方法的多样性使得管理这种权衡和使系统适应少数测试物种的不同条件成为可能。