Background and aims

Crop diversity has been repeatedly shown to support multiple ecosystem functions, both directly and indirectly, driven by interspecific root-root interactions. Despite continuous advances in this field, some research gaps remain, and we need to pay more attention to the design and management of multi-species and multi-cultivar systems in the future.

Scope

We review advances in intercropping in enhanced ecosystem functioning in competition-based and facilitation-based intercropping systems via root-root interactions. We also consider recent achievements in yield stability and soil fertility. We address several perspectives to focus on towards more sustainable agriculture via intercropping or cultivar mixtures in the future.

Conclusions

In competition-based systems, scramble competition via root-root competition and contest competition involving allelochemicals offset yield advantages of target crop species. However, niche differentiation and selection of desirable crop combinations to minimize negative effects through secondary metabolites may also help to gain yield advantages in intercropping and cultivar mixtures. In facilitation-based systems, selecting genotypes of facilitated species with root traits that best match the facilitator may strengthen the facilitative interactions in resource enrichment and disease and pest control. We need more long-term research to explore the effects of belowground processes on soil fertility, ecosystem stability, adaptation, and mitigation of climate change to establish sustainable agroecosystems in the future. It is also urgent to develop new methods to link belowground processes to functioning in multi-species and multi-cultivar agroecosystems.

中文翻译：

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间作农业生态系统的地下过程和可持续性

背景和目标

作物多样性一再被证明支持多种生态系统功能，直接和间接的，由种间根-根相互作用驱动。尽管该领域不断取得进展，但仍存在一些研究空白，未来我们需要更加关注多品种多品种系统的设计和管理。

范围

我们回顾了间作在基于竞争和促进的间作系统中通过根-根相互作用增强生态系统功能的进展。我们还考虑了最近在产量稳定性和土壤肥力方面取得的成就。我们提出了几个观点，以在未来通过间作或栽培品种混合物专注于更可持续的农业。

结论

在基于竞争的系统中，通过根根竞争和涉及化感物质的竞争竞争的争夺竞争抵消了目标作物物种的产量优势。然而，生态位分化和理想作物组合的选择以最大限度地减少次生代谢物的负面影响也可能有助于在间作和栽培品种混合物中获得产量优势。在基于促进的系统中，选择具有与促进者最匹配的根性状的促进物种的基因型可以加强资源富集和病虫害控制中的促进相互作用。我们需要更多的长期研究来探索地下过程对土壤肥力、生态系统稳定性、适应和减缓气候变化的影响，以在未来建立可持续的农业生态系统。