Cotton-Based Rotation, Intercropping, and Alternate Intercropping Increase Yields by Improving Root–Shoot Relations

Abstract

Crop rotation and intercropping are important ways to increase agricultural resource utilization efficiency and crop productivity. Alternate intercropping, or transposition intercropping, is a new intercropping pattern in which two crops are intercropped in a wide strip with planting positions switched annually on the same land. Transposition intercropping combines intercropping and rotation and thus performs better than either practice alone. Compared with traditional intercropping or rotation, it can increase yield and net return by 17–21% and 10–23%, respectively, and the land equivalent ratio (LER) by 20% to 30%. In crop growth and development, a balanced root–shoot relation is essential to obtain satisfactory yields and yield quality. Intercropping, rotation, or the combination can alter the original root–shoot relation by changing the ecology and physiology of both root and shoot to achieve a rebalancing of the relation. The crop yield and yield quality are thus regulated by the root–shoot interactions and the resulting rebalancing. The review examines the effects of above- and belowground interactions and rebalancing of root–shoot relations on crop yields under cotton-based intercropping, rotation, and particularly alternate intercropping with the practices combined. The importance of signaling in regulating the rebalancing of root–shoot relations under intercropping, rotation, and the combination was also explored as a possible focus of future research on intercropping and rotation.