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Full Length Research Paper
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Intercropping peanut with
traditional Chinese medicinal plants improves soil microcosm
environment and peanut production
in subtropical China
Chuan-chao Dai1#, Hui Xie1#, Xing-xiang
Wang2*, Pei-dong Li1, Tao-lin Zhang2,
Yi-lin Li2 and Xiao Tan3
1College
of Life science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu
Province, 210046, China.
2Institute
of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing,
Jiangsu Province, 210008, China.
3Nanjing
Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210008, China.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
xxwang@issas.ac.cn
or
xxwang2008@gmail.com.
#These
authors contributed equally to this paper
Accepted
18 May, 2009 |
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Abstract |
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Many
environmental issues affect peanut production in continuous
monocropping system. Deterioration
of soil microbial communities,
especially for decrease in fungal diversity and increase in
fungal pathogens, is
widely
hypothesized as a
key
factor for decreasing peanut production.
In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate
the changes in soil microbial communities and
peanut
yield under the scheme of peanut intercropped
with traditional Chinese medicinal plants,
including
Atractylodes lancea,
Dioscorea
zingiberebsis,
Euphorbia pekinensis, Ophiopogon platyphyllum
and Pinellia ternate.
The results showed that soil microcosm environment was
improved, and the fungal diversity and fungal pathogens such
as
Fusarium
sp. and Verticillium sp.
were restrained when peanut intercropped with
A. lancea
and
E. pekinensis.
The
DGGE
analysis of 18S-rRNA from DNA of the total soil communities showed obvious
transferring
of species of fungi between
peanut
monocropping and the
intercropping systems.
Compared with the control, the superoxide dismutase activity
of peanut was increased by 43% in
A. lancea
and 37% in
E.
pekinensis
intercropping systems, along with 37 and 16% yield
improvement of peanut, respectively. Based on the result of
the pot experiment,
A.
lancea
and
E.
pekinensis
were
intercropped
with
peanuts
in a field experiment.
A considerable agreement was found between the results
obtained from
the
field and pot experiments.
Compared with peanut monocropping system, colony form unit of
mould
decreased by
31%
in
A. lancea
and 18% in E.
pekinensis
intercropping treatments, where peanut yields were
respectively
increased
by 39 and 35%. Further research should include
integrated PCR-DGGE analysis to determine the transfer of
peanut soil-born pathogens and its mechanism, and the
optimization of intercropping system and planting density of
medicinal plants to obtain the best benefits,
and
the understanding of the long-term effect of the intercropping systems.
Key
words: Peanut, soil microbial community, intercrop, medicinal
plants, succession
monocropping
obstacles. |
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