Maize/peanut intercropping has greater synergistic effects and home-field advantages than maize/soybean on straw decomposition.

Introduction: The decomposition of plant litter mass is responsible for substantial carbon fluxes and remains a key process regulating nutrient cycling in natural and managed ecosystems. Litter decomposition has been addressed in agricultural monoculture systems, but not in intercropping systems, which produce species-diverse litter mass mixtures. The aim here is to quantify how straw type, the soil environment and their combined effects may influence straw decomposition in widely practiced maize/legume intercropping systems.

Methods: Three decomposition experiments were conducted over 341 days within a long-term intercropping field experiment which included two nitrogen (N) addition levels (i.e. no-N and N-addition) and five cropping systems (maize, soybean and peanut monocultures and maize/soybean and maize/peanut intercropping). Experiment I was used to quantify litter quality effects on decomposition; five types of straw (maize, soybean, peanut, maize-soybean and maize-peanut) from two N treatments decomposed in the same maize plot. Experiment II addressed soil environment effects on root decomposition; soybean straw decomposed in different plots (five cropping systems and two N levels). Experiment III addressed 'home' decomposition effects whereby litter mass (straw) was remained to decompose in the plot of origin. The contribution of litter and soil effects to the home-field advantages was compared between experiment III ('home' plot) and I-II ('away' plot).

Results And Discussions: Straw type affected litter mass loss in the same soil environment (experiment I) and the mass loss values of maize, soybean, peanut, maize-soybean, and maize-peanut straw were 59, 77, 87, 76, and 78%, respectively. Straw type also affected decomposition in the 'home' plot environment (experiment III), with mass loss values of maize, soybean, peanut, maize-soybean and maize-peanut straw of 66, 74, 80, 72, and 76%, respectively. Cropping system did not affect the mass loss of soybean straw (experiment II). Nitrogen-addition significantly increased straw mass loss in experiment III. Decomposition of maize-peanut straw mixtures was enhanced more by 'home-field advantage' effects than that of maize-soybean straw mixtures. There was a synergistic mixing effect of maize-peanut and maize-soybean straw mixture decomposition in both 'home' (experiment III) and 'away' plots (experiment I). Maize-peanut showed greater synergistic effects than maize-soybean in straw mixture decomposition in their 'home' plot (experiment III). These findings are discussed in terms of their important implications for the management of species-diverse straw in food-production intercropping systems.