SynthesisProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2023
The productive performance of intercropping.
Synthesis in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Crop rotations synergize yield, nutrition, and revenue: a meta-analysis.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Biodiversity increases resistance of grasslands against plant invasions under multiple environmental changes.Nature communications · 2024Pooled it
- The productive performance of intercropping.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of Cassava-Chili Intercropping at Different Planting Densities on Soil Bacterial Community Structure.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Intercrops Maintain Orchard Soil Nutrients Accumulation with Variation in Soil Microbiome Composition and Function.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Overseeding temperate grasses and legumes into Aruana pasture and monoculture systems for finishing beef cattle.Tropical animal health and production · 2026Article
- Pea Powdery Mildew and Pea Performance in Pea-Cereal Intercropping Under Temperate Continental Field Conditions: Yield, Seed Physical Quality, and Land-Use Efficiency Under Low Natural Disease Pressure.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Interspecific allelopathy suppresses potato cyst nematodes by 1-decanol derived from Houttuyniacordata.Plant communications · 2026Article
- Global evidence that plant diversity suppresses pests and promotes plant performance and crop production.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Legume breeding for intercropping is indispensable for species expected to face high competition.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Review
- Global-scale prevalence of low nutrient use efficiency across major crops.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Integrated strategies for enhancing agrifood productivity, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and improving soil health.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2025Review
- Effects of different intercropping systems on soil properties and tobacco yield and quality.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Indica-Japonica rice intercropping enhances rice productivity by efficiently utilizing the resources.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- A shade-hyposensitive tomato line shows altered auxin homeostasis and higher fruit yield under high-density field conditions.The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Effects of tobacco intercropping on the Spatial relationship between natural enemies and pests and economic efficiency.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Development and Breeding of Herbicide-Resistant Sorghum for Effective Cereal-Legume Intercropping.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Phosphate form and neighbouring species determine interspecific interactions and maize root foraging behaviour for phosphorus.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Dominant species predict plant richness and biomass in global grasslands.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Belowground Interaction in Tea/Soybean Intercropping Enhances Tea Quality by Improving Soil Nutrient Dynamics.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Crop diversification has been put forward as a way to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture without penalizing its productivity. In this context, intercropping, the planned combination of two or more crop species in one field, is a promising practice. On an average, intercropping saves land compared with the component sole crops, but it remains unclear whether intercropping produces a higher yield than the most productive single crop per unit area, i.e., whether intercropping achieves transgressive overyielding. Here, we quantified the performance of intercropping for the production of grain, calories, and protein in a global meta-analysis of several production indices. The results show that intercrops outperform sole crops when the objective is to achieve a diversity of crop products on a given land area. However, when intercropping is evaluated for its ability to produce raw products without concern for diversity, intercrops on average generate a small loss in grain or calorie yield compared with the most productive sole crop (-4%) but achieve similar or higher protein yield, especially with maize/legume combinations grown at moderate N supply. Overall, although intercropping does not achieve transgressive overyielding on average, our results show that intercropping performs well in producing a diverse set of crop products and performs almost similar to the most productive component sole crop to produce raw products, while improving crop resilience, enhancing ecosystem services, and improving nutrient use efficiency. Our study, therefore, confirms the great interest of intercropping for the development of a more sustainable agricultural production, supporting diversified diets.
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