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Leaf Area Regulates the Growth Rates and Seed Yield of Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) in Intercrop** System

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Abstract

Biotic or abiotic stresses reduce leaf area of soybean plants in the intercrop** system, especially during critical reproductive growth phase (from pod-initiation to physiological-maturity) of soybean, which finally influences yield and yield components. However, total yield loss due to reduction in soybean leaf area under maize/soybean intercrop** system is still unclear. In a three-year field study, an experiment consisted of four treatments: no removal of trifoliate (CK, 100% leaf area), removal of three-trifoliate (SI, 85% leaf area), removal of six-trifoliate (SII, 70% leaf area), and removal of nine-trifoliate (SIII, 55% leaf area) from the top of the soybean canopy under maize/soybean intercrop**. These defoliation treatments were applied at the pod initiation (R3) stage by removing the different number of fully developed trifoliate from the top of the soybean canopy in maize/soybean intercrop** system. Results revealed that defoliation significantly decreased total dry matter accumulation and partitioning to vegetative and reproductive organs. Compared with CK (no defoliation), treatments SI, SII, and SIII reduced crop growth rate (by 25%, 46%, and 75%), reproductive growth rate (by 21%, 44%, and 63%), pod-initiation (by 11%, 23%, and 32%), while increased pod-abscission (by 11%, 20%, and 37%) and photosynthetic-rate (by 8%, 19%, and 28%), respectively at physiological-maturity. These negative responses reduced pods plant−1 by 16%, 32%, and 49% and seeds plant−1 by 20%, 34%, and 46% in SI, SII, and SIII, respectively, compared to non-defoliated. Overall, in SI, SII, and SIII, soybean produced 80%, 67%, and 55% of CK yield. Results implied that any change in leaf area of intercropped-soybean, especially during reproductive phase, will directly affect the availability of photoassimilates and nutrients for develo** pods and seeds. Thus, more attention should be paid to improve leaf area of intercropped soybean for the high productivity of intercrop** systems via appropriate variety selection or planting arrangement. Furthermore, breeders can evolve new soybean varieties, particularly for the intercrop** systems, which can cope with the shading effects of tall crops in intercrop** systems. Future studies are needed to understand the internal signaling and the molecular mechanism controlling in soybean in intercrop** system.

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Funding

The research was supported by the International Cooperation Project of Sichuan Province (2020YFH0126), the Program on Industrial Technology System of National Soybean (CARS-04-PS19), and the National Undergraduate Training Program for Innovation (201810626085).

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Author notes

  1. Muhammad Ali Raza and Hina Gul to be considered as joint first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agronomy, Sichuan Agricultural University, No. 211, Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China

    Muhammad Ali Raza, Ali Hasnain, Muhammad Hayder Bin Khalid, Sajad Hussain, Yang Feng & Wenyu Yang

  2. Sichuan Engineering Research Center for Crop Strip Intercrop** System, Chengdu, China

    Muhammad Ali Raza, Muhammad Hayder Bin Khalid, Sajad Hussain, Yang Feng & Wenyu Yang

  3. National Research Center of Intercrop**, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ali Raza, Muhammad Hayder Bin Khalid, Ghulam Abbas & Waqas Ahmed

  4. PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

    Hina Gul

  5. Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Computing, The Islamia University, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

    Muhammad Jawad Babar

  6. Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Zaheer Ahmed & Azeem Iqbal Khan

  7. Department of Forestry, Range and Wildlife Management, The Islamia University, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

    Amjad Saeed & Muhammad Umair Riaz

  8. Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad , Pakistan

    Zaheer Ahmed & Azeem Iqbal Khan

  9. Pakistan Oilseed Development Board, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Khair Muhammad Kakar

  10. Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

    Shakeel Ahmad

  11. Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Ataturk University, 25240, Erzurum, Turkey

    Sezai Ercisli

  12. Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Siirt University, Siirt, Turkey

    Ayman El Sabah

  13. Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University, Hermiston, USA

    Ruijun Qin

Authors
  1. Muhammad Ali Raza
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  2. Hina Gul
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  3. Ali Hasnain
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  4. Muhammad Hayder Bin Khalid
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  5. Sajad Hussain
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  6. Ghulam Abbas
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  7. Waqas Ahmed
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  8. Muhammad Jawad Babar
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  9. Zaheer Ahmed
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  10. Amjad Saeed
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  11. Muhammad Umair Riaz
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  12. Azeem Iqbal Khan
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  13. Khair Muhammad Kakar
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  14. Sezai Ercisli
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  15. Ayman El Sabah
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  16. Ruijun Qin
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  17. Shakeel Ahmad
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  18. Yang Feng
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  19. Wenyu Yang
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Contributions

MAR and AH performed the experiment. MAR, HG, ZA, AS, KMK, MHBK, GH, SA, SE, AIK analyzed the data. MAR, FY, AES, RQ, and WY conceived the original research plans. MAR, HG, MA, AES, FY, WA, MJB, ZA, MUR, KMK, and WY designed the experiments and wrote the whole article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shakeel Ahmad, Yang Feng or Wenyu Yang.

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Raza, M.A., Gul, H., Hasnain, A. et al. Leaf Area Regulates the Growth Rates and Seed Yield of Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) in Intercrop** System. Int. J. Plant Prod. 16, 639–652 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42106-022-00201-8

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