In: Cropping Systems ISBN: 978- 1 - 63485 - 888 - 5
Editor: Johanna G. Hodges © 2017 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 1
THE ROLE OF INTERCROPPING
IN PLANT BIOFORTIFICATION
Aleksandra Głowacka
University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, PolandABSTRACT
Intercropping consists of growing two or more plants in the same
space at the same time. It has been used for a long time in many parts of
the world, to feed and in food production. Intercropping not only
promotes the achieving of higher yields, it can also influence the
availability and utilization of nutrients by plants as compared to single
species cultivation. Depending on the spatial arrangement and species in
intercropping, different mechanisms may influence the increased nutrient
uptake. One of them is different dates of sowing and harvesting plants in
intercropping, and species differences in the periods of the most intense
uptake of elements, which can change competitiveness in the
accumulation of nutrients. Another is the introduction to intercropping of
legume crops, which have deep, well-developed root systems and can
extract nutrients such as P, K, Mg and Ca from deeper layers and move
them into the soil profile, making them more available to other plants. A
further mechanism is that of modifications in the rhizosphere caused by
the roots of plants grown in intercropping, something which can improve
the availability of mineral components. Some species have the capacity to
release or cause the activation of enzymes and secretion carboxylates by E-mail: [email protected].