Intercropping is an alternative farming method that maximizes crop yield and resource usage effectiveness, especially in low-input agricultural systems. Legume-based intercropping systems can effectively boost the quality and wheat yield by promoting soil functions and microbial activities. However, changes in the types of legumes and field management can alter the response of crop functions. A three-year field study was conducted on intercropping cultivation of winter wheat variety (Butterfly and Lorien) and legume species (faba bean, incarnate clover, spring pea, winter pea) to assess grain yield and wheat quality in organic farming. Based on the results, Butterfly showed higher grain quality but lower grain yield and yield components than Lorien. Mixtures of legume crops with winter wheat did not significantly differ in wheat grain yield, but grain quality variables were significantly affected. Protein content (PC) was significantly higher in wheat and legume mixtures than in sole wheat by 4 %. PC in wheat + winter pea (Wheat + Wi) and wheat + faba bean (Wheat + Fa) were higher than wheat sown alone. Wet gluten (WG) was higher in Wheat + Wi than in sole wheat and wheat + incarnate clover mixtures (Wheat + In). The rheological parameters evaluated by the Mixolab showed greater wheat quality in Butterfly and legume mixtures. Mixed and row-row intercropping of wheat and legume species did not significantly influence rheological properties. To conclude, customizing wheat yield and grain quality under the effect of winter wheat and legume mixtures requires considering the optimal solution based on different cultivates, wheat varieties and legume species to achieve the desired response.

Crop Research Institute Praha 6 Ruzyně 16106 Czech Republic

Department of Agroecology and Crop Production Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Czech Republic

Department of Agroecosystems Faculty of Agriculture and Technology University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice Branišovská 1645 31A 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Department of Agronomy Gyeongsang National University Jinju 52828 Republic of Korea

Faculty of Agronomy University of Agriculture and Forestry Hue University Hue City 49000 Viet Nam

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Konvalina P., Moudry J., Jr., Capouchova I., Moudry J. Baking quality of winter wheat varieties in organic farming. Agron. Res. 2009;7:612–617.

Tosti G., Farneselli M., Benincasa P., Guiducci M. Nitrogen fertilization strategies for organic wheat production: crop yield and nitrate leaching. J. Agron. 2016;108:770–781. doi: 10.2134/agronj2015.0464. DOI

Lacko-Bartosova M., Lacko-Bartošová L., Konvalina P. Wheat rheological and Mixolab quality in relation to cropping systems and plant nutrition sources. Czech J. Food Sci. 2021;39 doi: 10.17221/189/2020-CJFS. DOI

Guiducci M., Tosti G., Falcinelli B., Benincasa P. Sustainable management of nitrogen nutrition in winter wheat through temporary intercropping with legumes. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2018;38:31. doi: 10.1007/s13593-018-0509-3. DOI

Giuliani M.M., Palermo C., De Santis M.A., Mentana A., Pompa M., Giuzio L., Masci S., Centonze D., Flagella Z. Differential expression of durum wheat gluten proteome under water stress during grain filling. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2015;63:6501–6512. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5b01635. PubMed DOI

Dresbøll D.B., Thorup-Kristensen K. Will breeding for nitrogen use efficient crops lead to nitrogen use efficient cropping systems?: a simulation study of G×E×M interactions. Euphytica. 2014;199:97–117. doi: 10.1007/s10681-014-1199-9. DOI

Bedoussac L., Journet E.-P., Hauggaard-Nielsen H., Naudin C., Corre-Hellou G., Jensen E.S., Prieur L., Justes E. Ecological principles underlying the increase of productivity achieved by cereal-grain legume intercrops in organic farming. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2015;35:911–935. doi: 10.1007/s13593-014-0277-7. DOI

Bedoussac L., Justes E. Dynamic analysis of competition and complementarity for light and N use to understand the yield and the protein content of a durum wheat–winter pea intercrop. Plant Soil. 2010;330:37–54. doi: 10.1007/s11104-010-0303-8. DOI

Dahlin I., Kiær L.P., Bergkvist G., Weih M., Ninkovic V. Plasticity of barley in response to plant neighbors in cultivar mixtures. Plant Soil. 2020;447:537–551. doi: 10.1007/s11104-019-04406-1. DOI

Amossé C., Jeuffroy M.-H., Mary B., David C. Contribution of relay intercropping with legume cover crops on nitrogen dynamics in organic grain systems. Nutrient Cycl. Agroecosyst. 2014;98:1–14. doi: 10.1007/s10705-013-9591-8. DOI

Dvořák P., Capouchová I., Král M., Konvalina P., Janovská D., Satranský M. Grain yield and quality of wheat in wheat-legumes intercropping under organic and conventional growing systems. Plant Soil Environ. 2022 doi: 10.17221/276/2022-PSE. DOI

Brooker R.W., Bennett A.E., Cong W.-F., Daniell T.J., George T.S., Hallett P.D., Hawes C., Iannetta P.P.M., Jones H.G., Karley A.J., Li L., McKenzie B.M., Pakeman R.J., Paterson E., Schöb C., Shen J., Squire G., Watson C.A., Zhang C., Zhang F., Zhang J., White P.J. Improving intercropping: a synthesis of research in agronomy, plant physiology and ecology. New Phytol. 2015;206:107–117. doi: 10.1111/nph.13132. PubMed DOI

Alonso-Ayuso M., Gabriel J.L., Quemada M. The kill date as a management tool for cover cropping success. PLoS One. 2014;9 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109587. PubMed DOI PMC

Costanzo A., Bàrberi P. Functional agrobiodiversity and agroecosystem services in sustainable wheat production. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2014;34:327–348. doi: 10.1007/s13593-013-0178-1. DOI

Verret V., Gardarin A., Pelzer E., Médiène S., Makowski D., Valantin-Morison M. Can legume companion plants control weeds without decreasing crop yield? A meta-analysis. Field Crops Res. 2017;204:158–168. doi: 10.1016/j.fcr.2017.01.010. DOI

Mohammed Y.A., Kelly J., Chim B.K., Rutto E., Waldschmidt K., Mullock J., Torres G., Desta K.G., Raun W. Nitrogen fertilizer management for improved grain quality and yield in winter wheat in Oklahoma. J. Plant Nutr. 2013;36:749–761. doi: 10.1080/01904167.2012.754039. DOI

Bergkvist G. Effect of white clover and nitrogen availability on the grain yield of winter wheat in a three-season intercropping system. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section B-Soil and Plant Science - ACTA AGR SCAND SECT B-SOIL PL. 2003;53:97–109. doi: 10.1080/09064710310011953. DOI

Tosti G., Guiducci M. Durum wheat–faba bean temporary intercropping: effects on nitrogen supply and wheat quality. Eur. J. Agron. 2010;33:157–165. doi: 10.1016/j.eja.2010.05.001. DOI

Voisin A.-S., Guéguen J., Huyghe C., Jeuffroy M.-H., Magrini M.-B., Meynard J.-M., Mougel C., Pellerin S., Pelzer E. Legumes for feed, food, biomaterials and bioenergy in Europe: a Review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2014;34:361–380. doi: 10.1007/s13593-013-0189-y. DOI

Jensen E.S., Carlsson G., Hauggaard-Nielsen H. Intercropping of grain legumes and cereals improves the use of soil N resources and reduces the requirement for synthetic fertilizer N: a global-scale analysis. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2020;40:5. doi: 10.1007/s13593-020-0607-x. DOI

Weih M., Karley A.J., Newton A.C., Kiær L.P., Scherber C., Rubiales D., Adam E., Ajal J., Brandmeier J., Pappagallo S., Villegas-Fernández A., Reckling M., Tavoletti S. Grain yield stability of cereal-legume intercrops is greater than sole crops in more productive conditions. Agriculture. 2021;11:255. doi: 10.3390/agriculture11030255. DOI

KatalogSelgen. Product catalogue., n.d. https://selgen.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/katalogSelgen_AJ_1-44.pdf...

Harasim E., Wesołowski M., Kwiatkowski C., Harasim P., Staniak M., Feledyn-Szewczyk B. The contribution of yield components in determining the productivity of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Acta Agrobot. 2016;69 doi: 10.5586/aa.1675. DOI

Sainis J.K., Shouche S.P., Bhagwat S.G. Image analysis of wheat grains developed in different environments and its implications for identification. J. Agric. Sci. 2006;144:221–227. doi: 10.1017/S0021859606006010. DOI

Khan A., Muhammad A., Asad M. A Correlation and path coefficient analysis for some yield components in bread wheat. Asian J. Plant Sci. 2003 doi: 10.3923/ajps.2003.582.584. DOI

Shahryari R. Classifying bread wheat genotypes by multivariable statistical analysis to achieve high yield under after anthesis drought. Middle East J. Sci. Res. 2011;7(2):217–220. https://www.academia.edu/51982278/Classifying_bread_wheat_genotypes_by_multivariable_statistical_analysis_to_achieve_high_yield_under_after_anthesis_drought

Shankarrao B.S., Mukherjee S., Pal A.K., De D.K. Estimation of variability for yield parameters in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in gangetic West Bengal, Electron. J. Plant Breed. 2010;1(4):764–768. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Estimation-of-variability-for-yield-parameters-in-Shankarrao-Mukherjee/8bf5453ad5bef24771b7cb579892dd608ac91e59

Sugár E., Berzsenyi Z., Árendás T., Bónis P. Effect of nitrogen fertilization and genotype on the yield and yield components of winter wheat, Die Bodenkultur. Journal of Land Management, Food and Environment. 2016;67:25–34. doi: 10.1515/boku-2016-0003. DOI

Pržulj N., Momčilović V. Characterization of vegetative and grain filling periods of winter wheat by stepwise regression procedure: I. Vegetative period. Genetika. 2011;43:349–359.

Jamieson P.D., Martin R.J., Francis G.S. Drought influences on grain yield of barley, wheat, and maize. N. Z. J. Crop Hortic. Sci. 1995;23:55–66. doi: 10.1080/01140671.1995.9513868. DOI

Konvalina P., Zechner E., Moudry J. Breeding and variety testing of bread wheat - Triticum aestivum L. for organic and low input farming. JU ZF in Č. Budějovice. 2007 978-80-7394-039-3.

Johansson E., Malik A.H., Hussain A., Rasheed F., Newson W.R., Plivelic T., Hedenqvist M.S., Gällstedt M., Kuktaite R. Wheat gluten polymer structures: the impact of genotype, environment, and processing on their functionality in various applications. Cereal Chem. 2013;90:367–376. doi: 10.1094/CCHEM-08-12-0105-FI. DOI

Ceseviciene J., Leistrumaite A., Paplauskienė V. Grain yield and quality of winter wheat varieties in organic agriculture. Agron. Res. 2009;7:217–223.

Chen H., Nguyen K., Iqbal M., Beres B.L., Hucl P.J., Spaner D. The performance of spring wheat cultivar mixtures under conventional and organic management in Western Canada, Agrosyst. Geosci. Environ. 2020;3 doi: 10.1002/agg2.20003. DOI

Kintl A., Elbl J., Záhora J., Kynicky J., Brtnický M., Mikajlo I. Evaluation of grain yield in mixed legume-cereal cropping systems. Ad Alta. 2015;5:96.

Kebede E. Contribution, utilization, and improvement of legumes-driven biological nitrogen fixation in agricultural systems. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 2021;5 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.767998 DOI

Dong N., Tang M.-M., Zhang W.-P., Bao X.-G., Wang Y., Christie P., Li L. Temporal differentiation of crop growth as one of the drivers of intercropping yield advantage. Sci. Rep. 2018;8 doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-21414-w. PubMed DOI PMC

Lithourgidis A.S., Vlachostergios D.N., Dordas C.A., Damalas C.A. Dry matter yield, nitrogen content, and competition in pea–cereal intercropping systems. Eur. J. Agron. 2011;34:287–294. doi: 10.1016/j.eja.2011.02.007. DOI

Vrignon-Brenas S., Celette F., Piquet-Pissaloux A., Corre-Hellou G., David C. Intercropping strategies of white clover with organic wheat to improve the trade-off between wheat yield, protein content and the provision of ecological services by white clover. Field Crops Res. 2018;224:160–169. doi: 10.1016/j.fcr.2018.05.009. DOI

Kahraman K., Sakıyan O., Ozturk S., Koksel H., Sumnu G., Dubat A. Utilization of Mixolab® to predict the suitability of flours in terms of cake quality. Eur. Food Res. Technol. 2008;227:565–570. doi: 10.1007/s00217-007-0757-y. DOI

Mixolab application handbook: rheological and enzyme analyses, Chopin application laboratory. 2012. http://concereal.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2012-CHOPIN-Mixolab-Applications-Handbook-EN-SPAIN-3.pdf

Hoang T.N., Kopecký M., Kovalina P. Winter wheat mixtures influence grain rheological and Mixolab quality. Journal of Applied Life Sciences and Environment. 2022;54:417–428. doi: 10.46909/journalalse-2021-036. DOI