The benefits of introducing herbaceous crop species to mandarin trees

Diverfarming has compared the environmental footprint and economic performance of traditional mandarin monocropping to that of growing mandarin intercropped and herbaceous crops using deficit irrigation.

The transformation towards Intensive agricultureThis has led to Agricultural practicesEurope has had a long history of monocropping systems that focus on increasing yields and reducing costs. They also depend heavily on other sources of agrochemicals, energy, and food. These monocropping intensive systems have led to biodiversity losses. water contamination, high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, and degrading soil and reducing ecosystem services.

Faced with this situation, European Diverfarming has tested diversification of crops in the European Union to see if it can be used. Best practicesCombine crops and focus on reducing inputs to find best options to preserve sustainability and increase resilience of the European agricultural industry. It is important to understand the economic and environmental impacts of these practices.

The aim is to understand the environmental footprintA team of researchers from Universidad Politcnica de Cartagena performed a life cycle assessment of the crop as well as an economic evaluation of the farm’s income for the three-year period of the experiment. Case studyThis was done.

Although the area of cultivation increased with the introductions of herbaceous crops (in this instance purslane, cowpea and broad beans) there were no adverse effects in terms of acidification or global warming. Intercropping was not associated with any additional contamination or environmental impacts. This, along with the benefits of increased nitrogen and organic content in soil and reduced erosion and runoff, makes the introduction herbaceous crops to the alleys where mandarin tree trees are a good sustainable option for environmental protection to address the sector’s current challenges.

Economic security is a key component to adopting diversified systems. The economic analysis shows that intercropping can result in an increase in production costs. This is mostly due to a higher labor demand than monocropping. The study concludes that intercropping can have economic benefits if done correctly. The results showed that intercropping mandarin with purslane or broad beans could be profitable and lower the risk for growers against volatile prices in main crop.

These systems can be used to create more sustainable and economically profitable agricultural systems by taking into account all the possible environmental and economic benefits of intercropping. These practices can be driven by the support of public funding and the valorization of products that are more environmentally friendly.

The research was published by Agriculture.